NOVA Red Bull X-Alps Blog: MON 21.06.2021

Fact: Maxime flew deep into the Streif alone in front of a large crowd of favourites and had to land at the finish of the men's downhill due to a lack of landing spots. Penalty hiking without end. At the signing board at the Mausefalle, after the two escapees Markus Anders (GER) and Paul Guschlbauer (AUT), six others signed off in the bunch, among them Maxime's rival Chrigel Maurer (SUI). The bunch started out and had no trouble catching up with Paul and almost catching up with Markus.

Personally, I like the lonely fighters, hence Maxime and Chrigel. I find it fascinating when they do their thing alone for days. I also see tendencies among our young NOVA pilots to go off on their thermal search alone. Today was no exception. True, it is an irrational, reality-distorted perception of what we see here on the screen. But one begins to talk to the screen and to develop feelings towards the coloured lines in pretend 3D terrain.

I have to bring in Ken Oguma right away. Boy, did that young Japanese athlete keep me on tenterhooks from six in the morning until the afternoon. I hope he had better nerves than I did. Hair-raising, hair-raising good. More on Ken's dramas later. First a similar assessment from Théo de Blic (FRA) and little from Nicola Donini (ITA) today, come back for sure, he'll know how to show himself.

Théo caught up with Nicola today, at least for a while. Chapeau, mon ami! He had to run long hours from five in the morning - I checked, I was up too, friends. There is no replay in all this electronic racing - you have to be there all the time - unfair, but that's how marketing people are, some of them - sometimes. Oh, so what was I going to write?
 

Then Théo flew tactically clever, benefiting from high altitudes, which were certainly not easy to realise, the thermals not easy to locate. Beyond the Zellersee, the time had come: Théo was approaching at a hopeful altitude. But then it was all over again for Théo and some of the other pilots - including Nicola. Somehow it looked like the Glemmtal, which most of them chose, would be difficult to leave. Over at the “Pinzgauer Spaziergang” it also worked out, but it wasn't on the line and it didn't go better and thus faster for sure. In the Glemmtal it was sometimes very difficult. It didn't go upwards on the north or south side. On the screen it looked as if the boys lacked imagination. You could see a lot of colourful lines in the 2D graphics that worked. But that's just screen flying.
 

Well, our two pilots Théo and Nicola had to let themselves be overtaken in Glemmtal and just beyond, Kitzbühel in view, pretty much three o'clock in the afternoon - they on the ground, the overtakers in the air. Yael Margelisch (SUI), the second woman of the day, also found the overtaking lane. In an unbelievable height and without soaring around she crossed diagonally over the back Glemmtal and away she went towards the turn Kitzbühel. Laurie Genovese from France flew in front groups long before noon and already saw the Chiemsee over her harness in the early afternoon. Respect!

But now, as an example for the day, to Ken Oguma, whom I envy for his dashing NOVA harness. I would probably destroy it on the first take-off. But let's talk about Ken. Ken, he didn't get to start marching in the morning until about ten to six. As he was staying at 1700 metres, it was a short march to the nearest good launch site. He took his time for a first glide over a side valley to the west, landed on the slope and climbed up there to the Arlspitze, sat down in the grass at the summit at a good 2100 metres, and waited. And then he waited and waited. Why not quickly fly over another valley and wait there until the thermals arrive?

Then he took off - and landed again after a few loops before the summit. Man, Ken, this is a race, remember? Wait, here are my notes from the morning:

1009 o’clock
Over and over it goes upwards! 2800, 2400, Lauri Genovese, the two Japanese, Paul, Patrick, Nicola as highest now - the race is on.

So, well rested, Ken finally went into the race. And wouldn't you know it - two hours later I'm taking notes:

1203 o’clock
That is so cool! Is that luck or skill? Ken fought himself back up! Above Saalbach - nota bene - on the same level as Chrigel Maurer, who is flying at a safe altitude - Ken glides into disaster. Below 1500 metres, where so many made one or two restarts this morning, e.g. Nicola Donini, who is still running up. What does good Ken do then? He switches to the shady side of the valley, within shouting distance of the people in the village. I think he wants to land, and climb a take-off on this side, more protected from the valley wind, on foot. But barely a hundred metres above the valley floor, what is that, 1100 metres maybe, he finds thermals again and gathers height again. I don't believe it! Again Ken is doing very well. A good twenty kilometres to go to the Hahnenkamm. Only Paul and Markus have landed there to sign off. A handful of other athletes glide towards the turnpoint. Turnpoint check. Great Ken, really.

Anyone who has done low saves will share my enthusiasm. This really was an incredible move by Ken. Afternoon around 4pm after a good turn in Kitzbühel, he was the first (but subsequently not the last) to miss the thermals at Wilder Kaiser, the last prominent rock face before the foothills of the Alps. As was to be expected, it became more stable towards the north and towards the evening - and the so-called Bavarian Wind, fear of the local pilots, blows in the athletes' faces from the north.

Théo de Blic glided well towards the Hahnenkamm / Kitzbühel Turn later in the afternoon, but then landed at the bottom of the valley. Was that frustration already? Nick Donini struggled to get back up for the second time, also near the Hahnenkamm turnpoint. Towards six in the evening, the chances of a good further flight declined sharply.

Today it was a very different race day from yesterday: the air clearer, the base higher, there was even a base, not just blue and grey skies. Early thermals, difficult glides from high altitude to tremendous depths. Even Chrigel Maurer showed weaknesses when he took off from Schmittenhöhe and parked himself right away on an eastern slope in Glemmtal, while a dozen others passed over him. We have already discussed Maxime's bad luck.

Exciting and impressive for on-screen viewers: out of the Tyrolean Alps into the Bavarian Alps and finally out into the great expanse of the lowlands - almost to the Chiemsee, the "Bavarian Sea". German X-Alps Veteran Markus Anders was the first to fly in on the delta of the Tyrolean Achen at Chiemsee, a strong north wind made him land in front of the turn point cylinder. Chrigel Maurer led a chasing group of six people to the turn, while Markus was already running into the cylinder and trailing it off. Funny, who landed within minutes: AUT1/2, ITA1/2 and SUI1/2. You might think these were the teams and numbers to chase. But far from it. The chasers are international. The chasers too. French from 1 to 5 always within striking distance, Belgians, Dutch and so on, and so on. It is not yet the lone-fighter-X-Alps that it is likely to become at some point these days.

At six o'clock in the evening, the first people set off on foot and in the air towards the Zugspitze. The blog will go online if it is still possible to fly. Addendum to this evening's blog again tomorrow.

Screenshot of the day: Nicola Donini this evening at seven, the Wilder Kaiser towering in front of him. Behind him, the leading pack is already on its way to the top of the train. Nicola still has a long way to go out on the flat to Lake Chiemsee. He will run for a while today. But not yet. In the middle of the valley he finds a gradient of over one metre per second. That's distance that doesn't hurt. He has run a lot today. Let's give him every metre he climbs today!

Text: Roli Mäder (NOVA Team Pilot)

PS: Meanwhile, check out our video of the day. You can also watch more of our current clips on the Facebook playlist.