Chrigel Maurer and Peter von Känel ‘open a new chapter in mountain movement’ as they climb-and-fly all 82 Alpine 4,000m peaks in just 51 days
It was an ambitious project: to climb all 82 of the Alpine 4,000m peaks, linking the summits for the first time by paraglider and foot, in less than 72 days. But after only 51 days of non-stop of climbing and flying the Swiss pilots Chrigel Maurer and Peter von Känel have succeeded in their epic quest, ending where they started, in the pair’s hometown of Frutigen. In a post on Instagram, Chrigel simply wrote: “speechless”.
“It was an unbelievable two months,” he told us. “It was really intense, for sure it was a hard project. My strengths was in the paragliding part, and Peter was on the climbing parts. This was a really interesting combination, I think it was a really strong team.”
He said that they had a lot of luck. “We got lucky with the weather and wind and had nice flights. This is finally unbelievable. For us it’s a really successful project with many good memories.”
The pair set off on 10 June, setting themselves strict rules for the challenge: to stand together on all 82 4,000m peaks of the Alps, to move only by foot and paraglider and to start and finish in Frutigen. Additionally they had no support vehicle and set themselves the goal of using the same equipment without changing any of it during the trip. The pair both flew Advance’s new Theta ULS (EN B), which is billed as an “ultralight mid-B adventure tourer.”
Thanks to a late snowfall across the Alps, the first part of the mountain adventure was on skis, which made life easier. “The first 30 peaks was more or less ski touring, but then it changed and the weather became really good.”
The pair started in the Kander valley, moving onto the Jungfrau region – home to the Eiger – and then onto Monte Rosa and the Breithorn group and then west to the Mt Blanc massif.
The most easterly peak was Piz Bernina, the most westerly Barres des Ecrins, which turned out to be one of the easiest peaks after the pair successfully top landed at 3,900m on 20 July. “We landed and got up to the peak in 30 minutes,” Chrigel said.
But the days before had been a nightmare. “Friday 17th was a disaster,” Chrigel posted on Instagram. On that day they managed just 30km after five flights and hiked an incredible 3,900m of vertical ascent.
The pair were not able to top land on the summits and were only able to launch from a few, including the Bishorn, Grandes Jorasses and Monch. The Grandes Jorasses proved quite an adventure for Chrigel, as he found himself out of his comfort zone during the ascent. He described the climb as “very stressful”. They set off from the Torino hut at 2.30am and pushed for 12 hours to Point Walker. “I do not like this ridge climbing that much,” he posted at the time.
At the summit the roles were reversed. Von Känel, a mountain guide (and no relation to Advance pilot Patrick) found himself with a stressful takeoff. But the two stuck to their team motto, which was that at least one of them should always be having fun. Fifteen minutes later they were back at the Torino.
“We had a really good time,” adds Chrigel. “I was always challenged for sure!”
Tributes have begun to pour in from pilots. “Chrigel and Peter have opened a new chapter on movement in the mountains,” says Tom Payne, who has followed the adventure from the start. “What most alpinists dream of achieving in their lifetime, Chrigel and Peter have achieved in just 51 days.
“It’s hard to really understand the skill and level of achievement here – their skills complemented each other perfectly. They have together opened a new chapter on mountain movement. It should go down in history as the most epic Alpine tour ever.”
The pilot and Mt Blanc mountain guide Fred Souchon was also among the first to congratulate them. “What an incredible adventure!” he posted. “Very impressive sequence after top landing in the Col de Peuterey.”
The col, on the south side of Mt Blanc, is situated among a hugely complicated amphitheatre of rock and glacial ice, and not somewhere many pilots would consider landing.
The route of their adventure is available on the weather, mapping and tracking app Burnair burnair.cloud/xpeaks and the climbs can also be seen on Chrigel’s Strava account.
This is the first time anyone has successfully linked all 82 4,000m peaks by paraglider. In 2015 the late Swiss climber Ueli Steck climbed all 82 peaks in 62 days, hiking and cycling between each one.
The full story of Chrigel and Peter’s adventure will appear in the next issue of Cross Country magazine. Subscribe today for eight issues a year plus full access to premium content online, six masterclasses a year and the chance to win a brand new paraglider
