Aaron Durogati breaks hike-and-fly record under the midnight sun

Aaron Durogati has set a new 24-hour hike-and-fly world record after climbing and flying an astonishing 19,424m of vertical ascent in a single day on Norway’s Slogen mountain.

The challenge took place on 7-8 June 2026, with Aaron repeatedly climbing and flying from the 1,080m mountain near Norway’s western coast. By the end of the 24-hour period he had accumulated enough ascent to surpass the previous record by 1,890m.

“It was tough, but I had really good support which kept me motivated throughout,” Aaron said afterwards.

The hike-and-fly 24-challenge is deceptively simple but brutal: pilots climb a mountain carrying their paraglider, launch, fly back down, and repeat the process as many times as possible within 24 hours.

The achievement means Aaron climbed the equivalent of more than two Mount Everests in less than a day, maintaining an average ascent rate of around 900m per hour.

Slogen’s location and the long daylight hours of the Norwegian summer provided ideal conditions for the attempt – and was the mountain used by Erlend Erkvitne during his hike-and-fly record attempt in 2024. The mountain rises directly from near sea level to 1,080m, allowing Aaron to maximise vertical gain on each lap.

The course followed a 2.57 km route with approximately 1,080m of vertical gain per ascent, starting almost at sea level and rising directly from the fjord.

It is the same route Kilian Jornet, the ‘GOAT’ of mountain endurance, selected for his Vertical Kilometer record attempt. In midsummer the extreme vertical gain, near-sea-level start, and 24-hour daylight create ideal conditions for this type of challenge.

“There were a couple of hard moments, already after 4,000 to 5,000 vertical metres I got really tired, especially thinking about the 20 hours I had left, but I tried to stay really focused on every lap, every step,” Aaron said afterwards.

“I also tried to divide the ascent in little pieces and be really precise, efficient and fast during flying – in a way just ‘run’ but of course at night, when it gets darker, also with some rain showers, it was tough, but I had really good support which kept me motivated throughout.”

Aaron, who won the Red Bull X-Alps last year, said he had prepared meticulously for the 24-hour challenge: “It was the full package, I worked really hard on my strength, my physical preparation, I built a few special paragliders for this project, special backpacks and harnesses.

“I know that out of 18 laps, every 10 seconds I’m able to save here and there, will in the end make up to 1-1,5 minutes times the 18 laps, and that might make the difference between having a world record or not. So I was really motivated to be as efficient as I was able to.”

He added: “It feels really amazing as it was a long-term project. I’m racing a lot and to pull off this whole project I needed about three-quarters of a year, and the right location and a good team. It was something that was missing in my career, and this year I found the motivation, the place and the time, and in the last 24 hours everything came together and I made it.”

The 24-hour hike-and-fly challenge can be traced back to 2014, when Austrian pilot Florian Ebenbichler recorded 8,860m of vertical gain in 24 hours using an ultralight paraglider.

Since then the record has been broken several times. Most recently the record was held by French pilot Tanguy Renaud-Goud. That was set in April 2024 in France and used a full moon and special permission to fly through the night.

Known for his achievements in hike-and-fly racing and cross-country flying, Aaron Durogati has built a reputation as one of paragliding’s most versatile and accomplished pilots. He was won the Paragliding World Cup Superfinal twice as well as the Red Bull X-Alps in 2025.

The record

The 24-hour hike-and-fly record is not an official FAI world record but has nevertheless been fiercely contested over the last decade.

Florian Ebenbichler, Pascal Purin’s future Red Bull X-Alps supporter and trainer, got the ball rolling when he completed 8,860m in 2014.

Two years later Pascal Purin himself completed 9,540m on 18 June 2016, flying in the Stubai Valley, Austria as part of his training for the X-Alps in 2017.

Italian Olympic biathlete and paraglider pilot Lukas Hofer then moved the bar significantly higher on 1 July 2019 when he spent nearly 20 hours climbing the Kronplatz 10 times for a cumulative total of 13,040m (also reported online at 13,390m)

In June 2021 Tanguy Renaud-Goud used the longest day of the year to complete 13,390m in one day. All the pilots to this point used available daylight and stayed within VFR (visual flight rules).

A little under a year later on 14-15 May 2022 pro trail runner Andy Symonds got permission to fly his single-skin wing at night and completed 16,976m. The decision to fly at night was a new twist and allowed Andy to take full advantage of a full moon for maximum visibility.

In 2023 Jeremy Paxson from Germany headed north to Norway at midsummer to take advantage of the 24-hour daylight at that time of year and had a crack at it too. On 19 June he ran up and flew down a mountain above Norangerfjord in central Norway 13 times in less 24 hours. Although he did not break Andy’s record the passionate ultra-runner and paraglider pilot covered a cumulative 14,690m of altitude within 21 hours.

In 2024 Tanguy adopted Andy Symonds’ tactics and got permission to fly at night – and managed to set the new record at 17,534m. He beat Andy’s previous record of 16,976m by 558m.

On 3 July 2024 Norway’s Erlend Ukvitne attempted to break that record with an unsupported attempt. Seeing a rare weather window open up, he took the day off work, drove for seven hours, slept for two, then began the ascent of Slogen. Over the next 24 hours, he hiked a total of 16,178 vertical metres, just 1,356m less than Tanguy.

Finally, in June 2026 Aaron Durogati topped the lot – completing 19,424m in a single day.