The story
Episode 1: The start (10.06.2024)
The doubtful weather forecast for the coming days was confirmed by rain in the morning. We intended to do another training day and test our ski setup, consisting of the ski touring gear and simple flying harnesses. A cameraman wanted to catch the start of the XPEAKS project for a TV documentary. Since we concluded that most probable we would not start yet, we determined that he would not come – wrong decision.
After leaving our homes in Frutigen by foot, we took off on Trutten in the early afternoon, only 200 m above the village. The lift was weak, and it took quite a while to reach the low cloud base of 1800-1900 m. After traversing the Kandertal, we flew via Kandersteg to Gasterntal, where we managed to land at Gfelalp on 1840 m. Walking up 1000 altimeters brought us above Lötschenpass, whilst we were still indecisive whether this was a training day or the actual start of our XPEAKS project. On 2840 m we took off. In the luv of the clouds, we managed to get over the Hockenhorn and got breathtaking views to sunny mountains and huge banks of clouds, partly almost 2000 m below us. After traversing the Lötschental, we found amazingly good and gentle lifts at the Bietschhorn ridge, allowing us to climb high enough for crossing the Beichgrat. The strong north föhn, that made this exceptional flight possible in the first place, caused heavy lee turbulences and challenging conditions for the landing at the unattended Oberaletschhütte, where this brilliant first day full of uncertainties adventures and challenges came to an end.
Episode 2: Jungfrau area (11.-13.06.2024)
We left the Oberaletschhütte well before dawn. After reaching and celebrating our first 4000 m peak, the Aletschhorn, we took off roughly 100 altimeters below the summit, in a lee protecting us from the strong NW-wind. After landing on Jungfraufirn on 3200 m, a short ski ascent brought us to the manned Mönchsjoch hut. We were amazed that despite excellent snow conditions, the whole Jungfrau area was deserted.
Our Wednesday warmup was climbing the Mönch. A beautiful early morning flight from the summit brought us to Ewigschneefeld. After walking up below Fieschersattel on skis, we left our gear and climbed the Gross- and the Hinter Fiescherhorn. Back at our depot, we made a short glide flight to Gross Grünhorn. Climbing this summit was a pure pleasure, the conditions were excellent. From below the summit, we flew to the unattended Finsteraarhorn hut, where we highly appreciated the sunny afternoon for relaxing and drying our gear.
On Thursday, we climbed the Finsteraarhorn. It was harsh and the drinks froze in our rucksacks. Due to strong winds, we could not take off from the Hugisattel as planned, so we skied down to 3500 m, where we took off short before noon. The sporty flying conditions allowed us to fly in 3 h via Fiescheralp, Wiwanni and Augstbordhorn to the Rimpfischhorn, where we landed on Längfluegletscher on 3650 m. After climbing this summit quickly and with low effort, we made a short flight from Rimpfischsattel to Allalingletscher, and stood on the summit of the Strahlhorn on 18:15h. Back at the gliders, we got ourselves some fun kiting, before doing a long glide flight in beautiful evening light to the manned Monterosahütte. Due to the wind forecast for the coming days, we decided to leave our gliders at the hut for our next stage, the Monterosa.
Episode 3: Monterosa (14.-17.06.2024)
Early start on Friday at 2:35h. At dawn, the weather turned nasty with wind gusts of 100 km/h, poor sight and precipitation. We put on additional layers of cloth and kept going, whenever possible turning our heads in the lee to prevent sleet blasting of our faces. After the Nordend, we climbed the Dufourspitze and strenuously traversed through powder snow to the Zumsteinspitze and further to the Signalkuppe, where we made an extended break in the warmth of the Capanna Regina Margarita. Around noon, we skied down to Rifugio Gnifetti. Thanks to an already well-prepared track for the Monterosa Sky Marathon on Sunday, this was easy, despite poor sight.
On Saturday, we slept long and just made it for the latest breakfast. After bundling up more calories in the form of cake and waiting for a weather brightening, we climbed Punta Giordani with stormy winds but acceptable sight, and went back to the Rifugio Gnifetti for lunch, tiramisu and more rest.
The weather improved on Sunday. After a crowded breakfast in the Rifugio Gnifetti, which was fully occupied with 230 clients, we climbed the “small” 4000 m peaks Vincent Pyramid, Corno Nero, Ludwigshöhe and Parrotspitze, then traversed Lyskamm and Castor, and completed our journey with the Pollux. A nice ski descent brought us to the cosy Rifugio Guida d’Ayas.
On Monday, we traversed the Breithorn group (Rocchia Nera, Gendarm, Breithornzwilling, Breithorn Ostgipfel, Breithorn Westgipfel) and skied down the spectacular descent via Zwillingsjoch to Monterosahütte. After a rich lunch at the hut, we walked up the long way to Stockhornpass on skis. From there, moderate wind allowed us to kite up the Cima Brioschi and to fly via Strahlchnubel to Adlergletscher. After some more kiting on this glacier, we found thermal lifts that allowed us to pass the Längfluejoch and glide to the Täschhütte.
Episode 4: Alphubel, Allalinhorn (18.06.2024)
The splendid morning light made up for the early start in the dark. We deposit our gliders on Alphubeljoch and walked up the Alphubel on skis in its sunny east face, in the lee of the strong SW-wind. Back at our Gliders, we climbed the Feechopf. The snow piled on the easy ridge traverse to Feejoch and made it delicate and time consuming. Therefore, at the first opportunity, we skied down the steep NE-face and made it this way via Feejoch to Allalinhorn. After a long break in the lee of the Feejoch, eating sandwiches and observing online nearby wind stations, we decided to take off. The turbulences while flying were as expected and we made it safely to Kreuzboden on the other side of the valley. From there, it was only a short hike up to the Weissmieshütte. At the hut, we used the melting water for a cold shower and got a warm welcome from the hut team, offering us excellent, rich food and drinks for free.
Episode 5: Lagginhorn, Weissmies, temporary return home (19.06.2024)
Despite poorly frozen snow, we made it up to Lagginhorn within 3 hours. After a descent and a ski traverse, we deposit our gliders on 3360 m and climbed the Weissmies. The wind on the summit was very strong and gusty. After descending to the Gliders, we took a long break, carefully observing the weather and checking nearby wind stations. Based on a systematic risk analysis, we concluded that the possible reward of a flight would not be worth the risk and decided to abstain from flying. Thanks to the exceptional amount of snow, we could ski down almost until Kreuzboden. After a rather unpleasant descent of 850 m in ski boots down to Saas Grund, our decision about not flying on this day was confirmed by a Föhn wind gust, carrying away the cap from Chrigel. We travelled back to Frutigen by bus and train, fully motivated to continue the XPEAKS project at the next opportunity.
Looking back those first 10 days were efficient: Starting from our home, with a physical effort of 20’000 vertical meters, we managed to climb 30 peaks above 4000 m, renouncing any kind transport, except moving by foot, on skis and paragliders.
If the weather allows, there will be more XPEAKS news soon. Stay tuned.
Episode 6: Mischabel (24.-27.06.24)
On Monday we travelled by public transport back to Tamatten near Saas Grund, where we had interrupted our XPEAKS project after completing first 30 summits (see episodes 1-5). After ascending 800 altimeters on foot to Hannigalp, we flew up to the Mischabel hut, where we got a warm welcome by the hut team. Accompanied by a camera team, we climbed the Nadelhorn on Tuesday morning. From there, we traversed the Nadelgrat (Stecknadelhorn, Hohberghorn, Dirruhorn) in difficult and tricky conditions with lots of fresh snow and returned to the Mischabelhütte. On Wednesday, we climbed the Lenzspitze via the north-east face. A challenging and time-consuming descent via the exposed south ridge brought us to the Hobärg glacier, where we deposited our gliders. Thanks to our well-proven Cramplifier carbon plates, we made it to the dome despite the soft snow - we were all alone in the area. An impressive high alpine flight brought us to the Weingarten glacier near the Mischabeljoch bivouac. Stormy winds early on Thursday morning shook the well-equipped bivouac to the core and persuaded us to go back to bed. After daybreak, the weather calmed down and we could climb the Täschhorn via the deeply snow-covered SE ridge. Back at the Mischabeljoch, we discussed our options and decided to try the Weisshorn the next day. A pleasant flight took us to the Weisshornhütte, where we got a delicious rösti with tomatoes and cheese.
Episode 7: Weisshorn, temporary return home (28.06.2024)
We set off from the Weisshornhütte at 3:30 am. Although the snow was not frozen, we initially only sank ankle-deep and made good progress. Above 3600 meters, the snow became softer and made progress increasingly difficult. The deeply snow-covered and overgrown east ridge was tricky and time-consuming to climb. Higher up, the snow on the summit flank had a consistency that enabled us to make a pleasant, stair-like ascent with our Cramplifier carbon plates. After 5 hours of intensive climbing we were on the Weisshorn, three hours later we were back at the hut. We were very pleased to be able to tick off this magnificent, arduous mountain. Over a large plate of tomato spaghetti, we analyzed the weather situation and made the decision to return home temporarily. In order to create the best possible starting position for the rest of the project, we made a cross-country flight to Goppenstein. The flying conditions were rough and once again our flying equipment proved its worth.
Outlook: At the next usable weather window, we intend to take the train to Goppenstein and climb 800 meters up to Faldumalp, an ideal morning launch site that usually offers good connection to the legendary Valais thermals. Until then, our daily routine will mainly consist of relaxing and eating.
Episode 8: Flight to Mt Blanc area, Verte (02.-05.07.2024)
A short train journey brought us back to Goppenstein after the 4-day interruption of our XPEAKS project. We walked up to Falumalp and took off. The flying conditions were challenging with a brisk northerly wind, that forced us to make an intermediary landing near the Col de la Forclaz. After a walk up the Col de Balme, we were able to take off again and fly to Les Praz de Chamonix, where we found a pizzeria and a hotel. Since we received a refusal from the prefecture in response to our application for a special paragliding permit in the temporary Mont Blanc no-fly zone, the next day our paragliders remained in our rucksacks during the long ascent on foot via Les Mottets and Mer de Glace to the Refuge du Couvercle. On Thursday, we set the alarm clock to midnight. Although we had an unusually long breakfast for tactical reasons, the other rope teams were even more tactical, and so we were the first to break the trail over the Glacier de Talfère to the Whymper Couloir in fog and soft snow. We easily reached the ridge via the parallel Armand Charlet south couloir and were able to climb the three summits Jardin, Rocheuse and Verte - 41 of 82 summits ticked on our list. At 5:05am on Friday, we stood on the Droites East summit, btw. with exactly 4000m the lowest summit on our list and enjoyed the dawn and the magnificent sunrise despite the cold wind. We were back at the hut by 8:10am, adjusted our plans again, packed our paragliders and took the long hike up the Col du Géant. From there we flew to Avise and hiked to Introd, not far from the border to the Gran Paradiso National Park, where we found the very friendly B&B @lastazionedellacqua. After the 3200 meters of ascent of the day, the already good pizza tasted even better.
Episode 9: Gran Paradiso (06.-07.07.2024)
Paragliding flights are not tolerated in the Gran Paradiso National Park, and we were unable to obtain a special permit there either. Therefore, we deposited our flying equipment in our B&B @lastazionedellacqua and, after filling our bellies at the sensational breakfast buffet, set off on foot with light rucksacks. 5 hours later we had covered the 23 km and 1650 meters of altitude to the Chabod hut and were hungry again. While our clothes dried, we ate our way through the various pasta, gnocci and cheese specialties of this friendly hut. During dinner, we realized that the weather forecast for Sunday morning predicted heavy rain and spontaneously decided to climb the summit that same evening. We set off from the hut at 20:30 and were standing on the Gran Paradiso at 22:40 in stormy winds and sleet - once again, the weather didn't stick to the forecast. That didn't dampen our joy at this summit success and by midnight we were already back at the hut, having climbed again a good 3000 meters in altitude this day. The next day we hiked 4 hours back to Introd to our B&B and grabbed our flying equipment. A short glide through stable air took us to the Aosta Valley. From there we hiked in the blazing sun along the highway towards Courmayeur, longingly watching the thermal clouds above the inversion, that were out of range for us. In Morgex, we checked into the Hotel Dada and filled our bellies in a self-service pizzeria.
Episode 11: Grand Combin (13.-14.07.2024)
After the bad weather phase, we travelled back to Bourg St. Pierre in Valais by public transport. We took off at 2400 metres east of the village and gegen den Windflew towards the Valsorey hut. Weak thermals and strong winds forced us to climb the last 600 metres to the hut on foot. We bribed the hut team with avocados to get a place to sleep. The next day we crossed the three summits of the Grand Combin in perfect conditions and were back at the hut 6 hours and 20 minutes later. We used the time until the thermals started to fill our bellies with pasta and cake. After midday we flew from the hut towards the Mont Blanc area - against the wind. At the Grand Col Ferret, the headwind forced us to land just below the pass. A short walk brought us to the luv side, where we took off again and soared over the Tete de Ferret. We crossed the Val Ferret across the wind and soared up the luv side of Mont Grépillon. Thanks to strong, high-reaching thermals and using our accelerators courageously, we finally conquered the headwind and strong turbulence and flew via Grandes Jorasses to the Torino hut, where we landed at 15:40. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the warm hospitality of the hut warden Armando and his team.
Episode 10: Mont Blanc South summits (08.-09.07.2024)
These two days were magic. On Monday, after breakfast at the hotel, we hiked up 1300 meters and took off shortly after 2 p.m. above Morgex. We flew via Aiguilles Marbrées and Aiguille Noire de Peuterey to the Brouillard ridge, thermalled over the Pointe du Breuillat and landed on the Col de Peuterey in perfect conditions. The ascent of the normally very time-consuming Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey only took us around 2 hours, then we were back at our gliders and flew to the Eccles bivouac. The weather forecast predicted bad weather for the day after tomorrow, and once again we were forced to change our plans. Our new, very offensive plan was finally in place at 10pm and so we got 2 hours rest before the alarm clock rang at midnight on Tuesday morning. We set off from the bivouac at 0:35 with the lightest possible equipment, leaving our flying gear behind. Then the flow kicked in: Col Emile Rey at 1:45h, Mont du Breuillat at 2:05h, Pointe Baretti at 2:40h, back at Col Emile Rey at 3:15h, Pointe Louis Amédéé at 6:10h, sunrise and 10-minute break. Mont Blanc de Courmayeur at 8:35h, Grand Pillier d'Angle at 10:25h, back in the bivouac at 12:35h. We were exhausted and very happy to continue from the bivouac by paraglider. In turbulent conditions, we flew over the Grand Col Ferret to Bourg St. Pierre, where we interrupted our project and returned home temporarily due to the bad weather forecast. We chose this valley village for tactical reasons, as we have plenty of opportunities to get back on track from there as soon as the weather improves. The first scheduled bus didn't show up, the next one drove away from us three minutes before the scheduled departure time, even running after it and waving didn't help. Finally, after some persuasion, a long-distance bus took us to Martigny and we managed to make it back home to Frutigen in the evening.
Episode 12: The Mont Blanc summits (15.-18.07.2024)
On 15 July, we climbed the Dent du Géant. Chrigel led this short, pretty tour as practice and after 4 hours 40 minutes we were already back at the Torino hut. The next day, when we got up shortly before 3am, it was thundering and storming outside. We went straight back to bed and took advantage of the bad weather for a rest day. On 17 July, the weather was fine, and we crossed the impressive Grandes Jorasses ridge. Once we reached the Pointe Walker, we prepared our paragliders in an ideal updraft and flew back to the Torino hut, where we landed after 12 hours. We spent the afternoon relaxing with friends in the hut. Our project advisor @voidegabriel took this opportunity to tell us to tick off the remaining 10 peaks in the Mont Blanc region as a long day tour - including flying equipment on our backs. The next day we made good progress after starting at 1.40am and at 9.15am we were already standing on the Isolée, the fifth summit of the Devil's Ridge and the most difficult four-thousand-metre peak in the Alps. We continued over the Tacul to Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps. During the ascent, I suffered a temporary drop in performance, while Chrigel had a burst of energy and literally pulled me up the last few metres to the summit. We continued via Dome du Gouter to the Aiguille du Bionnassay. There we took off in perfect conditions and glided to the Col de Joly. After refreshments in a small restaurant, we hiked the col and took off upwind. The glorious evening flying conditions allowed us to fly as far as Montorlin, south-west of Bourg St. Maurice. As the only hotel in this small village was closed, we glided into the main valley in the last light and hiked to Aime. At 10pm, after a long day, we finally sat down at a bar and ate croque-monsieur and vending machine pizza before sneaking in a local hotel.
Episode 13: Barres des Ecrins, Spa (19.-21.07.2024)
When we finally got going in the middle of the morning after our Mont Blanc exploit the day before, we realised that the flying conditions looked much better than forecast. It wasn't until 1 p.m., around two hours too late, that we took off from a launch site south of Aime. At first, we were able to thermal up nicely, but then a thick field of cirrus soon appeared, and the increasingly dominant wind blew away the thermals. In the end, despite our best efforts, we only made it as far as Sainte-Marie-de-Cuines in a series of short flights - a modest 35 kilometres as the crow flies. The next day we got back into the flow. 2 h 40 min after starting on the Col de Cochemin, we landed on the east side of the Barres des Ecrins at 3950 m in the lee of the west wind. The ascent of the two summits was quickly completed and 1 hour 30 minutes later we were already back in the air. Unexpectedly strong downwind turbulence gave us a hard time and forced us to land after just 2 km on the flat, 900 m lower Glacier Blanc - glide ratio 2.2. We took off again a few hundred metres further east and fought our way out of the valley downwind until we were finally able to turn up to over 4000 m again. In sporty conditions with strong thermals and a brisk westerly wind, we worked our way northwards. Towards evening, the flying conditions got better, and we were able to fly with the last, gentle evening thermals to Les Rosières, where we checked into the classy I.L.Y. spa hotel. Hungry as wolves, we visited the hotel's own restaurant and spent a serious amount of money to at least satisfy our worst hunger. The beds, on the other hand, were extremely comfortable and the next day, after an extensive breakfast at an incredibly rich buffet, it was time for the spa.
Episode 14: Remaining summits in Valais (22.-25.07.2024)
In the morning, we were the first at the extensive breakfast buffet. With full stomachs, we hiked up the Petit St. Bernard in the fog, where we were able to take off into the westerly wind just above the pass. We crossed the valley to a luv slope and were able to soar splendidly and land higher up, as we were still a little too early for thermal flying. We finally flew into Valpelline in beautiful flying conditions and landed east of the Rifugio Aosta below the Dent d'Herens at 3100 metres. A quick ascent brought us to the summit, the gliders had to wait at around 3800 metres. Back at the gliders, we flew to the Tete Blanche and after a walk of a few hundred metres we flew to below the Dent Blanche hut. The next day we climbed the Dent Blanche in 2 hours 25 minutes in perfect conditions. After a forced break due to the low cloud base, at 11:10 am we flew via Col de Zinal to the Arbengrat. There we deposited our flying equipment, climbed the Ober Gabelhorn via the Arbengrat and descended the same way back to our paragliders. A wild flight in increasingly gusting wind brought us to the @hoernlihuette, where we met the SRF film crew. On the 24th, accompanied by cameraman @matthiasluescher, we climbed the famous and well-frequented Matterhorn. Chrigel led the whole tour efficiently and safely. After a delicious lunch, we flew to the newly built @rothornhuette within a few minutes in easy flying conditions. The next day, the Zinalrothorn was on the programme. After the spectacular descent over the north ridge, we took off on the glacier plateau towards Moming and flew to the Tracuit hut. We continued to the Bishorn (1 h 40 min), where we took off from the summit at 11.50am and flew via Goms to Andermatt and landed in the Voralp valley. In the Vor-Maigelshütte we enjoyed the best dinner of our project, thanks again to the hut crew!
Episode 15: Piz Bernina, returning in Bernese Oberland (26.-27.07.2024)
After a nice hike to the Maigelshütte, we took off above the hut in the direction of Piz Cavradi. The thermals quickly improved, and we flew eastwards via Surselva with a helpful tailwind. A bad line put me in trouble south of Andeer and I had to patiently work my way up again above the Avers bridge. Back at the cloud base, things went like clockwork, and we soon saw Lake Silvaplana with hundreds of kitesurfers. We flew via Fuorcla Surlej to Piz Tschierva and on to Piz Bernina. The local mountain guide and paragliding crack @romanosalis flew with us. As predicted by @burnair.ch, the cloud base rose temporarily in the middle of the afternoon, and we were able to land south of the summit at 3950 metres. A 15-minute ascent brought us to the summit at 16:30 and soon we were airborne again. At Piz Roseg we were able to turn up to 4200 metres together with Romano, one of the unforgettable moments of the project. We headed back towards Surselva in pleasant thermals. Contrary to our apprehension, the Julier Pass didn't cause any problems and soon we were able to turn up to the cloud base on Piz Mitgel. The Piz Linard was no longer pulling and suddenly we were sweating in our warm clothes below the tree line at Lenzerheide, defending our altitude. With a lot of patience, we managed to reach the cloud base again in the last thermal of the day via Parpaner Rothorn. We flew over Brambrüesch into the main valley and let the still strong valley wind carry us to Reichenau, where we landed overjoyed after this long and remarkably efficient day of flying and mountaineering. A short walk brought us to Trin, where we were warmly welcomed late in the evening at the friendly @ustriaparlatsch hotel and fed on excellent beef tartare. The next day we took off from Flimserstein and flew via Maderanertal, Wendenstöcke to Meiringen, where we celebrated Chrigel's 42nd birthday with some of our family members.
Episode 16: The last three summits (28.-30.07.2024)
After a restful night in Meiringen in a colleague's flat and a hearty breakfast, we hiked up to the Grosse Scheidegg, accompanied by @thomastheurillat and @_boedeler. There we had French fries and cake. Despite a low cloud base, we managed to fly below the Schreckhornhütte in the afternoon. The next day was another intensive and challenging climb with the crossing of the Schreckhorn and Lauteraarhorn. A gusty NW wind was our faithful companion until just above our glider depot on the Gaagg. We therefore had great doubts that we would make it to the Mönchsjochhütte on the fly. We therefore forged and evaluated a total of 5 options before the start. In the end, we were able to turn up surprisingly gently at the Gwächta and the Mättenberg to the cloud base and cross to the Mittellegigrat. There we were able to dynamically soar up and cheat our way to the Eiger's west flank via the north face. With a lot of patience, we tinkered our way up to the Eigerjöcher. From there we flew quickly over the Mönch in strong lifts. After a short briefing in the air, we gritted our teeth, plunged into the wild lee, spiralled down through the turbulent air mass with sink rates of up to 28 m/s and finally landed gently next to the @moenchsjochhuette_3657m.u.m, which is competently managed by the friendly crew around Yann Roulet. The next day, after breakfast at 5am, we tackled the last day of our project. In good conditions and with many other rope teams, we climbed to the summit of the Jungfrau, accompanied by an SRF camera team. We started on the Hochfirn at 4100 metres and were able to soar over the Jungfrau summit. A beautiful, peaceful flight took us via Schilthorn to Frutigen, where our families and friends welcomed us at the landing site, bringing our project to a perfect end.
