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It’s mid-race in the 2023 Red Bull X-Alps, a 1,200km-plus paragliding adventure around the Alps, and the man they call “Chrigel the Eagle” is about to take off. I’m standing on a Swiss Alpine pass. The wind has been gusting in excess of 30mph and is far stronger than is normally safe to fly. But normal rules don’t apply in this race – or to this athlete. He waits patiently for a lull, then whips up his wing. The force of the energy sweeps him momentarily from his feet and he pulls at his control lines like a mad puppeteer, simultaneously leaping across the rocky-strewn ground to keep it overhead. For a fraction of a second he stands motionless, as if he’s tamed nature itself. Then, with just a few gentle steps, he spreads his wings and launches into the air.
2023年红牛X-阿尔卑斯山越野赛已进入中段。这是一场环绕阿尔卑斯山、总长超过1200公里的滑翔伞冒险，而人们口中的“鹰之克里格尔”即将起飞。我站在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一处山口上。此时阵风已超过每小时30英里，远远超出常规的安全飞行范围。但这场比赛——以及这位选手——并不遵循常规。他耐心地等待风势短暂减弱的间隙，然后迅速扬起伞翼。猛烈的气流将他一度从地面拽起，他像个疯狂的木偶师一样拉扯着控制绳，同时在布满岩石的山地上敏捷跃动，努力让伞翼稳稳地悬在头顶上方。就在那一瞬间，他仿佛静止如雕像，像是驯服了大自然本身。接着，只需几步轻盈助跑，他便张开“翅膀”，飞入空中。
There are only a few athletes whose dominance completely transcends the limits of their peers: Tiger Woods as a young man, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer, Usain Bolt… Christian Maurer, better known as Chrigel, is another. He hails from the Swiss village of Adelboden, whose mountains inspired Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and is a three-time paragliding world champion. What sets him apart, however, is his reign of dominance at the Red Bull X-Alps – he’s won every edition since 2009. For this race, Maurer trains up to 25 hours a week and flies 280 hours a year. Unlike other pilots he focuses almost entirely on this one fixture.
只有极少数运动员的统治力足以碾压同代人：年轻时的老虎•伍兹、迈克尔•舒马赫、罗杰•费德勒、尤塞恩•博尔特……克里斯蒂安•毛雷尔，也就是人们熟知的“克里格尔”，正是其中之一。他来自瑞士小镇阿德尔博登(Adelboden)，那里的群山曾激发托尔金创作《魔戒》的灵感。毛雷尔是三届滑翔伞世界冠军，但真正让他独步天下的，是他在红牛X-阿尔卑斯山越野赛中的统治表现——自2009年以来，他从未失手，场场夺冠。为了这场比赛，他每周训练高达25小时，每年飞行时间达到280小时。与其他飞行者不同，他几乎将全部精力都投入到了这一项赛事之中。
“He’s in another league,” says fellow pilot Tom de Dorlodot, who has competed against him in the race for 16 years. “People see him as an eagle that has pure instinct – it’s true – but he’s also a master tactician.”
与他同为飞行者、在这项比赛中与他竞争了16年的汤姆•德•多尔洛多(Tom de Dorlodot)说：“他完全是另一个级别的人物。人们把他看作拥有纯粹本能的雄鹰——这确实没错——但他同时也是一位战术大师。”
I may dream like a bird. But I think like a human
我也许会像鸟儿一样做梦，但我却像人类一样思考
The Red Bull X-Alps (which begins today with the short Prologue event, followed by the main race from 15 June) originally started in 2003 as a 12-day race from Salzburg to Monaco. Athletes hike, carrying their lightweight fabric wing, and fly the course, carried by that wing – staying aloft by riding invisible currents of warm air like birds of prey. On any given day they might hike 5,000m of ascent and fly 200km. The route follows a loop around the Alps, starting in Kitzbühel and finishing in Zell am See, Austria.
红牛X阿尔卑斯越野赛最初于2003年创办，是一项从萨尔斯堡到摩纳哥、为期12天的比赛。运动员们徒步前进，背着轻便的布质翼伞，并利用翼伞飞行——像猛禽一样，借助看不见的暖气流在空中翱翔。每天，他们可能要徒步攀升5000米，并飞行200公里。比赛路线环绕阿尔卑斯山一圈，起点在基茨比厄尔，终点设在奥地利的采尔湖。
In his first year in 2009 Maurer was so fast that he arrived in Monaco before organisers had finished setting up. “It’s a nice story,” he says. “They were thinking, it’s not possible to fly all the way to the sea [due to the oncoming breeze], he will have to walk for six hours. And I flew from 100km and landed on the beach. It was perfect.”
2009年，毛雷尔在他参赛的第一年速度快得惊人，甚至在组委会还没布置好终点时就已经抵达了摩纳哥。“这是个很有趣的故事，”他说，“他们当时觉得，不可能一直飞到海边（因为迎面而来的海风），我肯定得步行六个小时。可我从100公里外飞来，直接降落在海滩上。太完美了。”
Maurer’s skills in the air are well documented. But in person he’s something of an enigma. A private man, he says little outside the sport and spends his downtime with his family – who are all pilots. “Normal hobbies like chilling are not my thing,” he says.
毛雷尔在空中的技艺有目共睹。但他本人却颇为神秘。他为人低调，除了体育运动之外很少多言，休息时间则与家人共度——他们全都是飞行者。他说：“像放松这样的普通爱好并不适合我。”
It’s a family affair. Maurer was four years old when his father, a plasterer and keen mountaineer, took him flying. Maurer then introduced his younger teenage brother Michael – now also a champion pilot – to the sport, taking him flying with him in a tandem. His two sons are 15 and 17 and they too are flying. “We can fly, all the family together, and it’s really nice,” he tells me. (His mother flew only once, into a tree. “She stopped after that,” he says, succinctly.)
这是一项家庭活动。毛雷尔四岁时，他的父亲是一名泥瓦匠，也是一位热衷登山的爱好者，带他去飞行。后来，毛雷尔又把年幼的弟弟迈克尔——现在也是一名冠军飞行者——带入了这项体育运动，和他一起进行双人飞行。他的两个儿子分别是15岁和17岁，他们现在也都在飞行。“我们全家可以一起飞行，这真的很棒。”他这样告诉我。
“Paragliding for me is about coming as close to [being] a bird as possible,” he says of the sport’s allure. “A bird is totally free. They can jump from where they want and fly anywhere. It’s this feeling of freedom and liberty that appeals to me.”
他说：“对我来说，滑翔伞运动的魅力在于尽可能接近成为一只鸟的感觉。鸟儿是完全自由的，它们可以从任何地方起飞，飞往任何地方。正是这种自由和自在的感觉深深吸引着我。”
I always want to push my limit. I want to see what’s possible
我总是想挑战自己的极限，想看看还有哪些可能性
Other pilots talk of his Swiss efficiency. He also has a ruthless streak, once dropping his longtime race support man just days before a competition because the team dynamics were “not working”. Maurer is known also for taking bigger risks than other paragliders. He has a reputation for being more comfortable when the sky is rough and turbulent. His rival, the French athlete Maxime Pinot, says pilots have to disconnect from fear. “Chrigel is the most able,” he says. (No one has died in the race’s history, but there have been some close calls. One year a Swiss pilot landed on a dual carriageway, narrowly missing a car.)
其他飞行者都称赞他拥有典型的瑞士式高效。但他也有冷酷果断的一面——曾因团队氛围“不合拍”，在比赛前几天就解除了与长期合作的竞赛辅助人员的关系。毛雷尔还以敢于承担比其他滑翔伞选手更大的风险而闻名。他在天空动荡、气流紊乱的情况下反而更加得心应手。他的对手、法国选手马克西姆•皮诺表示，滑翔伞飞行者必须学会屏蔽恐惧。“克里格尔是最能做到这一点的人，”他说。（虽然这项赛事至今未发生过死亡事故，但曾出现过险情。有一年，一名瑞士飞行者降落在一条双车道上，险些与一辆汽车相撞。）
When I interviewed Maurer about the risks he takes, his response, tellingly, is to talk about the danger of not taking a chance. Nor does he allow himself to think of his family while in the air. “I really try not to think about them because I need to be focused on the moment. As soon as I start thinking, I have to be careful for my sons, I have to stop because then I’m not really free and focused on the moment – and then it can be dangerous.”
当我采访毛雷尔，询问他所承担的风险时，他的回答颇具深意——他谈到的反而是不去冒险所带来的危险。他在飞行时也不会让自己去想家人。“我真的尽量不去想他们，因为我需要专注于当下。一旦我开始想‘我要为我的儿子们小心’，我就必须停下来，因为那样我就无法真正自由、专注于此刻——而这反而会变得危险。”
“I always want to push my limit,” he adds. “I want to see what’s possible with this paraglider. Often pilots say, ‘It’s dangerous’ or, ‘This is not possible.’ And as soon as they say this I want to go forward.” But there are some concessions to safety: “I may dream like a bird. But I stay realistic and think like a human.”
“我总是想挑战自己的极限，”他补充道。“我想看看这款滑翔伞究竟能做到什么。飞行者们常常说，‘这很危险’或者‘这不可能。’每当他们这么说时，我就更想继续尝试。”不过，在安全方面我也会有所妥协：“我也许像鸟儿一样怀揣梦想，但我始终保持理性，用人的思维去权衡。”
Aged 42, he is aware his time in the sun cannot last for ever. Yet even he is looking forward to that day. “I’m really motivated to see what the other athletes can do.” He laughs. “I’m not the fastest on the ground. I’m not the fastest pilot any more. But my strategy, team and mindset are still good.”
42岁的他很清楚，属于自己的高光时刻不会永远持续下去。然而，即便如此，他也期待着那一天的到来。“我很期待看到其他运动员的表现。”他笑着说，“我已经不是地面上最快的人，也不再是最快的飞行者了，但我的策略、团队和心态依然很出色。”
On that windswept launch, I stay and watch as Maurer effortlessly soars the cliffs until he disappears from view, his nearest competitor several hours behind him.
在那次风吹得呼啸的起飞点，我停留下来，目送毛雷尔毫不费力地飞越悬崖，直到他消失在视野中，而他最近的一位竞争对手还落后他好几个小时。
The 2025 Red Bull X-Alps Prologue race is 12 June; the main race runs from 15 to 27 June. Follow the action online via 3D Live Tracking here
2025年红牛X阿尔卑斯山越野赛序幕赛将于6月12日举行，正赛将于6月15日至27日举行。通过3D实时追踪在线关注赛事动态这里