We’re now into Day 3 at Red Bull X-Alps and Pierre Carter remains in Top 10 (sitting in 6th most of today). News just in from James Braid, his support crew. In this photo, Pierre is planning a route to Grossglockner this morning with competitors from SUI1, FRA and USA.
Well, for those watching via the live tracking, it has been a very exciting race so far! Sunday turned out to be a brilliant flying day, and about 25 out of the 30 pilots in the competition had a good flight.
After the start in downtown Salzburg, Pierre reached the top of the mountain amongst the top three, from the back side. And as predicted, there was mass confusion. At the same time, two guys arrived from the northern side of the mountain, and mixed with thousands of spectators, the guys had to fight their way through the crowds to get to the turn point.
We had a minor tracking problem (subsequently many problems) so it’s not exactly clear who got to the top first. The tracking devices use the GSM network to send coordinates (once per sec) to the website. So, poor GSM coverage puts a large delay on the data. Also, these devices have a poorly designed battery case, so the batteries fall out without you even knowing it! The race rules say that each pilot must have a backup tracklog, so it means another gps which we download daily. The amount of batteries being consumed is unbelievable, the tracking device uses four AA batteries every 5 hours – the manufacturer claims 20 hours, but we’re getting nowhere near that performance – and we’re using good batteries. At five Euros per pack, for two weeks, that’s going to be expensive.
Most pilots managed to fly to the base of the Dachstein on the NW corner, despite the day deteriorating and the wind building in strength. I really feel sorry for the handful of guys who launched, under pressure of a 1000 screaming spectators on the mountain, only to bomb at the bottom, 700m below, and then watch the entire field climb up to 2000m and glide 70km! Needless to say, the flying leg separated the field between the base of the mountain at the start, and the base of TP1.
Those that landed near the Dachstein, including Pierre, pushed into the night and slept at a climbing hut just below the glacier, about half way up. Pierre, in his true self, did the hike in the dark, without a map, and in shorts! The climbing hut is fully catered and provides blankets etc, so the 10 or so pilots who stayed there, were well looked after.
Monday started with very cold and foggy weather. The pilots who slept on the Dachstein continued up the glacier, in the fog, to the turn point at the top. Here, a criticial decision needed to be made: either wait for it to clear and glide, or climb down and run. Half the field, including Pierre, climbed down the via ferrata and continued on foot. The other half sat on top for several hours, bogged down by fog, waiting to launch and to glide down. At 1500m above the valley floor, even a glide with no lift, will take 15km of walking off one’s feet.
The Polish pilot made a rather interesting move. He phoned me (in the valley below) to check how high the fog was above the ground (approx 200m). He then randomly programmed a position into his gps for a point somewhere in the valley, and promptly launched in fog, off a 1000m high cliff, and glided, mostly in fog, until he reached his point, where he broke cloud and landed. Not exactly Visual Flight Rules! But the rules aren’t clear: “we will check if you do cloud flying, but we won’t penalise you” ?!
Meanwhile, most sane pilots sat on top until about lunch time, waiting for the fog to clear. One such pilot was Honza from team USA. He then flew through a clear patch and landed about 2km behind Pierre, who had, during this time, run on foot about 15km! Pierre and Honza were now more or less in the same position, but Honza had done 15km less on foot. the pair have similar strengths and equal affinities for tea and chocolate biscuits, so have been racing together since. I think it brings to both of them, company and a driving force: neither slows the other down and they can discuss routes, etc.
The day cleared marginally but was still completely overcast, so most pilots remained on foot. By the end of day 2, Honza and Pierre were still together and managed a late evening glide across St Johann to rest their feet and cut a major dogleg out of the route. Honza’s van started giving problems, so Dave (his supporter) has taken the van in for some rather urgent mechanical work. In the meantime, Honza’s essential kit is in the back of my van. So, it seems that Pierre and Honza will be together for a while.
The race leader has changed several times with the Japanese pilot Ogisawa, who lead the race from the start, now being disqualified for breaking the complicated airspace at Salzburg, right at the start!
Christian Amon, who passed Pierre on foot shortly after the via ferrata (we had made a nav error), has now injured himself again (the third time in three races) and is also out. Maurer has snuck into the lead, and everyone is really just playing “follow the leader” at the moment. Maurer is probably playing “catch me if you can”. If he gets airborne, which I’m sure he will, he’ll start pushing far ahead of the rest.
Pierre is in high spirits and doesn’t seem to have any real issues at the moment. Like all the athletes, all his limbs are in pain, but he has surprisingly few blisters and all is okay. The race so far, has gone very well for him and I think he’s thrilled to be where he is. He truly is a machine.
I’ve posted many pics and videos on the diary pages on the Red Bull X-Alps website, so apologies for not attaching any now. The website, for us supporters, is very easy to access, we simply photograph and film with our mobile phones and email it directly to the website. So much easier than USB cables, laptops, etc etc. So forgive me please.
Pierre and Honza are currently close to the Grossglocker, TP4. This is the one that Pierre, during the last race, got lost in the dark, in the snow, in shorts. Well, there’s still 8 hours of sunlight and they need to cover about 6km to reach the TP cylinder, so it should be easily possible. They were playing to fly up the valley in the morning, but the high level southerly winds came down, and conditions are blown-out on top. From there, it’s a long glide into the valley below, which should put them 20km closer to Monaco.
For me, I still need to do the 100km drive around to meet them later. I had a much-needed nap. Sleeping in a van that’s two inches too short, on the side of a road, for three hours a night, is just not good enough for me.
Best regards to all,
James