The Coupe Icare 2024 saw generally good weather this year, allowing some of the best and most outlandish outfits you’ll ever see attached to a paraglider to launch from the Plateau-des-Petites-Roches on both the Saturday and Sunday of this now five-day free-flight festival.
Among them were furry animals, film characters and creatures from out of space. As well as having a lot of fun, pilots were also being judged in various categories.
‘Madagascar’ won the best group prize, consisting of a flying zebra, giraffe, hippo and lion.
The best tandem costume was awarded to Myungyoo Lee, who not only created a butterfly harness, but also decorated their wing in the colours of a butterfly.
David Machart won first prize in the solo paraglider category, dressed as a ‘Steampunk Time Traveller’ and Scales Friedrich won first prize in the hang gliding category, dressed as ‘Toothless the Hang Gliding Dragon’.
The fancy-dress flying parade is one of the highlights of the Coupe Icare each year. Hundreds of spectators lined the bank behind launch to watch as a steady stream of inventive characters and creations took to the skies.
Not every launch was successful. A giant hand piloted by the Addams family unfortunately suffered irreparable damage during an aborted launch which they were forced to leave behind for their second (successful) attempt.
Film Festival
Meanwhile, the 42nd edition of the International free flight film and air sports festival announced their awards.
The Icare d’Or, or Golden Icarus, the first prize, went to Guillaume Funck for his film The Paralpine. This is about a project to hike-and-fly across the Alps while climbing some pretty big peaks along the way.
The Icare du Grand Voyage, or Great Journey prize, went to Bertrand Delapierre and Jérémie Chenal for their film Crossing Dream, about a 2,500km flight across Tajikistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.
The Icare de l’Emotion went to Avec Riton, directed by Antoine Girard, Brian Mathé and Morgan Monchaud. It follows Antoine’s north to south journey along the Andes with Henri, who tragically died at the end of the trip. It also won the Icare du Public, the public choice prize.
Ian Rinefort won the Icare des Mômes for his film, Speedriding in the French Alps.
The film festival jury was made up of Didier Lafond, Laurent Roudneff, Franck Malleus, Karin Eken and Jean-Yves Fredriksen, who was fresh back from Pakistan having climbed and flown K2.
The Coupe Icare, or Icarus Cup, is the biggest international free-flight festival in the world. Held every year at the end of the European summer flying season, it takes place at St Hilaire du Touvet and Lumbin, between Grenoble and Chambéry.
Now in its sixth decade the festival attracts not only paraglider pilots but also hang-glider pilots, paramotorists, hot air balloonists and also features aerobatic displays. It was first held in 1974.
A full round-up of new gear and new product launches from inside the Coupe Icare Expo will be featured in the next issue of Cross Country magazine
