The day started leisurely with a nice walk up to Peña Montanesa. I waited another hour or so at take-off to make sure that conditions were really on. Then I joined Tomas, David and Thibault in the air and together we flew towards France. Conditions were really sporty with very strong climbs and very strong winds. Fortunately, it was tailwind for us.
At the northern end of Val d’Aran, the stable air from the north started to spill over in the lower layer. I didn’t managed to get a final climb, so i had to slopeland, wich turned out to be quite tricky in the high farn – you can’t see the ground. I hit my back a little bit, not bad but enough to mess with my head, so I was making to much errors in the next flight and lost some ground again. A nice hike up to a foggy take-off and the subsequential hike down rounded off this rather particular day.
At least we got a hot shower at the campsite, which rarely felt so good…
Unfortunately I didn’t got any pictures, i was just to scared in air to let the breaks free…
Since the beginning of the race (okay, maybe day 2), we wanted to treat ourselves to a pizza in the evening and never found an open restaurant. The despair was great! Today it was finally time – after 1 week ofpasta finally some pizza! 😉
But now to the important things: after yesterday’s flight in the evening we were in a good position to fly further towards TP 3. The wind was quite strong early on, but seemed flyable.
In the air, however, it became very uncomfortable (very windy), so Patrick and Rich (Team Australia), who had started together, decided to land early.
Some teams took high risks today, we decided for more safety and took 3 passes on foot! And when the supporters called to say there will be pizza waiting at the sleeping place Patrick could even jog again. What a day! For us a day full of responsible and smart decisions, tomorrow is a new day – maybe a day to fly.
Day 3 started very cloudy. Together with Patrick Sieber we hiked up to Cap de Leuba, where we had to wait 2 hoirs in the clouds. Finally it cleared up and we could gly to TP2 and headed to the south. Sadly there was no chance to cross the wild protection area by flying, so we had to land and hike again.
Day 4 started with a nice hike to „Pico de las Tres Guegas“. In the air, thermals were very good, but the South wind was also very strong – to strong for me. I decided that it‘s not safe anymore to fly and landed at „Sallent de Gallego“, not a good position for the race progress but a safe place to land. Well, we really hope for some good flying weather 🤞
Ok Tuesday morning we had to hike fast from Accous to the Col de Somport to reach the spanish side of the pyrenees. The weather there was 10 times better, perfect flying conditions. This allowed a 6 hour flight back to France by almost reaching TP4 Arbas.
On Wednesday the cloudbase was very low, what made the transitions very difficult. And when once landed, possibilities for re-takeoff are sparse. Everywhere forest and the mountain tops in the clouds.
And no better weather forecastet, this will be a hard rest of the week. Keeping Tuesday in mind may help!
Today our plan was set. First a hike and glide from our base for the night. Then another hike as high as possible (still low cloudbase) with the idea to glide as far as possible towards Accous (TP2). These two steps went perfect, and I landed just at the foot of TP2 in Accous.
First glide of the day. Accous is around the far corner.Ready for an early morning glide
A hike up to the main launch in Accous, then a quick meal, and I launched in OK conditions. Cloudbase approximately 100m above the launch, and I caught a weak thermal that took me to base. Then glide across the valley where I was able to soar on the NW wind back up to base. Jumped over the ridge to the next valley. Flushed down due to lee side, but further in the valley local conditions were more dominating and I was able to continue all the way to the airspace restrictions.
Main launch in AccousAt launch in Accous
Now it was all about hiking again. First up to the Astun ski resort then across the mountains to Pourtalet. This last part was really exciting. More exciting than we wanted…
First issue: We just had enough time to get across the mountains before deadline at 21:00. Second issue: There was fog approaching from both the Spanish and French side of the mountains. Third issue: It was forecasted thunderstorms in the evening. We had no time to lose! Maps and routes were downloaded on the phone, extra battery, food, warm clothes, and raincoats were packed and we were ready to go.
This hike was epiq in many ways. The fog approaching from both sides with the sunny high peaks of the Pyrenees above, and a beautiful landscape made it really special. Both me and Knut enjoyed this hike a lot.
Until…
When walking through the fog at 2500 meters altitude we suddenly hear these insane sounds of a predator eating on its prey. It was really close, and by the sounds it was something big. The sounds from splashing intestines went to deep and intense growling, and then suddenly quiet. In the fog. Only a few meters of visibility. Knut and I looked at eachother and we were both really scared. Intense sounds from a big predator this close, without any visuals, and then totally quiet. This was the moment with the highest pulse during the whole race. Definitely!
We slowly walked away without talking to each other. Only gestures. It was difficult to find the path in the fog, but the pre downloaded FatMap route was brilliant for the purpose. Once below the fog and a longer time without hearing any more horrifying sounds we needed to talk about this happening. What the f*** was this? Knut described it well when he said iIt sounded like something from a horror movie. We talked about how we instinctively reacted to how to survive. We both lifted our hiking poles up, ready to protect ourselves. But it would probably not help us much. In this case it would most likely be like carbon toothpicks for this creature.
We arrived in Pourtalet just as the thunderstorms bagan. We found shelter, and cell phone coverage. We had to search the web for which predators were living in these mountains. A quick search gave us the answer that this was an area with the most bears in the Pyrenees. And by the deep growling and intense sounds we concluded that we probably walked by a bear that had just taken its prey. We walked with headwinds and that’s probably why we got that close.
Shelter in Pourtalet.
Nikolas arrived with the van shortly after. A very needed shower and dinner accompanied by a light show from the thunderstorms nearby. A cool way to end this eventful day! And it’s worth mentioning that we did quite well in the competition today.
Those who made it early into Spain to utilize the the good flying conditions on Tuesday quickly raced away, and split the pack.
Many of the rest of us left behind formed a close group scattered every few kilometers from Accous to the Spanish ski resorts.
Every small town or village, every road side car park. We’d pull up beside a van, share stories of exciting flights and scary landings, swap tactics, routes, plans and words of encouragement.
This is the beauty of a race like the X-Pyr. For some, it’s fiercely competitive. For most, it’s an adventure which you share with your team and you end with new friends from all over the world.
On the fourth day of the X-Pyr we abandoned “very much” to my regret. A right knee injury that hadn’t appeared since 2017 and that I had completely forgotten about, started on the second day of the race. Even so, I continued on every climb and above all on every descent, like the one this morning to the 📍Tobazo, where I had to go backwards down a lot of slope. We think that this has also led to an inflammation of one of the tendons in my ankle. The pain hasn’t stopped these days and making the decision is not easy. I climbed the 📍Bacún with the idea of being able to fly towards Peña Montañesa, the third of the waypoints. But the pace of ascent was getting slower and slower until I reached the refuge before the peak and I called my support Nacho Recas to see how he could pick me up. A race where we have poured a lot of energy and enthusiasm, making this decision is not easy for me.
Today Noé Court, in the early afternoon, climbed up to 2,000 metres at Plo del Naou, at the east of the Col d’Aspin, to take off in an attempt to escape the thermal immersion layer. His intention was to glide through the cloud to the end of the valley and then gain height to go directly to the Midi de Bigorre.
After the first days it was hard to believe our eyes when we had seen the sun for the first time during the race. The race was finally on! After a morning group hike with Noé, Maxime and Chrigel we got airborne, flying in tough conditions yet covering a lot of ground in the air. Some tough Lee side thermals at TP 4 made us lose sight of Maxime and Chrigel, but the outcome is nowhere near decided.
