Posted on 10/03/2022 11:59:04 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Need thrills? Click here => Wingsuit Flying the Eiger with Scott Hiscoe
Wow, what a ride!
Was that in the Alps?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esFmUaz55VA&t=94s
Above is an older video (2013) so the video isn’t as good, but they do a good job of representing a high-energy song by RUSH (”Headlong Flight”).
Years ago my mom and dad stayed in a bedroom at a house in the Alps (Austria maybe?). They were driving through this little village and dad stopped into a store to see if the shopkeeper knew of any hotels or guest houses. The town was too small for anything like that. But the shop keeper said “Well - we have a bedroom in the basement if you would like to spend the night! You’ll have to wait a few hours until I close up.”
So they followed him up into the country out of the village and it turns out they not only had a bedroom but the full walkout basement with a patio over looking the valley. They stayed a few nights, and three years later stayed 3 weeks at the couples’ home!
The hang gliders were popular back then (1980’s) and dad would watch them from the guy’s house and sometimes they would go right overhead. He wanted to try it, but mom wouldn’t let him (he was in his mid -60’s).
Yes, it’s in the Bernese Oberland section of the Swiss Alps. The North Face is notoriously difficult to climb, so it’s rather famous. This video was taken on a rare clear day, which you normally only get in autumn.
My neighbor’s son does this all the time and has done commercial stunt work. He does it for the “rush” (literally, it seems).
Amazing.
How?
Ridge soaring
https://www.hanggliding.org/wiki/Ridge_Soaring
Also works for sail planes.
Last time I saw the Eiger, Clint Eastwood was climbing it to find out who killed his friend…. (The Eiger Sanction)
Ping.
That is a wild ride. Imagine the rush doing it in person instead of vicariously.
a part of me is always concerned for adrenalin junkies needing to stand above the rest. but this is one sport that has very small margin of error compared to others!! lol...
Good movie!
That was the Mittellegi Ridge. It is the ridge on the left side when looking at the North Face. There is a climber’s hut halfway up. That ridge is a very popular climbing route.
Pretty damn dramatic scenery by 360*.
On foot, there is more time to appreciate it.
The wing flyer must mainly be thinking about not dying by a misjudgment of wind gusts.
Sadly, he will probably have a short life.
Mrs abb & I have a trip planned for area next year.
The Alps are amazing. Out of view behind him were several other high peaks...the Monch and Jungfrau. There must be some legend behind why these three peaks were named The Ogre, The Monk and the Young Girl, but I don’t know what it is.
I climbed the Eiger back around 1991. It is really a beautiful area around Grindelwald. I would also recommend Zermatt near the Matterhorn.
we have that planned, too. glacier express. Staubbach falls. 8 days total.
Yeah, it’s all fun and games until an unexpected downdraft turns you into a bloody streak on the rocks.
“The Ogre, The Monk and the Young Girl”
The mind spins to contemplate the origin legends.
One of my all-time favorite movies is “The Last Valley.” It was filmed, as I recall, in the Austrian Alps near Italy.
It’s on youtube in short sections, I highly recommend at least watching the first two. There is a long prelude you can scroll past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6g9g1CRD1s&ab_channel=MaxClennon
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