In Control

The southwest launch on the Dent de Crolles can feel like a sketchy place in a crosswind. It is the exposure that does it – you know a few metres below the small ribbon of launchable grass the ground drops away towards steep limestone cliffs. As a result, many pilots step further back and try to launch from the nicer ground, but with a stronger wind. The result is often comical to watch, sometimes more alarming as pilots struggle with their wings and get pulled backwards or sideways. 

No such performance for new Paragliding World Champion Baptiste Lambert who arrived just before 9am as the wind was continuing to freshen. Carrying a tiny backpack he loped along the crest before dropping down to a scrappy patch of grass among the rocks. Minutes later he had his wing, a small Ozone Ultralite 5 mountain glider, in perfect balance above his head, as if he was on the dunes at sea level and not at 2,000m in the French Alps. Groundhandling cross wind until he was perched on the edge of the rocky summit, now aligned perfectly into wind, he launched with a laugh and was gone, flying down to start his day’s work on the Ozone stand at this year’s Coupe Icare.

Paragliding is one of those sports where any newly crowned world champion must fit their interview requests into their lunch break. Baptiste was on the Ozone stand all weekend, working on showing the harnesses to pilots and public. It’s a bit like finding Roger Federer stringing rackets at a...