Flying high: Davis paraglider shares X-Alps experience
By Margaret Burns
Thirty pilot/athletes from 22 countries started out in the X-Alps race on July 17 and only 18 finished 14 days later. They had attempted to paraglide and hike the 900 miles from Salzburg, Austria, to Monaco with a 25-pound backpack and an assistant driving a van with the rest of their gear.
Honza Rejmanek of Davis was the only U.S. competitor chosen. This was his third time participating in the biennial competition, which started in 2003. After two weeks of traveling through stunning scenery, he finished 10th, 181 km from Monaco. He called from his grandmother’s garden in Hradec Králové, in the Czech Republic, his recuperation site, to report on his race experience.
“Overall, the X-Alps was much more intense than in 2009 or 2007. I had no time for anything — a swim in a lake, diary writing, taking photos. The new sleeping rule (resting required from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.) ended up making us all sleep less. I averaged just over four hours compared to five in the prior races.
“My performance did not get worse, but the field got better. The weather was much less flyable than previously. That is how you cover the most ground, and save your body.”
The athletes were allowed to choose their own route but were required to make specified mountain peak turnpoints within a circumscribed distance. Every 48 hours, the last participant was eliminated from the race, which ended 48 hours after the first pilot landed at Monaco.
“Day One and Two, I got a little bit of flying in and hiked to the Dachstein turnpoint. It was a nice morning,” Rejmanek reported in his daily video.
Videos, photos and interviews are required of all participants with stiff penalties if they do not comply.
“On Day Three, I was walking with Pierre Carter, Republic of South Africa, to the Grossglockner,” Rejmanek said. “There may have been some flying to be had but it looked pretty sketchy, so I decided not to. We decided to traverse across the high passes, which turned out to be a tactical error in that it was energetically costly but beautiful. We would have been better off to go down to the road.
“Day Four was a tough one. Hiking through snow in a cold wind, I climbed up to an Alpine hut to sleep but was hypothermic. About an hour after I went to sleep, I threw up all my food. Day 5 dawned with beautiful flying weather and I managed a four-hour spectacular flight. After landing, I was exhausted, lost distance that day and was back in the middle of the pack.
“On Day Six, I felt a lot better and had a lot of hopper flights. Launched and landed at least six times. The last place I landed was an abandoned orchard with plenty of blackberries, plums and apples — couldn’t have been better!”
Days 7 and 8 brought strong winds, he recalled.
“I was hiking with Evgeny Griaznov, Russia, tagging the Piz Palú turnpoint. Overall, I ended up in strong winds two or three times. This race rewarded the daring (or more reckless) who will and can fly in turbulent conditions.
“Day 9 finally felt like a proper X-Alps day. I was able to cover about 70 km in a straight line. Some very precarious launches and landings on steep snow, flying through rain, just to make it down to the valley by sunset at 9 p.m. That night, I had a really big bowl of pasta, about a five-portion serving and managed to eat two-thirds of it.
“Day 10 and 11 and 12 were long hiking days, almost no flying. Fairly demoralizing. Cloudy and slightly drizzling. Given the bad weather, at least I was hiking in the mountains and not on the damn road. Anything to stay off the road.
“Day 12 in Zermatt was a little bit cloudy. Hoped to fly out after tagging the Matterhorn turnpoint. Got the same piece of raspberry pastry here as I did in 2009. Overall, this year, I was able to fly only 22 hours — 25 percent less than the 30 hours I flew in 2009.”
Day 13 found him hiking and flying in the Sion Valley.
“I landed in scary strong winds but got down safely,” Rejmanek said. “I kissed the ground. Then hiked up fast, making a really hard push in order to make a pre-sunset glide toward Chamonix. Stayed at the house of the same generous X-Alps spectators as in 2009. First hot shower in two weeks.
“Day 14, the race was ending at 4:22 p.m. I made one last push to see if I could make it into the top 10. It was tough because those guys were way ahead. I got a super nice flight — one of the best, if not my best flight in this X-Alps. Scenic. Pulled out all my tricks to make it happen. I’m very happy.”
Rejmanek was lucky to have no serious physical problems — no knee injuries, tendinitis or painful blisters that can take a competitor out of the race. He’s thankful for the lack of injuries and for the support from so many.
“I want to thank all our donors, supporters and well-wishers. Seeing the guestbook entries from all over the world was wonderful. Dave and I cannot thank everyone enough.”
Now, Rejmanek is looking forward to a new race, the X-West planned next summer.
“This will be an unblazed, 500-mile route from Portland to Calgary. It will be rustic and have moose and grizzlies and totally different tactical and support decisions compared to the relative civilization of the X-Alps,” he said. “Only 10 people will be selected to compete — two Americans, two Canadians and six others. It would be an honor to be in it.”
Reflecting on his just-completed journey, Rejmanek concedes that there’s much to love about his sport but the competition can be grueling.
“When I started paragliding, I couldn’t understand why everyone wasn’t paragliding. I can understand why everyone is not interested in doing the X-Alps. There is a certain masochistic reality to this race.”
— Margaret S. Burns is a local freelance writer. Reach her at burns.margaret99@gmail.com.
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Posted by Special to The Enterprise
on Aug 8 2011.
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