Majestic soaring

At 3,905m the “King Ortler” is the highest point of the Tyrol. Majestically, it dominates the Suldental. Fanny Dünßer, Sesi Mackrodt, Ben Liebermeister and Raphaela Haug set off to climb it, and then fly down by paraglider. A blend of skills, careful judgment, and luck combined to make this a very special day.

Hike & Fly is my kind of paragliding, so I jumped at the chance of flying from the Ortler. Fanny and I don’t have a lot of paragliding experience, but we are expert alpinists, so we will lead the ascent. The boys, however, have been flying for years; they will be responsible for getting us down.

We could see the hut from a long way off, left of the giant ice block and glacier breakup from the Königsspitze and Zebru peaks. In front of us is the Hintergrat, our goal for the morning. Once in the hut I mentally go over the tour again: I feel responsible for the climb up. I rethink our time schedule and decide it’s to be early to bed, early to rise for myself. There’s no doubt about the tension we feel: Fanny and I have plenty of respect for the flight down, the boys are privately worried about the climb up. Anyway, everything about this tour is a bit special for all of us.

The alarm sounds early next morning. It’s still pitch dark. We get up, pack our things, get a quick breakfast and set off. The lights of other mountaineers  dance around us. We make good progress; for some sections we rope up, many others we just climb. I am nervous, my thoughts already imagining the flying. “Relax; the ridge first, then the flight – one thing at a time” says my inner voice. My gaze wanders to the mountains around us. And, yet again, I have to remind myself how much I enjoy being outside in the open. The snow, the ice, the seracs; all of this has always fascinated me. For the first time I’m not bothered whether I fly or not. I enjoy the view, it’s only a few more metres to the top. When I get there I’m surrounded by beaming faces. What a day!

But I cannot really enjoy the summit experience. Next – for me at least – will come the most difficult part of the day: the flight. We rearrange our equipment, walk towards the take-off spot. The closer we get, the more I realise: the wind is perfect. My concern subsides, confidence builds. We lay our wings out – a last compulsory selfie and then: Clear for take-off. I need just two steps and I’m flying. I feel free, liberated, floating over the shattered icy world of the glacier. What a gift of nature. Truly majestic.

Fast-forward: the sun is shining on our backs. Two hours ago we were standing on the summit, we landed an hour ago. Now there’s a coffee and Apfelstrudel in front of me, with my extra portion of cream. I think about the last few hours. Today we achieved everything. My complete personal dream of paragliding – from the top of the mountain to the valley in a few minutes. And it’s also clear to me that it doesn’t always work out like this. We could still be struggling down somewhere, right now…