“I was napping, still inside my harness, when suddenly three amazing humans showed up and took care of my tired soul.”
Playing deep in the glaciers and high valleys of Bir, India, Jorge Atramiz took the cover shot of Mike Laengle. Inside Cross Country 248, Jorge tells their story of meeting pioneering pilots and incredible mountain people who call this place home.
Here’s what else is in this issue:
Competing in Colombia – from the SRS Ozone Edition, through the Colombian Spring Open to the British Winter Open – we get to relive some of the action from this world-class competition venue.
We get outdoors and breathless with the 22 skimo-pilots of this year’s EigerTour for three “unforgettable” winter days in the Swiss Alps.
“I came into this wanting to improve my flying, but I think it really improved my leading skills.” We’re on launch with Dylan Mansley after his amazing campaign in back-to-back Colombian competitions.
The Wanderbird Cup comes to Rio for the first time and spreads the competition spirit to its small but passionate hike-and-fly community.
Emilia Plak reports in from the Paramotor Slalom Worlds in Qatar describing is as the “best we’ve ever seen”.
“These are the memories most often captured by photos.” Regular contributor Allen Weynberg paints a colourful picture of flying the skies of Australia.
Stamp out a trench, lay out your glider and weigh it down with snow. Jake Holland gives us the ins and outs of paragliding in the mountains with skis.
Redemption for Gavin McClurg as he reveals what it took to finally taste paragliding’s forbidden fruit after his win at the Monarca Paragliding Open
“I don’t think SIV is for every paramotor pilot.” Rich Dolan weighs up to pros and cons of SIV for paramotor pilots to see if it is worth considering.
Veteran SIV instructor Heli Schrempf schools Melanie Weber, Adi Geisegger and Michi Maurer in new approaches to collapse recovery and explains why he has ditched SIV in favour of SPC – safety pilot coaching.
We soar above the 4,000m peaks of the Swiss Alps with photos by Andy Busslinger to examine the fragile beauty of the mighty glaciers and what we stand to lose.
Searching for dragons in South Wales as Henry George gives us a local’s guide to flying in the region – even over winter.
Tarquin Cooper speaks to Johannes Fritz to hear how humans are helping northern bald ibis rediscover their migratory instincts, leading them with paramotor trikes.
We think like a kid in part two of the five-part series exploring Julien Garcia’s approach to coaching the French paragliding team.
Buy once, cry once? Jack Peake helps us avoid the pitfalls of choosing the right equipment and think less about simply moving up the hierarchy. Read his top tips for buying that next glider.
The future of EN-C is two-liner and Erwin Voogt takes a brand new Nova Codex for a trip to Öludeniz to let us know what he thinks.
Plus: We look at what’s new in detail and in brief as the 2024 season really starts to get under way.
Cross Country Issue 248 (Early Spring) is out now.
