New kit for my Hike and Fly adventures

I've just retired my LM 5 and Ozium and have moved into a Gin GTO 2 and a Supair XA 13 harness.
This is a great kit and is serving me well.

A nice smoky morning out in Bright

My Salomon 3D Ultras got another work out today. Nice walk upto Mystic for a morning  fly

Up and coming Hike and Fly in Bright Victoria

Pure Hike and fly tour (for Paraglider Pilots): http://youtu.be/TLKIYJBKE5k

Scoped out the Bright to Corryong leg of the Great Divide Hike and Fly

Wally and I had an opportunity to fly the Bright to Corryong leg of our grand Hike and Fly Adventure for next season. It was looking like a promising day so we got up to launch early to wait for an opportunity to get off the launch.
It had been over the back consistently all morning so we new we had to take any opportunity with puffs up the face to get off.

Wally got off first and as soon as he did the southerly rolled over the back and made for an interesting sinky ride out into the valley over the LZ. Wally found a good climb out in the cleaner air and got up well close to base.

Watching this I hesitated as I wanted to get around to the south side of the hill as soon as I could to get a climb. Well I was mistaken. When I got around to the south east side the wind came from the south west and I rode the bucking horse until I saw Brenny climbing on Emily ridge so I went back to join him. We both climbed out close to base experiencing a south east wind till we reached base where it was favouring to head to Corryong.

Wally was up early so he headed over to Gungl's Gully and grovelled for awhile but getting up again.

 I got up to base over near Mt. Porepunkah then over to Coral Bank in the Kiewa Valley. We both, Wally and I were taking different lines and were both lining up on two cloud streets heading straight for Corryong.

My track took a line closer to Gundarian  while Wally  took a line in tighter to the ranges.

Wally's Track:

Andrew's Track:

Thanks to Clara and Brenny for retrieving us from the Corryong Airstrip. Made the flight very comfortable and relaxing knowing we had a great crew following

A training afternoon out with Gavin McClurg

After the expected winds around Bright came in today, Gavin messaged me and was keen for a hike and fly. The winds were expected to drop in the afternoon and we weren't disappointed.  Thermaled up to 2300m above Feathertop while watching Gavin ridgesoaring low after a bunch of wingovers. We hung on the ridge of a while and when the wind ebated we headed out over the MUMC hut and out to Harrietville.
Nice afternoon out hiking and flying the Aussie Alps!

The Great Dividing Range Hike and Fly along the East Coast of Australia by Foot and Paraglider

I'm in waiting to see who gets the Wild Card Position in the Redbull X Alp's 2015. 
As to not to rest on my morals from my previous training resigm, I am intending to push my physical and mental limits by Hike and Flying the Great Dividing Range from South to North along the eastern side of Australia.

The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest land-based range in the world.



The highest Peak on the Range is Mt Kosciusxko at 2228m and gets influenced by an Easterly Seabreeze and cooks in the afternoon sun on its west side.



The ranges landscape has plenty of diversity in Flora and Fauna with Gum (Eucalyptus) trees in the snow line to the valley floors.



The weather is volatile with hot westerly sun in the afternoons and fast moving low seabreezes cancelling out thermals in the afternoons.




The snowline is low as the mountains are not very high in comparison with the European Alps but is a wild Australian Outback Bushland



The landscape goes from rainforest cliffs up in Queensland down to Snow covered peaks in the south and a lot of country in between.

I'm looking forward to this Adventure Hike and Fly so keep an eye on this Blog as I will be keeping you all up to date with when and with who and in what style I will be attempting this 1900Km + Australian Hike and Fly journey along the Great Australian Dividing Range.

Ridge Soaring Mt Feathertop

Was awarded today with a 7pm ridgesoar of Mt. Feathertop

Commiserations but still congratulations...I'm fit!!

Well done to all successful applicants who got selected into the Redbull X Alp's 2015.
Unfortunately my campain andrew4xalps was not successful!
So I've gone for a hike up to Mystic to sweat it out!

A special congragulations to Nick Neynens from New Zealand for his successful bid. He's one to watch!!

Also a huge thanks to all sponsors past present and ones that were willing to assist with amazing gear. Thanks to Pure Mountain, Ozone, Icebreaker, Salomon, Onesmall Planet, Active Flight, Sportaroo and the most supportive my wife Wendy who was willing to put aside her pursuits for my adventures!

There are many other people who were and are great supporters and I thankyou for beleiving in me! There are many but one special person is Dave Snowden who was willing to give up so much time to support me here and over in Europe during the event.
I'm keeping on this track of paragliding so keep an eye out on my blog and facebook for up and coming adventures.
Thanks again
Andrew4XalpsOZ!!

Less then 24 hours to the successfull Redbull X Alp's 2015 pilots are announced!

Less than 24 hours to go! Will have a screen up and showing the count down and some videos on another screen down at the Outdoor Inn (Krusty's) in Bright starting at 6pm. BYO snacks, bbq and drinks will be available from Terry.
Will I be one of the mad men that get on???
Come downand see. If you can't make it, watch it on www.redbullxalps.com

Cheer on Andew4XAlps and Australia

A Bright Cracker

A promising day was due for today and Garth and I tried to make the most of it. There the usual locals out with a few newbies trying out some new gear and skills.
We were getting up easily over Mystic and Clearspot. Garth and I were in the second group to head over to try and get up on Buffalo. Pedram tried for Little Buffalo but could get over the ridge on the windward side so Garth and I went into the east side of Buffalo. We both managed to scrape and scratch until we got over the top of the chalet.
The waterfall was flowing well when we went past and the Chalet was looking glorious. We headed over towards the Ovens as the flats looked like they weren't working so we thought we try to get back to the Mystic LZ over Mt. Porpunkah. 
There were not to many strong climbs and the day was slow but we ventured around the back of range behind Mt. Porpunkah onto The Pyramid. The clouds were developing into storm clouds on the east of the range so it was time to head back to the LZ from Smoko.

Redbull X Alp's ready to anounce the successfull applicants!

The 2015 Red Bull X-Alps lineup will be revealed in batches from 9am to 21hr on Wed 29th Oct on redbullxalps.com and Facebook.com/redbullxalps.
Keep an eye out and hopefully I can represent Australia in this extreme adventure race. Thanks for everyone's support over the last twelve months.

Bright in Pre-Season Glory

Went out for a day that on XC Soar was looking good for a 100km triangle. Light winds at 2400m with a slight SE drift.

Pedram was first to fight the rotory scrapy thermal over Emily ridge and then decided to head over to the lower Marcus spur to find a nice smooth 1.5m climb upto 1800m. Brian and I headed off just after him and thrashed around in the same on Emily. I decided to head over to the same area where Pedram got up and was rewarded with a nice 2m climb up to join Pedram.

We both got up to 1900m and headed over to Mt. Porpunkah with a nice boyant glide. It took a while to find a climb above the ridge but I managed with a trashy 3m to base while Pedram scratched low. This was going to be the trend of the day me in my Ozone LM5 staying reasonably high while watching Pedram in his Ozone Enzo scratching along low.

We made to just short of Ovens and then over to Mt. Buffalo and back to Clear Spot and back to the LZ. Pedram hardly got over 1400m after Mt Porpunkah but got around the same course. Best climb for the day was 4.5m/s and the wind seemed to be all over the place, southerly high and northerly valley wind down low.
Check out the flights at X Contest

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:andrewhorchner/17.10.2014/01:29

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:pedram.shiari/17.10.2014/01:22

Canungra Cup Day 5 cancelled

Today was cancelled early due to the wind observations were showing strong winds everywhere.  Pedram and I want for a hike upto Mt  Warning for an opportunity to train.
We got up in 1hr 20mins and back down in 55mins. Pedram tried out my Salomon XT Wing shoes and I had on the XA Pro's. We found that the Pro's had better grip on polished rock but both performed well on the uneven sufaces with offering great support and ease of stability both offering good cushioning on the down hill decent. It was a warm day but I thought I would wear my Icebreaker GT shirt to see how it would perform in a warmer climate. It was great and offered good aeration and comfortable wick ability.
After getting back down we headed off to see a new sponsor, PURE Mountain based in the Gold Coast to get sized up for some of the best wet weather gear with incredible breathability and waterproof property's as well as a new warm insulation jacket as a second layer. Details of this will jacket will be made available in the later months of this year! ! Checkout their web site at

http://www.purebrandz.com

Competition Training in ready for an acceptance into yhe Redbull X Alps 2015

I'm up on Queensland, Australia competition training in ready for my acceptance into the Redbull X Alps 2015 with great conditions with three great tasks completed over amazing volcanic landscapes.

Up and off Mt. Feathertop

After trying to get some company to head up to Mt.FT with busy workers and subjects wanting sleep in I headed up from Harrietville myself leaving the car park at 7am on Friday morning.
The air was crisp and the path was crunchy with icy frost on the shaded path. The higher I got the crunchier it was with a few slippery areas I needed to have my full attention turned on. I made it up to the hut in a good time of 3 hours with a few small breaks on the way at convenient stops with views. If I stayed to long at these convenient stops my back would get chilled so I kept the momentum up.

I got up to where the old Bungalow use to stand and found some old relics like a wood saw and an old door lock.

Onward and upward until I got to the nicely appointed Federation Hut with a sunny deck and a seat where I could sit back a relax in the glorious mountain air. Someone once said to me that to make sure you take time to look around as it's not all about the race or challenge!

It's time to get to the top before any nasty winds come on in so I started moving up the foreseeable snowy slope that was facing south. there was a slightly noticeable trail along the contour and up slightly but I needed to be cautious as it could be icy. I managed and got to the top ridge line where the trail intermittently went up and in and out of the left over snow.

I was near the top where I had one more snowy slope to get across when I would be at the top and able to launch. I needed to be careful of the cornice that had developed on the eastern slope as well as cutting in steps to the west of this danger zone to enable me to get to the top destination. I had some shoe chains that gave me some confidence to get there.

I got up there and was welcomed by a local wedgetail eagle fighting with the local crows for airspace and I new if the Wedgie was out the thermals were around. I prepared my gear and after a phone call to home saying all is good and a receiving a call from Brian Webb to say lets meet up along the way some where I launch off. Well my first launch was aborted as I dropped my radio out of my pocket just as I was getting pick up off launch but managed to bring the canopy back down and regathered my self and gear to get off again with everything attached!!
Had a great flight with Brian after getting over to Smoko Ridge and beyond then back to Mystic launch and Clearspot with several other pilots, Pedram Shiari, Bob Saville and John Greenward on his hanglider. This is a great place to be training and preparing for the Redbull X Alp's 2015.

Great day with good mates in Bright

Went out for a day of relaxation and turning some circles wirh good freinds. We managed to get over to Ebenezer with only low bases of 1500m to 1600m.
First time this season with good solid cloud bases and nice 3 to 4m climbs. Pedram and I came back from Smoko and I joined up with Brian at Pyramid then got back to Mystic to top land , good practice for the X Alp's and drive Karl's car back down. Fun day!!

Registration for the Redbull X Alp's 2015

I've just completed my application to enter the 2015 version of the Redbull X Alp's. It has been received and I will be considered for one of the 32 positions to represent Australia in the worlds hardest adventure race travelling by either foot or by paraglider over the top of the European Alp's from Salzburg, Austria to Monaco on the southern coast of Europe via several turnpoints. The turnpoints could be world icons like Dachstein massif (2,995m), Wildkogel (2,224m), Zugspitze (2,962m), Matterhorn (4,478m), Mt Blanc (4,810m) then onto Manaco as the goal landing on a floating platform in the sea.

I've got this blog site set up that I am keeping up to date for your interests

If you would like to support me on this endeavour then please click on the paypal button on this page or I will be starting up a crowd funding page as well through Sportaroo so keep an eye out for this. Thanks for all your support so far and spread the word to all your friends to visit this site and like my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Andrew4Xalps !
It's going to be a crazy race against the world best paragliding athletes.

Back in Australia

Well I had a great time over in Europe.
I learnt an immense amount about hike and flying comps and flying in the European Alps.
There are so many events in Europe that can fullfill the hike and fly pilots desires and are well supported. The comraderie is addictive and the people are so helpfull. It reminds me of the comp scene many years ago.
A freind Nick Neynans helped out during my Bornes to fly comp and showed me that to look outside the box when looking at route finding and showed me a great app for mapping with off line maps on my smart phone Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Returning to Australia

I am returning to Australia early and looking at the forecasts ahead probably a good thing. Bruce Marks has also recognised the looming weather on one of his facebook posts. He hasn't seen such bad weather for 3 years in the Alps.
Look forward to posting some videos of my time over in the European Alps!!

A good looking day in Chamonix

I got up in the morning to a glorious looking day. So I put on the glider bag and up I went to the Plan L' Aguille. The walk was gentle to start but soon changed to a steep cris-cross zigzag track up under the cable car. I felt great all the way until I needed to start trudging through snow for the last 500 meters. I managed to get up in 2.5 hours and enjoyed sitting back at the cafe at the top. On the way up I was noticing the sky was filling in quick with a verglas type of cloud. When I arrived at the cafe it was 8/8ths cloud cover and the base had lowered to just above me. Hmmm not such a great day. Choices were stay at Cafe and get a lift down with cable car (Nnaaaahhhh) or get off with a slight catabatic ( wind over the back) or walk back down the way I came. I have been practicing my back wind launches back in Australia so it's time to see how I will go in the mountains!!
It went well but definately had to run hard and through mushy wet snow. Got off and didn't get much more then a sleddy but this is where getting off in marginal launch conditions can get a gain of multiples compared to walking back down and getting more fatigued.
If there's been two things I have learnt over these two weeks are:

1: keep a pace that is suited to you and your fitness level as its endurance that is needed. I'm too much of a competitive person and I need to continue at my own pace even when other pass me!!!

2: fly as much and as long and as far as possible with the conditions given to you this gives a great advantage on distance able to traveled in the day.