Flying Over the Alps: Maxime Pinot

Salomon has always had a history of looking into new sports and new ways to improve the outdoor experience. When Maxime Pinot joined the Salomon family last year, we knew great things would come from working with one of the best paragliders there is.

Since then, Maxime has worked on Salomon’s first dedicated Hike & Fly shoe, has been crowned Paragliding World Champion at the 18ᵗʰ FAI World Paragliding Championship, and finished the RedBull X-Alpes in 3ʳᵈ place after one of the most intense Hike & Fly races ever.

The X-Alpes is a grueling race where participants have two weeks to connect Kitzbühel-Kirchberg in Austria, fly through the highest mountains of Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and finally land in Zell am See. To put it in a nutshell, here is the breakdown of how Maxime covered the 1230km that make up the race:

• 45 hours of hiking over 275km (172 miles) and 22 400m of elevation (67 000ft)
• 55 hours of flying over 1000km (625 miles), including a flight that lasted over 11 hours for 230km, and reached up to 3900m of elevation (11 700ft)

The start of the race is a very tactical moment where the best pilots do their best to lead the pack, and where every small mistake will set you back. After a few days, it came down to the pilots who could endure the toughest flying conditions. “It’s like navigating a sailboat in a storm. It is very hard, tiring, and when you are back on the ground, you need to keep moving forward. At some point, it felt like I was Sisyphus, pushing a massive boulder up the mountain, just to see it tumble down again. And do that over and over again, like a never-ending battle every morning.”

Maxime had to fight with Christian “Chrigel” Maurer, 8 time X-Alpes winner, who ended up taking the win. “At some point, I realized I didn’t want to take the risks needed to keep up him. Things got really tough, I got scared, and decided to hit the brakes.” Maurer managed to take the lead and from there on reached the finish line first.

Some highlights included a flight between the Aosta valley and the Sondrio valley, in Italy, where Maxime flew in front of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, in a flight that lasted for over 11 hours. “My team went crazy when we met on the ground, at dusk.” His last run at night was also a great memory, encapsulating what this discipline is all about: no sleep, 70km (44 miles) that you have to cross to reach the last take off point, and finishing the race at sunrise.

In the end, all that fighting from Maxime and his team allowed him to step on the podium, after an insane last day where he had to walk 82km (51 miles) and 5200m of elevation (15 000ft) and fly through “vile turbulences”. Overall, Maxime had very few moments to rest during one of the most intense X-Alpes ever. “Every year, I feel like the overall level is increasing. Every minute you lose have heavy consequences on your ranking, so you need to optimize every single decision and minimize mistakes, all while being under immense physical and mental stress.”

Maxime hiked and flew with the S/LAB Skyway, a dedicated Hike & Fly shoe developed in collaboration with him and the outdoor footwear team at Salomon. His van was carrying a bunch of other shoes, but he ended up only using the Skyway, using 3 different pairs over the course of the race. “To me, it’s the best shoe for this kind of race: you have comfort, it’s great for climbing and walking on concrete, and does a great job at supporting any weight you carry on your back. And I didn’t have a single blister!” The whole team felt that this shoe would be the ultimate weapon to support Maxime, and this edition of the X-Alpes only confirmed that!

Looking ahead, Maxime admits that this month has been one of the most intense of his life, from his World Champion title to reaching the X-Alpes podium the week right after. “I feel very tired. But my energy will be back this fall for more Hike & Fly races! I’m fascinated by the current evolution of the sport, and I’m so happy to keep pushing it with Salomon!