Athletes in bid to cross highest mountains of the Alps

The Red Bull X-Alps today enters its most dramatic, spectacular and challenging stage as the lead athletes seek to cross the High Alps between the Matterhorn, Switzerland and Mont Blanc, France. These two jewels of the Alps stand like gatekeepers over Europe’s highest glaciers and peaks.

But for the 30 remaining athletes in the world’s toughest adventure race, they present a mighty barrier. To cross them, they can reach altitudes of 4,000m – which poses all kinds of difficulties.



Dramatic scenery in the Red Bull X-Alps. ©zooom/Felix Wölk


One is the cold. Temperature typically drops by 1ºC for every 100m of altitude. So an athlete taking off in 20ºC temperatures at 1,000m could encounter temperatures as low as -10ºC at 4,000m. The windchill factor can then make those temperatures feel a lot colder, which means athletes need to wear balaclavas, insulated gloves and lightweight down jackets when they take off.

There’s also less oxygen. At 4,000m there is approximately 60% of the amount of oxygen at sea level and with their rapid ascent, leaving no time for the body to acclimatize, paraglider pilots can suffer from the altitude.

The ‘Haute Route’ between Zermatt and Chamonix normally takes hikers and ski-mountaineers several days. The Red Bull X-Alps athletes will be looking to traverse the route in just a few hours.

There are three main options from the Matterhorn. Athletes can take the Rhone valley ‘highway’. It’s longer but offers reliable flying. They can stay south and follow the Italian / Swiss border, or they can take what’s called ‘the tiger line’ or ‘brutal bearing’ – a direct line over the multitude of 4000m peaks.

The ‘tiger line’ requires exceptionally good flying conditions: athletes will be flying over remote, snow-covered glaciers, squeezing through high cols, and circling over the highest rocky peaks to gain altitude. They can not afford to land.

This is also where the Red Bull X-Alps is more adventure than race, where rivalry is replaced by camaraderie between the athletes. Yesterday, on Day 5, there was a fine example of this spirit. When Michael Witschi (SUI3) pulled his reserve parachute and made an emergency landing in a lake, many athletes nearby stopped racing to help him and fix his gear so he could continue.

There are still many days left in this epic adventure race across the Alps, until at least Friday, July 17, 12pm. Follow all the action on Red Bull MOBILE Live Tracking. 

Follow the action as it happens on Red Bull MOBILE live tracking.



Stephan Gruber (AUT3). ©zooom/Kelvin Trautman



Alex Villa (COL) signing in at TP4. ©zooom/Kelvin Trautman



Micheal Witschi (SUI3). ©zooom/Kelvin Trautman