The last day of the eigertour was starting with foggy condtions at the huts not permitting easy flying. The question was if the athletes should wait for a gap in the clouds or walk down in order to gain time. Not an easy decision - making the race even more interesting.

Since the podium of the challenge category was already decided on friday the day was not less interesting. The flying conditions got better and better and it was possible for some of the athletes in the challenge category to overfly the main ridge of the alps from Lötschental towards the bernese alps. So the athletes still in the race could get much closer to goal - Markus Waltl and Tzak Garnett Leevers were the only athletes in the challenge category who could finish the race on the last day. This makes a total of 11 athletes reaching the goal in the challenge category.

As on day 3 the only athletes reaching goal in the pro category was Chrigel Maurer the race for the podium was still open. Michael Maurer woke up in Glecksteinhütte and had just to pass by Kleine Scheidegg to finish the race - he had to wait a little for the fog to clear up in the morning and could then finish the race by 10.43 in the morning and finished second. Congratulations Michi!

Lars started down in Grindelwald and had to tag Bäregg, Gleckstein and Kleine Scheidegg - it was obvious that he would reach the goal but not yet on which position. Lars pushed through the parcours and could finish the race shortly behind Michi by noon. Congrats Lars for the third place.

Noe had a bit more distance left to reach the goal since he woke up on Sustenpass and had to make his way towards Grindelwald. With an amazing performance he was the last athlete of the pro category reaching the goal in the afternoon finishing on 4th place. Bien joué Noe.

All the other athletes who haven't been mentioned are safe and sound - on this years edition of the Eigertour we did not have any serious accidents despite the difficult weather. Also what the organization saw was a very professional attitude of the athletes and a good teamspirit.

We hope you all had a great time on the parcours and we hope to see you next year again.

Excellent job to all of you guys - Bravo!

While some athletes were travelling back to Grindelwald for the ceremony or some were just reaching goal - there were friends and families having a good time in the goal at Eigerlodge. The local paragliding club Jungfrau Tächi had organized food and drinks for the athletes and their friends and families - thanks a lot for your effort. We spent an amazing time together chatting about the race and meeting new flying friends.

It should be mentioned that the organization has taken note of the unsatisfactory performance of the livetracking and we will evaluate how we can improve an get a stable livetracking. We would like to thank to all the volunteers making the event eigertour possible and also to our generous sponsors: Grindelwald Tourismus, AirDesign, Advance, Skytraxx. Without them, the winners on the podium would not have those great prices.

Sonntag 23. Juli 2022; 10.00 h

Maurer und die Maurerlehrlinge

Chrigel gewinnt, "les absent ont de nouveau tort" und es gibt Versprechen aber auch Fragen für die Zukunft

Die 6. Eigertour ist Geschichte und die Geschichte wiederholt sich teilweise halt doch: Chrigel Maurer holte sich erneut den Sieg. Diese Eigertour brauchte Überwindung: Überwindung nach einem X-Alps überhaupt teilzunehmen, Überwindung sich am ersten windigen Tag der Alpenüberquerung zu stellen, Überwindung trotz Regen und vielen Marschkilometern dranzubleiben. Keine Überraschung, dass der einzige wirkliche Gleitschirmprofi dieser Welt diese Hürden am besten meisterte. Die Leistung verdient unsere grösste Hochachtung. Chrigel hätte sich, angesichts seines Palmares, auch zurücklehnen und das Rennen wie ich von der Kommentatorenbox aus verfolgen können. Eigentlich hatte er nur zu verlieren, sein Sieg wird als beinahe selbstverständlich vorausgesetzt. Aber er wird sich auch klug an ein französisches Sprichwort erinnert haben: "les absent ont toujours tort". Eine Erfahrung mehr, welche seinen härtesten Konkurrenten am nächsten X-Alps fehlen wird.

Diese X-Alps Konkurrenten wurden vor allem durch Michael Maurer aber auch Lars Meerstetter und Noé Court mehr als würdig vertreten. Gerade Bruder Michael bedrängte Chrigel weit härter als es der, durch die Nachtzäsur bedingte Rückstand ausdrückt. Falls er sich entschliesst noch mehr auf dieses Format zu setzen wäre er auch am X-Alps eine Bereicherung und wohl einer der härtesten Konkurrenten für den Seriensieger.

Die Eigertour war bisher meist klar in Schweizer Hand. Bei den Challengern hat sich dies heuer geändert. Gleich drei, die Allgäuer Julian Schweizer und Christian Schugg sowie der Kalifornier Jared Scheid bestiegen mit geringen Zeitabständen nach beeindruckenden Leistungen das Podium. Zu hoffen, dass wir sie bei der nächsten Austragung mit den Pros starten sehen. Aber auch ein Ansporn an die junge Schweizer Garde nicht stehen zu bleiben, sich nicht in den Erfolgen von Chrigel und Co zu sonnen, sondern zielstrebig weiterzuarbeiten und sich zu verbessern. Denn irgendwann wird Chrigel wirklich in der Kommentatorenbox Platz nehmen.

Urs Dubach

Ranking Pro Athletes

Ranking of the Challenge Athletes

The Winner's of this years Challenge race will certainly become big names in the Hike and Fly scene - and shall push the pros in 2024:

1. Julian Schweizer, Germany

2. Jared Scheid, USA

3. Christian Schugg, Germany

in the Pro-Category we see the Maurer Family dominating, but also a future X-alps star rising.

1. Chrigel Maurer (SUI)

2. Michael Maurer (SUI)

3. Lars Meerstetter (SUI)

Update: Wieder Chrigel

Und wieder gewinnt Chrigel Maurer die Eigertour. Trotz miserablem Wetter flog er gestern Abend ins Ziel. Zweiter wird wohl sein Bruder, dritter Lars Meerstetter.

Im Finale im Grindelwaldtal liess der Adler nichts mehr anbrennen und verteidigte seinen Vorsprung souverän. Er hatte wohl keine Lust auf eine zusätzliche Hüttenübernachtung und schaffte das Ziel nach einer Parforceleistung noch gestern Abend. Beeindruckend wie er trotz dem kürzlichen X-Alps Sieg die Spannung auch bei diesen Wetterbedingungen hochhalten konnte. Ein echter Profi eben. Nach der unglücklichen Routenwahl und Aufgabe von Sepp Inniger war er sicher der Favorit. Hart gefordert hat Ihn aber sein Bruder Michael, welcher gezeigt hat, dass neben den Topcrack Chrigel, Von Känel und Inniger eventuell ein vierter Schweizer für ganz Grosses bereitsteht.

Urs Dubach

Weatherwise day 3 started with a cold front passing over switzerland and we expected showers and thunderstorms throughout the whole day. Julian Schweizer and Jared Scheid slept at Eigergletscher and took off together at 06.00 am. However Jared Scheid had a takeoff abortion - so Julian arrived first in goal at 06.20 a.m. - Jared shortly behind at 06.45 a.m. Christian Schugg spent the night under the stars in his glider and arrived in goal at 0645 a.m. Meanwhile the pro athletes Chrigel, Michael Maurer and Lars Meerstetter began their day at the Albert-Heim-Hütte and battled against the winds and rainshowers. In the evening Chrigel was able to finish the race by pushing hard the limits and got in goal shortly before 20.30 since the Race committee had taken out the Turnpoint Blüemlisalphütte. What an amazing performance Chrigel! Michael is spending the night at Glecksteinhütte and will finish tomorrow early in the morning by just tagging the last turnpoint Kleine Scheidegg. Lars Meerstetter is currently third and not too far behind - making a little pit stop at home in Meirinigen. He tried to arrive by nightban at Bäregghütte - however he didn‘t make it tonight but we are expecting him to arrive tomorrow morning at Bäregg - so the will finish the race by noon if everything goes as planned. Noe Court is sleeping at Sustenpass - he will probably arrive in Goal hopefully tomorrow afternoon or even earlier if the flying conditions will be fine.

Dominik Wicki, Tomas Matera and Sebi Weber are sleeping at Albert-Heim-Hütte and hopefully arrive in Goal tomorrow too. We are crossing fingers.

After the first three Athletes of the challenge category who arrived in goal - there was a larger gap to the 4th place. at 13:26 pm Morane Montavon arrived happily and exhausted in goal. Shortly afterwards at 14.41 Nicolas Bourqui arrived in goal, he had struggles taking off at Eigergletscher due to rainshowers passing over the takeoff - not permitting safe flying conditons. So 4th place goes to Morane Montavon and 5th place to Nicolas Bourqui. During the day there were 4 other athletes of the challenge category arriving in goal and the ranking is as follows:

6.Cedric Hofer & Nicolas Eschbach

8.Chris Fromm & Stefan Zaugg

And all the other athletes who are not mentioned are still on the parcours and fighting and showing great courage. We are also keeping an eye on you and will be happy to see you soon in goal in Grindelwald. Congrats to all our athletes. Funny story from athlete Tzak Garnett who found the stay at Kleine Scheidegg too expensive decided to fly down at 20.45 to the valley and will have get up tomorrow morning again to Kleine Scheidegg in order to continue the race.

Our Academy Athletes spent the night at Beatenberg and were able to fly down to Interlaken just in time early in the morning before the thunderstorm arrived. Then they walked all the way from Interlaken to Grindelwald in 3 hours and after a short pit stop at the pizzeria they even made it to the Bäregg hut. This makes a total of 35km of walking with a altitude gain of 1400m. Tomorrow they are heading to the Glecksteinhütte. Great job guys - keep on going.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the Eigertour - flying conditons look better than today with still a lot of humidity in the atmosphere. So it will be another interesting hike and fly day. Tomorrow the race will be finished by 5pm in Grindelwald. We keep you updated.

Tomorrow at 6pm there will be a bar and food at Eigerlodge Grund Grindelwald - make sure you are heading to Grindelwald and bring your friends and family. We hope for many athletes with their friends and family to arrive. After the food and bar there will be the price giving and the Eigertour Afterparty.
Everyone welcome and we hope to see many new faces in the hike&fly community - see you tomorrow bar is open from 10.00 onwards - @ Eigerlodge!

Donnerstag 21. Juli 2023; 16.00 h

Challenger im Trockenen, nasse Pros

Julian Schweizer gewinnt die Challanger Kategorie der Eigertour 2023. Derweil kämpfen sich die Gebrüder Maurer im Regen zurück nach Grindelwald. Auf Grund der Wetterbedingungen wurde das Rennen der Pros leicht verkürzt.

Schlechtes Wetter mit teils heftigen Regenschauern machte den Piloten am heutigen Tag zu schaffen. Die Rennleitung beschloss darum, das Rennen der Pros zu verkürzen. Die Blümlisalphütte wurde gestrichen, der Finish findet nun ausschliesslich im Tal von Grindelwald statt. Dieses erreichen die die beiden Maurer zur Stunde über die Grosse Scheidegg, zu Fuss vom Rosenlaui her. Chrigel hat dabei immer noch einen kleinen Vorsprung. Von dort sind vor dem Ziel im Grund noch die Bäregg, die Glecksteinhütte und die Kleine Scheidegg zu passieren. Im Moment sind dazu wohl nur Gleitflüge möglich, das heisst, es muss weiter auch viel gelaufen werden. In dritter Position befindet sich Lars Meersetter in der Gegend von Gadmen.

Bereits vor den Unwettern konnte das Podium der Challanger ihre Resultate im wahrsten Sinne ins Trockene bringen. Es gewinnt der Allgäuer Julian Schweizer, vor Shed Jared aus Kalifornien und Christian Schugg, ebenfalls aus dem Allgäu – Bravo.

Urs Dubach

Day two started with excellent weather - the first athletes of the challenge category arrived at seven o'clock at the Engstligenalp. Christian Schugg and Jared Scheid were leading the race.They pushed further with short flights towards Tschentenalp and then towards Hahnenmoospass and the other athletes were following close.
The challenge category athletes could tag a lot of turn points during the day - it was a very interesting day in terms of flying - strong and turbulent thermals. The thermals reached up to 4,000 meters or even higher in the Wallis but the athletes had to spiral down in order to not conflict with airspace. Even at seven o'clock in the evening some athletes were able  to take off close to the Anenhütte and then could fly over the main ridge of the alps - it was still climbing above 3,000 meters at that time. In the evening the first athlete was able to tag the turn points of Bäregg, Glecksteinhütte and Eigergletscher and tomorrow morning he'll just have to glide down towards the goal so we expect the first athlete to finish the race tomorrow at 7 o'clock in the morning at Grindelwald.

In the pro category, the athletes were able to tag the first turn point Fusshornbiwak. Except for Alex, who was struggling with the winds at Grimsel. He had 50 kilometers per hour tailwind in the Goms, so he didn't fly after the Grimselpass today and couldn't tag Fusshornbivak yet. Christian Maurer was leading the race until Lars Meerstetter took over the lead. He managed to get in front of Chrigel due to cycling thermals. However, later on Chrigel and Michael Maurer caught up with him and took over the lead again. Currently, Christian and Michael are leading, and Lars is third. The other athletes of the pro category, Juan Sebastiano Spina withdraw from the race, Sebi Weber is eating Pizza in Italy and Dominic Wicki, Thomas Matera, and Noe Court are currently a couple turnpoints behind the leaders in Ticino. It will be not an easy part to catch up with the leaders since thunderstorms are announced for tomorrow.

In the challenge category, the athletes are spread throughout the whole course. Some are a little bit behind, while others are still at Tschentenalp, Adelboden, and Engstligenalp. Some are staying at Lötschenpass, one is enjoying the wellness at Anenhütte, and some are even already back in the Bernese Alps. It will be very interesting to see who will finish the race or not. The hardest part is for those who cannot fly straight from Lötschental to Lauterbrunnenvalley but will have to go all around Kandersteg, Kiental to come back.

In the pro category, we expect that the leaders will arrive at the goal on Saturday morning, and some of them may not be able to finish the race. The race director still has the chance of taking the Blüemlisalphütte Turnpoint away.

Tomorrow, Friday, will be a very interesting day. There will be a cold front passing through Switzerland, so we already expect showers in the morning. Throughout the whole day, there will be thunderstorms and almost no thermals to be expected. We'll see if the athletes who saved energy during the last few days will be able to catch up and with a little luck there will be good windows to fly.

We keep you updated on social media @eigertour

Gleitschirm Eigertour Edition 6 2022

Donnerstag 20. Juli 2022; 18.30 h

Der doppelte Maurer

Michael Maurer hat nach der Passage des östlichsten Wendepunktes zu seinem Bruder aufgeschlossen. Auch Lars Meerstetter ist noch auf Tuchfühlung mit der Spitze.

Bei nicht optimalen aber sicher besseren Bedingungen als gestern erreichte Maurer um ca. 16h den Turnpoint in der nahe des Ritomsees über Ambri Piotta. Auf dem Rückweg konnte ihn sein Bruder am Fusse der Furka einholen. Sis sind nun zusammen im Aufstieg zum Pass. Derweil ist Lars Meerstetter noch im Urserental in der Luft und könnte damit weiter Boden gut machen.

Derweil ist die Spitze der Challanger Kategorie bereits wieder zurück in Grindelwald. Julian Schweizer wird die Glecksteinhütte bald erreichen, entweder im Flug oder nach nur kurzem Fussmarsch. Das Rennen ist aber noch nicht ganz entschiden, da Jared Scheid, Moran Montavon und Christian Schlugg noch ziemlich nahe sind.

Urs Dubach

Day one started with the inscription at 7:30 a.m. Weatherwise, there was a little front passing us during the night. At 8 o'clock, there was a huge thunderstorm with rain passing over Grindelwald. But soon after, there was already sunshine, just a few clouds, but still quite strong winds. The first turnpoint „First“ had approximately 60 kilometers per hour of wind by 10 a.m., but the prognosis said it's going to be much less during the day.

And it was right. By 11 o'clock, we started the race in Grindelwald at Eiger+. The athletes were running through Grindelwald, and after one hour at 12 o'clock, the first athletes arrived at the takeoff of Grindelwald. By that time, the wind was quite okay to fly, but still had a low cloud base and sometimes gusts from the back, which led to some takeoff abortion by the athletes. But however, everyone managed to get out safely and got airborne by noon.

In the challenge category, the athletes had to head west towards Lobhornhütte. The conditions were weak, with strong downdrafts and only small thermals, so they managed to stay just below cloud base and take some small climbs and glide towards Zweilütschinen - where many could soar up in front of Wengen and land in Isenfluh. From there, it was a nice walk towards Lobhornhütte, where the first athlete, Stefan Zaug, arrived at approximately 3 pm. From there, the task led towards Brunnhütte, where the first athlete arrived around 4 pm. From there, they headed further southwest towards Kandersteg, where most of the athletes arrived at 6 pm. Some of the leading pilots will spend the night at Schwarenbach, Sonnbühl, and Kandersteg. Tomorrow, they will have to climb up the Kindbetti pass and fly towards Engstligenalp. If everything goes as planned we expect the first athlete of the challenge category to arrive at Engstligenalp shortly after 7 a.m. From there, they will fly to Tschenten and Hahnenmoos, and then towards Lötschental. We'll be excited for tomorrow's flying day!

In the pro category they had to head south to the Fusshornbiwak in Wallis. As the flying conditions were not that good they could not go directly over the Eiger. They had to either head east over the Grimselpass or head west over the Lötschenpass. Most of the athletes decided to go east over Grimselpass. The Maurer brothers were leading the pro race and Chrigel risked it to fly above the wildlife protection area and could just land outside of it and next to the border of the airspace of Meiringen. From there it was a long hike for him up to the Grimselpass where he could take off and then he was flying in the Grimselschlange with nice climbs but also heavy downdrafts. He had 90 kilometers per hour ground speed when he could head towards Obergoms where he could further get a nice climb of five meters per second and then almost glide down to Fiesch where there was a rain shower passing over Fiesch. Very challenging weather for XC flying - but somehow our athletes are getting the best out of it. So he landed and walked up to the Fiescher Alp where he will spend the night. The other athletes are following him and some of them are close behind in Fiesch, Goms and on the Grimselpass - one athlete Alex Villa is enjoying the views at Dossenhütte. Brave man Sebi Ospina he decided to go all alone direction west and he's currently staying at Schilthorn so we're excited what tomorrow will bring. Sepp Inniger decided to withdraw from the race. We are proud of our athletes what they got out of this difficult flying day in terms of weather - strong winds were blowing all the time with thunderstorms and precipitation. Nice job guys!

Tomorrow thursday is expected to be the best flying day so far - so we expect the pro category to reach the ticino huts and the challenge race will go towards lötschental - or even way further. We are excited and we keep you updated!