This is the view back north from my landing in the col de Vars. The sky is

over developing fast and although the race is not quite over, I think I've

done enough to keep my 5 th place.

Waiting for the weather at the top of the col du Galibier. Tea and biscuits, how very British.

On the way up the col de Galibier

Seems to be quite a good signal here!

Just what you expect to see half way up a mountain - a music festival!

With Pierre-Louis who kindly showed me a path up to.Valloire.

Where the winds come from?

Finally into france passing the mount blanc turn point. Can't see m blanc

itself but here is the Bossons glacier.

....and does that Dutchman ever stop??

Another road that feels like the opening sequence to The Littlest Hobo!

Apologies to all those who have no idea what I am talking about. And to

those who do, who will now have the theme time going round in their head.

Again!

Listening to the Flytec play it's Matterhorn turnpoint tune

It's quicker by goat. Approaching the Matterhorn turnpoint Zermatt.

Picture for everyone following on live tracking. Over developed sky and

strong N winds at the Nuefenen Pass.

Siesta time

Advice from an expert. With a recovering Alex Hofer in St Moritz.

If anybody following me picked up my Suunto watch from the shower atPlauns p

At Camping Plauns where Albert has kindly offered us showers and coffee.

Note to organisers. If you run this event again can it be in the summer please?

I crossed into switzerland a short time ago via the val voila pass. Next

stop the Bernina pass and the Piz Palu turn point.

Yet another simply stunning place on the XAlps route.

Heading up the Stelvio Pass.

....that's where I want to be...every stop I make, I make a new

friend...can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again...maybe

tomorrow...

That one is for Simon, and everyone else who remembers the Littlest Hobo!

They are straight, they mean that you don't have to walk on main roads with big trucks!!

I thought I posted this yesterday but apparently it didn't work. So

hopefully it works now.

Found myself in a tree lined gorge today with no way out and 45 deg slopes.

It was rather scary to say the least. I managed to find this tiny spot to

put the glider down in. I managed to get it in all right and even did it

without putting the wing in a tree. Biggest problem was then getting out of

the gorge as I had to climb down to the stream and back out the other side.

Ho hum. Still trucking along anyway.

Warning acrobatic animals on the path!

Beautiful walk up the Tre Cime this morning!

Walking out of the dolomites but into a storm.

Hungry Blue sky dog, hungrier Jon.

(i think)

First hot shower of the x alps courtesy of blue sky paragliding in Sillian.

Thanks guys!

Trudging up the valley from Lienz. Red Bull 'hopefully' gives you wings

Aftet my 4th flight of the day I found myself on a path up through some

amazing gorges. The only challenge was trying to get past lots of slow

tourists!

Waiting for the weather

Team gbr2 at dacstein supporter an' all

Nice weather!

Jon has made the Hofpurgl hut for the night. He had an interesting encounter on the walk up with some cows who were attracted to his lights and started to follow/chase him up the mountain! The only thing that seemed to scare them away were the horses he came to next!

Last minute press interview with team GBR2

The first briefing - communications!

After a day and a half of packing the van and some last minute preparations, Jon and Richard were finally ready to leave and wave good bye for the start of their adventure!

Just as they were ready to go the torrential rain storm we had been having in Geneva finished and the sun came out. A good omen we hope.....

Putting on the tip logos at the weekend I had a few little helpers to tension the material for me...

Poor weather has not hampered our trip checking out the route. Only a short XC flight in Austria was possible before poor weather hit, still we've managed to cover plenty of ground walking and catching stolen flights across valleys during gaps in the rain! After all, that could well be the reality in the race itself!

Team GBR 2 training continues as we are now in Austria exploring the first part of the route. This time the trip is made somewhat easier by the fantastic campervan provided for us by our sponsors - Pringles Xtreme.

With poor weather we've done a lot of walking, including the Gaisberg and the Dachstein turnpoints, although our route up the Dachstein was thwarted near the top due to the via ferrata being buried in snow.

Read more on our blog: www.jonrchambers.blogspot.com

Flying last weekend saw me, for the first time, using my full X-Alps gear - A lightweight Ozone Mantra M4 with a new 'D-Light' Sup'Air harness. The combination was a pleasure to fly, however each time I picked up my bag (around 10kg) I was sure I must have forgotton something!!

I was checking out the course from Mount Blanc to the finish at Mont Gros - luckily the weather was good, despite some storms, allowing me to fly much of the route.

For more info about this latest trip check out...

Good News: My wing has arrived from Ozone!

Bad News: It's been windy and raining all weekend so no chance to fly it yet :(

Finally team GBR2 got together last weekend to spend 3 days exploring more of the middle section of the route. Here are some photos, and as always more can be found on our blog: www.jonrchambers.blogspot.com

Team GBR 2 has the great pleasure to announce sponsorship from Pringles Xtreme. The sponsorship covers support for the team during preparation and the race including the provision of a Mercedes Campervan for the team’s use. Pringles Xtreme – a sub line of the popular Pringles potato chips consisting of Xtreme flavours, like Flaming Chilli Sauce – are not for the faint of heart, a perfect fit then for the world’s most extreme race! It’s not yet clear if a diet of Pringles will give the team a...

I've just spent the last three days flying and walking parts of the X-Alps route on an unsupported trip, which the French amusingly refer to as Vol-Visa. Starting in Domodossola in Italy I flew 'backwards' along the course line before exploring the Leventina valley and finally making the incredible transition across the alpine chain into the Goms valley and down towards Zermatt. If you want to know more I've written a full account of the three epic days here on my blog:...

Outstanding flying conditions in the northern French Alps have led to some excellent cross-country opportunities. After 14hrs flying in two days at the weekend I was exhausted! Here's a photo of me blasting down the Aravis at the start of a 150km triangle on saturday.

A busy week in my preparation for the X-Alps:

- We have a Campervan booked by our sponsors, Pringles Xtreme, for June and July so we can train with the van prior to the race

- On friday I spent time being tested on a treadmill for my endurance, anaerobic threshold and VO2 max. With this information I now have a more fine tuned training plan for the next cycle of my training

- Finally I flew a 147km out and return in Switzerland on Saturday - proper flying weather is well and truely with us...

Flying again, this time on the Aravis, in northern France and an attempted short curcuit clockwise around to the north, taking in Les houches, near Chamonix and part of the X-Alps route heading south. Unfortunately the day was cut short due to big overdevelopment (Congestus) which was covering most of the course by the end. Bodes well for a good season though (with little snow at altitude routes like this one along the Aravis are not normally flyable for at least a month or so more). With...

Went to Plaine Joux today, just outside of the Chamonix valley. Despite a low cloudbase (1500-1600m) the day was suprisingly good - we flew a small triangle along to Sallanches to the West and down in the direction of Contamines in the south.

The pretty pictures are coutesy of Tom Payne.

With an uninspiring weather forecast I decided to spend my training time walking and running this weekend. I ran from my house to the Voiron, walked up to the summit, ran the length of the ridge down to Bonne and then crossed the valley via Reignier. From there I went up the back of the Saleve before running back down via Monnetier to Geneva. All told I ran or walked 55km including over 2100m of ascent.

I travelled up to Fiesch on Saturday to explore a little of the upper Valais by paraglider and by foot. I also managed to get some great photos courtesy of Tom Payne who I met up with in the air (literally). The flying was great with strong thermals, and after a short XC (mainly due to the fact I was excruciatingly cold) I landed and proceeded to walk for then next few hours, during which I saw all sorts of bizarre things given it was carnival, including some people dressed apparently as...

Welcome to my online X-Alps diary. You can track my training and preparation as I will be posting diary entries at least once a week here on the X-Alps site. Some of you will have already been following my preparation for this race via my blog www.jonrchambers.blogspot.com. For those of you that haven't here are a couple of pictures from training days...