Comps and Events

Wanderbirds fly high at the Kitzbühel Trophy

The focus is on fitness and fun as much as hardcore racing

10 June, 2025, by Marcus King | All photos: Marcus King

François Montuori and Pauline Müller won the Wanderbird Kitzbühel Trophy in Austria over a long weekend which saw the emphasis as much on the amount of fun being had as kilometres flown.

After two task days over the weekend of 6-9 June 2025 France’s François Montuori and Austria’s Pauline Müller came out on top of the Hero class in the hike-and-fly race.

Pirmin Maurus and Helena Kargl won the Tour category and Janik Liebold and Christel Rivière won the Fun category.

The Wanderbird Trophy Kitzbühel is an inclusive hike-and-fly event with community at its heart. The brainchild of Red Bull X-Alps pilots Paul Guschlbauer and Aaron Durogati there are three categories: Hero, which is for hardcore hike-and-fly racers; Tour, hike-and-fly only and a shorter distance than Hero; and Fun, a hike-and-fly event where lifts can be used but with time penalties.

Race start in Kitzbühel, home to the start of the Red Bull X-Alps

Rain was forecast for the first day so a half-day task was set, starting with a hike up the famous Hahnenkamm. However, the predicted rain never arrived but neither did the thermals. Instead, low cloud on launch also prevented some of the competitors from launching so there was a good amount of hiking involved.

First for the day were Francois Montuori in the men’s Hero, Romy Sweda in the women’s Hero, Permin Maurus in the Men’s Tour, Helena Kargl in the women’s Tour, Armin Percher in the Men’s Fun and Christel Rivière in the women’s Fun.

The Sunday was a community day starting with yoga and focusing on various workshops to help pilots improve their hike-and-fly performance.

Hiking the Hahnenkamm — Competitors hiking up the famous Hahnenkamm

The weather was perfect for the second task day with the Austrian Alps delivering a perfect day for hike-and-fly racing. The Heros had a 60km cats-cradle task while the Fun and Tour category was 35km or so in the same arena. As a result there was plenty of ‘meeting’ of other pilots en route. Like the day before, the task started with a dash (or slog, depending) up the Hahnenkamm (900m elevation in 5km, advertised on the signs as a 2.5-hour hike, completed in an astonishing 45 minutes by the first up).

Flying above the Hahnenkamm launch and on glide towards Hockwildalm

It was flyable all day but trickier lower down meaning plenty of hiking was still on the agenda for some. Austria’s own Helmut Eichholzer was first into goal winning the men’s Hero category. Pauline Müller was the first woman to complete the Hero task. In the other categories winners for the day were Tobias Ramsbacher in the men’s Tour, Dörte Dammann in the women’s Tour, Janik Liebold in the men’s Fun and Nicola Thost in the women’s Fun.