SAFA Skysailor Magazine

31 SPRING 2025 | September-October-November SKY SAILOR These conditions were new to me because you’d never train in them, you only fly them in the race because there’s pressure to keep up. However, I was also amazed at the conditions you are able to still fly in, and what the wing is actually capable of! I was flying with another athlete, Fried- rich, who’s done the X-Alps three times. At the end of the race he told me these were the worst conditions he’d ever flown in. The biggest lessons learned? Timing is everything. Ten minutes late for a key launch can turn into hours lost, and in this race, that can snowball into multiple days. Even one turn too many in a thermal can be the start of a chain reaction: missing a weather window, getting stuck in shade or strong valley winds. One minute here and there can turn into hours after a week! Everyone makes mistakes, the key is to minimise them. The winner is often the athlete who makes the least mistakes. Will we see you back on the start line? I don’t think so. The X-Alps was a bucket-list adventure, but the risk, com- mitment, and pace are huge. Honestly, I prefer to enjoy my time in the mountains more than the race allows. There were moments I’d be in a stunning spot, looking down at a perfect, clear lake thinking, ‘I could go for a swim right now’, but you glance at the tracker and everyone’s running at 10km an hour. You can’t even take 10 minutes, because in this race 10 minutes can snowball. There’s a lot of other adventures I’d like to pursue instead. Any closing comments? I’d love to see more Aussies in the X-Alps! The level isn’t as high as you might think, the hardest part is the commitment to travel, the training time, and the logistics. If you’re thinking about it, get some shorter hike-and-fly races in Europe under your belt first. There are heaps of three-to-five day events that will teach you so much about mountain flying and race strategy. Australia has plenty of pilots who could do really well. I’d love to see more of us on that start line, showing what we can do. Shane will be sharing a full, detailed write-up of his entire 2025 Red Bull X-Alps experience in a future issue of SkySailor.