"To be on the wire is life; the rest is waiting." -Flying Wallenda. The X Alps were walking the wire for me: In just one race I passed out in fire ant nest, nearly crashed a half dozen times and did once, had the best dinner of my life on top of Verbier (thanks whoever that was, you rock!), walked 100K on pavement, flew over wild terrain by the skin of my teeth, saw my @gingiders Boomerang do things I'd never seen before, and lived more in two weeks than I thought possible. Those are a tiny slice of my memories of the first Red Bull X Alps in 2003, a hike/fly race from the eastern Alps to Monaco. It is for sure the craziest event I've ever done, and registration just opened up if you're game to fly with the best XC pilots in the world across the Alps. It's a hell of a lot harder now than when I did it, but I guarantee that everyone who does it will have huge memories! I watch it every year, and think not only of the athletes but also of Hannes Arch, who created the race but later died flying a helicopter, a good man. My old friend @grillulrich runs it through @zooomproductions, old photos courtesy of Zooom. Photo 1: We all launched off a glacier in Austria. I'd never launched off a glacier, pretty cool! I had no idea what was about to happen... Photo 2: Me on launch. That's my worried face, and it should have been more worried! Photo 3: Not sure who this is, maybe a pre-shoot, but note that there are no pod harnesses...We did a lot of flying like this, in just silly conditions, but that's what you do in this race. Photo 4: Wanna sign up :)? Someone has to beat @chrigelmaurer_offiziell! Thanks to @kimcsizmazia for the support, all the athletes I watch and raced with, an @redbull for believing in a totally mad event!! #redbullxalps, #paragliding, #dachstein, #gameon, #isthisglacierstillthere? @gingliders, @redbullxalps, @redbullcanada, @redbull, @arcteryx, @scarpana, @blackdiamond.