Episode 45- Chrigel Maurer and becoming an Eagle

Chrigel Maurer is the undisputed king of paragliding and after his 5th straight X-Alps win I get the feeling that he’s just getting started. Chrigel was the World Cup champion 3 times, is an acro champion, test pilot for Advance, two times winner of the X-Pyr, regularly dominates the Swiss League and just simply wins- over, and over and over again. Everyone has heard of Chrigel’s famous training (ground handling in VERY strong wind, flying in the lee of cornices…) but most don’t know the extent of how hard and specifically he trains. How much is talent versus persistence? How does Chrigel justify the risk? How does he approach safety? How is getting older affecting his decisions? How important is physical fitness to good flying? Is the X-Alps even risky for Chrigel? His sons, aged 6 and 9 are beginning to fly- does this make him nervous? Where does he get his motivation from? In this episode we dive into what makes Chrigel…an Eagle. How does he fly so straight? What mistakes do other pilots make? What separates him from the rest of the pilots in the race? How does he make his decisions? How does planning and calculated decision making happen in the air and how much is intuition? Does he have weaknesses and if so how does he resolve them? How Chrigel reduces risk and how other pilots can be much safer. The power of optimism and the need for gambling (safely). For me this was an opportunity of a lifetime, to sit down with someone who consistently shows us what is possible with a glider and makes us dream of the possibilities. Stay tuned for bonus material we recorded for our Patreon supporters! Enjoy! A buck an episode, that’s all we ask. Subscribe to the Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Tune In, or ITunes!       Show Notes: * Chrigel talks about his training, what goes into the lead-up to the X-Alps and other adventure races? * Mental vs physical training and what sets him apart from the others * Is there more pressure on Chrigel now? * How does Chrigel make his amazing route decisions in the race? * How he trains mentally and visualizes winning. * Finding magic lines * Using the lee * Analyzing mistakes * How he eliminates or reduces risk and how pilots can be much safer * Balancing the risk and reward and how you need to gamble…but smartly * The power of optimism * How to fly more efficiently and how to gauge the day- planning in flight * How to fly straight instead of thermalling and gliding * How hard to push? * What would Chrigel do differently if he could rewind the clock? * What is the most important thing to improve? How to optimize what you do to achieve your personal goals? * Mentioned in this episode: Ben French, Pal Takats, Skywalk, Advance, Gaspard Petiot, Sebastien Huber, Benoit Outters, Michael Maurer,