Why is Chrigel Maurer (SUI1) out front all the time? What is his secret? One thing it is not is magic – Maurer is an athlete and a pilot, just like all the rest of the Red Bull X-Alps athletes.

He has a lot of experience in the race, yes, but there is also one extra thing that defines him, and that is his flying style.

Although he has earned the nickname ‘Chrigel the Eagle’, Maurer’s flying style is in fact more like a condor. Because like these giant birds of the Andes, as a pilot he tends to fly in as straight a line as possible.

A typical paraglider pilot uses the ‘climb-and-glide’ technique to fly cross country through the air. That means they find a thermal, turn circles in it until they reach cloudbase, then turn and glide to the next thermal, where they turn in circles again to gain more height.

Watch Maurer – and the other top athletes in this race – for any length of time on Live Tracking, and you will see that Maurer spends most of his time gliding, and a lot less time turning in circles and climbing than many other pilots, especially the ones further back.

‘When you are climbing, you are facing the wrong way half the time,’ he has said before – and he is only half joking. 

His technique, where he stitches together lines of lift either in the sky below the clouds, or along valleys and mountains, allows him to move quickly across the terrain. This is exactly what condors do in the wild skies of the Andes and Patagonia. It is also why, over several hours, the cumulative effect is that Maurer manages to push ahead.

The ‘condor technique’ is an extremely advanced style of flying – more like flying a sailplane or glider – and it is learned by years and years of practice.

Add this very efficient flying style to Maurer’s clear-headed decision making, Alpine flying and hiking knowledge and experience, and the whole package adds up to what you can see in the Red Bull X-Alps. A mountain athlete and pilot at the very peak of their abilities – and still the man to beat.

Follow the champion live now on his way to TP7 Titlis!

DROPPING INTO DAVOS Swiss mountain resort hosts gathering of the world’s greatest adventure athletes.   For immediate release: June 19, 2019       Chrigel Maurer (SUI1) and Maxime Pinot (FRA4) fighting for the Red Bull X-Alps 2019 crown © zooom.at / Sebastian Marko   The Red Bull X-Alps today entered Davos, Switzerland. The Swiss mountain resort may be better known as the gathering place of world leaders. But from today it welcomes the world’s top adventure athletes swooping in under human power. Appropriately, it was the five-time Swiss champion Christian ‘Chrigel’ Maurer who was first to make the Turnpoint, arriving to huge cheers from the lakeside crowd who’d come to greet his arrival.   In hot pursuit was the French rookie athlete Maxime Pinot, who arrived shortly after 1pm, looking tired from the flight.    “It must look good on Live Tracking,” he said. “But sometimes there are 20kph to 30kph winds and it was quite complicated. We also lost some time at the launch. The ridge where we hiked was not so easy to take off from.”   It is the second time that Pinot has started the day alongside Maurer only to fall behind in the air. It would seem his only chance is for Maurer to make a mistake, something increasingly unlikely as the multiple champion enters home turf. But by mid-afternoon Pinot was hanging on in his slipstream.    But there is one thing that could yet turn the race in his favor – the weather. If it turns against the leaders tomorrow as predicted, and forces them to continue on foot, it could be the younger Frenchman who has the advantage. He is an experienced and fast ultra-runner while Maurer suffered in the 2017 race when forced to hike all day.

Maxime Pinot (FRA4) on the heels of                    Chrigel Maurer (SUI1) touching down close to Kappl, Austria © zooom.at / Harald Tauderer five-time champion Christian Maurer                                                                               © zooom.at / Honza Zak

Paul Guschlbauer hiking in Lermoos – Tiroler Zugspitz Arena                          Aaron Durogati (ITA1) was the third athlete at Turnpoint 5                                                                              © zooom.at / Honza Zak                                                                                  © zooom.at / Honza Zak