Director: Claudio von Planta
Country: Austria
Site & date of filming: Peru / 2015
Duration: 25′
With a wingspan of three meters, the Andean Condor is considered a master of flying in fierce mountain terrain. Using thermal winds alone, it covers distances stretching hundreds of kilometers a day and soars up to a height of nearly 5,000m above sea level. These capabilities make condors a fascinating subject not only to biologists but to thermal pilots as well. If a condor can climb in this way, can a paraglider as well? This is the question that Hernan Pitocco and Horacio Llorens, both long distance paragliding champions, seek to answer. The pilots have to find a suitable landform at the coast with upwinds to successfully navigate the route along a steep canyon high up into the Andes. An emergency landing halfway in the desert would be disastrous. But when Hernan and Horacio soar higher a late realization leads to near-fatal consequences.
