Courch’Ailes 2018: paragliders above 3,500 m

The paragliders of the “Courchev’Ailes 2018” at more than 3,500 m altitude!

On 21 and 22 April 2018, the winter season in Courchevel closed in the air, with about thirty paraglider pilots lighting up the sky at the “Courchev’Ailes” national paragliding competition organised by the Courchevel Sports Outdoor Free Flight club. For 2 days, the pilots had to use strategy to find the right thermals and plot the best route through the mountainous terrain, on set courses of about forty kilometres as the crow flies, in one of the finest free flight playgrounds.

In the 1st round on Saturday, at 2 pm, the competitors took off from the Col de la Loze to reach the Rocher de la Loze before setting off on a 46.2 km journey, a route devised by Stéphane Gorrand , race director. Exceptional flying conditions allowed them to climb above 3,500 m very quickly thanks to thermals. This selective course comprises 5 turn points. Besides the Rocher de la Loze (turn point 1), the paraglider pilots must head for the Pointe de la Vélière (turn point 2) above Champagny, then fly over the Villemartin chapel (turn point 3), the Grand Bec refuge (turn point 4) and the Bozelet chapel (turn point 5) before finishing with a landing at Le Praz. This first round, completed by almost all the competitors, was dominated by Poland’s Pawel Chrzaszcz.

A more technical second round…

A superb sunny day awaited the flying men on Sunday 22 April. However, the set route, shorter (42.8 km) but more technical and strategic and hampered by a capricious south wind, produced a massacre: only a quarter of the participants managed to complete the course: Rocher de la Loze, Pointe de la Vélière, Mont Saint-Jaques (above La Plagne), Croix des Verdons, Villemartin chapel and landing at Le Praz. In these tricky conditions, Pawel Chrzaszcz confirmed his mastery of the elements and won brilliantly.

In the final standings, he won the event with 2,000 points (maximum score) ahead of Pierre-Alexandre Sacre (1,850.9 points) and François Piotrowski (1,686.5 points).

With heads full of memories and magnificent images of the sites flown over, this national paragliding competition ended to general satisfaction thanks to an impeccable organisation masterfully led by Geneviève Dubois-Chabert, president of Courchevel Sports Outdoor Free Flight, helped by her whole team.