The atmosphere on the Mooskopf launch is great, said race director Christoph Weber. "There's a pretty good cloudbase. As a pilot, I would like the wind to be more from the west." At present, there is very little wind, but at some moments the wind is from the southwest, which means the athletes will have to take off in the lee. That is tricky on a flat launch like the Mooskopf which has some trees to avoid.
Many of the athletes are already in the air and gaining good height. Chrigel Maurer (SUI1) and Maxime Pinot (FRA1) are in the lead, closely followed by Austrian rookie, Thomas Friedrich (AUT3). That's a great start for Thomas, being the youngest athlete ever to take part in the Red Bull X-Alps at 20.