2022 Global Rescue XRedRocks

2022GLOBAL RESCUE XREDROCKS

by Gavin McClurg | photos by Ben Horton

:Hike-and-fly racing has been popular in Europe for almost two decades. The Red Bull X-Alps kicked it off in 2003, then races like the X-Pyr, Bornes to Fly, EigerTour, and VercoFly came into the mix in the following years. Now, dozens of others are happening across the continent, even in winter. Their popularity boomed even more when COVID shut down all the chairlifts and gondolas in 2020, turning just about every European pilot into a hike-and-fly pilot.

But here in the U.S., hike-and-fly racing hasn’t had the same trajectory—this is likely, at least partially, due to the terrain. Launches and nice places to top land are ubiquitous in the Alps. In North America, not so much. Our terrain is more treed, more rocky, more nasty, more private land, and way less accessible—it’s just gnarlier! However, after attending the Red Rocks Fly-In for a few years in southern Utah, I started thinking it might be possible to run a hike-and-fly race in the U.S.

Pilots launch day 2. Ben Abruzzo and Rob Curran stay high (and in color!), day 3.

I experienced remarkably reliable weather at the end of September and incredible cloudbase even that late in the season. Plus, the fall colors were a mind-boggling backdrop. The potential for a race glimmered on the horizon for me, but most of the credit for the vision of a hike-andfly event goes to Stacy Whitmore, a local pilot in southern Utah. While I agreed that flying in southern Utah is nothing short of epic, I didn’t have his conviction that it could work as a hike-and-fly arena. But Whitmore, having pioneered many of the launches in the area, saw the possibilities. His dream was to create an event that would attract some of the big-name European pilots to share both their abilities and methods, allowing our community to rub shoulders with some of the best in the world.

He asked me how we could get the Europeans to come. I responded, “Big prize money and good speaking fees!” And thus, the XRedRocks was born. The 2021 event featured two divisions—Pro and Adventure, and we landed on a format unique to hike-and-fly racing that, to my knowledge, hasn’t been done before: a three-day stage race. Each day, all participants would start together and race towards a declared goal. Each day would be scored as its own race, but the three days would be cumulative.

Day 1 racers take off on the first hike across Poverty Flats. Ari Delashmutt and the rest setting off on day 2.

TOP LEFT: Local ripper Lindsey Ripa takes to the skies. RIGHT: Aaron Duragoti soars over the autumn colors.

So, in theory, you could have a bad day and still win overall. And then COVID hit. For the inaugural 2021 XRedRocks, Europeans weren’t allowed to travel to the U.S., so it was strictly a North American affair. But the weather was perfect; Utah did indeed work for hike-and-fly racing, and we had an awesome event. In the Pro division, Matt Dadam took home five grand in cash, followed by Bill Belcourt, and five-time X-Alps legend Honza Rejmanek. The tasks favored pilots who

Gavin McClurg sets up the day. Looking into the Koosharem Valley, on the first launch on day 3.

Swiss pilot and X-Alps legend Patrick Von Känel enjoying the colors of Utah.

had great flying skills over those who had a fast ground game.

For the 2022 event, we had a race that had minimal resemblance to the previous year. We updated the name to Global Rescue XRedRocks, as we successfully brought on a title sponsor. We also managed to get some of the biggest names in the sport to attend: Italian pilot Aaron Durogati, a six-time Red Bull X-Alps athlete and the only pilot to have won the Superfinal twice, he holds several records including the Asia distance record—a 308 km FAI whopper in the Himalayas; Swiss pilot Patrick Von Känel, who placed second in the 2021 Red Bull X-Alps; French pilot Tim Rochas, a veteran world cup pilot and test pilot for Niviuk; and Frenchman Tanguy Renoud-Goud, who, until recently, held the world record for the most vertical climbed and flown in a single day and who will be a rookie in the 2023 X-Alps.

Unfortunately, the weather in 2022 was about as brutal as it could get. A hurricane off the coast of California (which is pretty much unheard of) and a series of hurricanes and tropical depressions in the Atlantic combined to make for wet and windy weather all the way into Utah. The weather made task setting challenging and safety a serious concern.

On Day 1, our weather window for flying was short. We knew overdevelopment was guaranteed; it was just a matter of exactly when. A challenging course was set

starting at Poverty Flats, where the athletes would have to climb almost 3,000 ft. over several kilometers, launch quickly and fly down to the main LZ in Monroe. They would then have to decide to carry on by foot over 40 kilometers to goal near the town of Salinas or make another 2,500 ft. hike to the Cove launch and try their luck racing against the weather.

I estimated the fastest anyone could reach the first launch would be 90 minutes. Durogati showed up in 67 minutes, smiling and not even breathing hard. Rochas was hot on his heels and launched in under three minutes (give that a try— it’s really hard). Then a slew of athletes (including Eric “the Hammer” Klammer, who was the first to the top every day of the 2021 race and now had some competition), many of whom had participated in 2021 and had clearly taken training for 2022 seriously, were off the hill in quick succession.

Nearly everyone who made it to the Monroe LZ chose the flying option from Cove, and the race was on. Durogati and Rochas had a comfortable lead, but as the steep and rocky hike to Cove wore on, Durogati went full beast mode and pulled well ahead. I have raced with Durogati many times over the years and have seen how he moves. He’s always magnificent uphill, but this performance was in the ludicrous category. It was inspiring stuff.

Durogati made mincemeat of the 40 km flight to goal, landing a solid 20 minutes ahead of Rochas but declared the flying tricky. Large cells were dropping virga in our vicinity. Thankfully the fast-growing nimbus clouds shaded everything out so quickly that the energy backed off and allowed many pilots to thread the needle and make goal in the air. Goal in both divisions rapidly filled up with extremely happy and talkative pilots thrilled with their adventure and happy to be on the ground. Unfortunately, many athletes who were not fast on the ground didn’t make it to Cove before it was blown out and couldn’t launch. For some, it was a lot of walking and a long day. The day was short for those who could move fast on the ground early and make it into the air.

The weather on Day 2 was even worse, with higher forecasted winds and a very energetic sky. A task was set that would be physically demanding and keep the flying below

Chris Moody and Jason Wallace grinding uphill.

Patrick Von Känel dancing with the Utah colors.

the nuclear winds aloft. I estimated the fittest athletes could complete the course by 2 p.m. Again, I was way off. Durogati again decimated the ground game, crunching the first hike of 3,600 ft. and several kilometers in 1 hr. 32 min., with Rochas and Klammer just behind.

From launch below Monroe Peak, the athletes had to fly down to Poverty Flats, tag a ground turnpoint, and then either race into goal back in Monroe by foot or make a short hike and go for it in the air. Durogati chose the latter option and was in goal just before 11 a.m. Meanwhile, Isaac Lammers and Will Buckner charged insanely hard in the Adventure division, completing the physical course in 1st and 2nd (they would have been in 4th and 6th, respectively, in the Pro class)! Once again, the day punished those who were not fast enough on the ground. Launch got blown out 90 minutes after Durogati launched, and many pilots ended their day there. The task setting got no easier on the final day of the race. High winds were again forecasted, but thankfully overdevelopment would not be as much of a risk. We decided to move the entire operation to the east and do an out-and-back route in the Koosharem Valley, a place with more wild animals than people (one of the turnpoints was near a ghost town).

Many of the most hearty participants on Day 3 covered well over a marathon on the ground. Most only got one short flight. Walking against the wind defined the day. But as we closed on the deadline, suddenly, the wind began to ease, and a few lucky (and very fast) pilots who had charged hard on the ground found themselves in a position to get back into the air and grab an absolute gem of a flight.

Canadian and 2023 X-Alps competitor James Elliot won the task in incredible style, flying nearly 60km in what he described as “magic air.” He landed at goal a comfortable 20 minutes before the mandatory land-by time. Being at goal and witnessing the elation on James’ face was something I’ll never forget. Thrilled barely describes it! Durogati landed in second, just a few hundred meters short of goal about 40 minutes later, declaring the flight “one of the best of my life!” We then learned he, Rochas, and Jared Scheid had diverted from their course and lost about 40 minutes helping another participant who had a scary (and thankfully injury-free) landing during their walk, so the win was declared a tie. The Global Rescue XRedRocks this year was really tough. It rewarded those pilots who had trained hard and could muscle it out on the ground and make solid flying calls when the opportunity was there. We didn’t fly as far, high, or deep as we wanted, but those days will come. They always do. But we had a great time in an arena where we’ve only scratched the potential.

Podium for the Pro Class. left to rright: Jeffery Longcor (4th), Kevin Carter (3rd), Aaron Durogati (1st), Tanguy Renoud-Goud (2nd), Tyler Burns (5th).

“We didn’t fly as far, high, or deep as we wanted, but those days will come. They always do.”