Another summer of hiking and flying across the Alps- AND the Red Bull X Alps race!

Well, it is time to leave the USA and head to Europe for another summer of hiking and flying across the Alps.

Afters months of preparation, training, and countless hours or researching- it is time to leave California and my beloved Sierra Nevada for another chapter in my book of adventure. But this summer of Alps vol biv has a big twist- I will be competing in the 2015 Red Bull X Alps race in July!

I will be headed to Munich tomorrow morning from LAX, and will be meeting up with Krischa there. Once in Germany, we will immediately head to Salzburg, Austria to start our pre-race adventure. Our plan is to meet up with our third member, Eric Steinmann, and start hiking and flying our way along the 1,038 kilometer course line. This years Red Bull X Alps course is longer and tougher than ever, so we are going to spend about 5-6 weeks hiking and flying the course line before the race even starts. But the pre-race mission is lofty in itself- to hike and fly the entirety of the Alps without assistance, following the July race route and its ten turn points. We have from May 18th to June 28th for this. Then the race starts July 5th.

The route will take us through 6 countries, and will be quite an alpine tour of these amazing mountains. I will be updating my website the entire time, with posts, photos, and videos from the field. Check back for updates! You can also add me on FaceBook ‘Dave Turner, Mammoth Lakes’ for more updates and stories along the way.

You can follow along on my adventures this summer across Europe, as I will have live tracking the entire time. During the X Alps race all Athletes will have up to date live tracking on Red Bull’s website- http://www.redbullxalps.com

But before the X Alps race, you can still follow along on my personal trips. I have a live tracking page set up with the DeLorme InReach GPS Tracker that I am using. Here is the shared map page which will be updating every 10 minutes whenever I am moving- https://share.delorme.com/DaveTurner2 I will also be updating my website continually with updates.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to get another summer of Alps action in. If there was ever a place virtually made for hiking and flying for weeks on end, the Alps is it. All paraglider pilots need to visit this famous mountain range at some point in their flying career; I feel lucky to have a third summer out there. And this time I get the privilege of helping represent the USA in the 2015 X Alps, how cool is that!?

Whether is is glorious XC flights at cloudbase, top landings high above tree line, and long distance flights; or bad weather, hiking in the valleys, and struggling- no worries, we are psyched and going to give it our best! Just last week a few friends and I (including Eric) flew a 5 day 200+ mile vol biv route across the Sierra in preperation of this summers adventures. We are hungry for it, and will make the most of it.

A huge thanks goes out to all of the sponsors who have helped out to make this summer a reality: Maximal Concepts, vteams, Torrey Pines Gliderport, Foundation For Free Flight, Ozone, Patagonia, Black Diamond, Flytec, and High Adventure. If you yourself would like to help get me get to the X Alps to help represent the US in this magnificent adventure race, you can donate on the website’s homepage.

Dave Turner

Mammoth Lakes, CA