Winter Eigertour 101

There is always a feeling of excitement when heading into the mountains – the early morning rush, the last-minute gear dilemmas (headband or buff?) and then stepping outside to be greeted by a cold blast of fresh alpine air. Not even the falling flakes of snow and gusts of spindrift from the rooftops could dampen my enthusiasm, for I was about to combine two loves – ski touring and flying. 

I’d signed up for the Winter Eigertour Academy, which takes place alongside the Winter Eigertour race. I’d watched the reels, it was time to learn the art of the ‘combo’ for myself. There were four of us in our group, two French-speaking para-alpinists into climb-and-fly, and another Swiss alpine sports athlete. We shouldered our wings and headed to the open fields in the valley for the first lesson, on kiting. 

Reto Marolf, a tandem pilot and instructor from Grindelwald, led the group into the lee of a farm building. The gusts were strong and I wondered if I’d launch in this back home. Probably not. The para-alpinists confessed they’d never kited. As a UK pilot, used to slope-landing halfway down a hill, I’m pretty familiar with the art of kiting my way back up to save the legs. I’m also OK on a pair of skis. I was confident I could nail this. 

“When the wing is down, you really need to lean back in the opposite direction,” Reto advised. 

I pulled my wing out, unzipped my harness and squared away my speedbar foot leash – I wouldn’t be needing that. I then tried to close the...