Red Bull X-Alps: the preparation of Clément Latour team
Four French pilots whose Clement Latour were selected to participate in the famous race Red Bull X-Alps 2015. ROCK THE OUTDOOR has decided to support Clement in this extreme adventure and follow his team during their preparation and the race..
* Antoine Girard, Nelson Defreyman and Gaspard Petiot
Clément Latour was born in the Vaucluse at the foot of Mont Ventoux. He now lives with his family in the northern Alps of the Haute Savoie, near Annecy. Having always felt very passionate about the mountains, he decided to learn to fly in 2002. Prior to that, Clément has already experienced a wide variety of mountaineering adventures of his own, climbing a variety of peaks from Mont Blanc to the Kilimanjaro. Clément also completed a world bicycle tour, climbing the highest peaks in each country he visited and attempted a tandem flight from the 8600m of Mount Everest.
With several titles to his name in raids such as the “Diagonale des Fous” and the “Templiers de UTMB”, Clement is best known within in the paragliding world for his long distance and Hike & Fly routes, and especially with his two recent participations of the RED BULL X-Alps in 2011 and 2013, where he earned himself a satisfactory second place on the podium, just behind Chrigel Maurer in 2013. Subsequently, he participated in a series of high-level competitions: the European Championship in Serbia, the PWC Superfinal in Turkey with a podium at the PWC Chamouset and the France Championship. To round it off, he was selected into the France National team to compete at the World Championships in Colombia in 2015.
L’équipe de Clément en 2013
Clément, Can you introduce the members of your team and what each of their roles are?
Clement: They are both key individuals who work tirelessly to put everything in place, and by that I mean absolutely everything so that our team works as a unit. We started our preparation together a long time ago and I would not have been able to do this competition without them. They make every effort so that I can concentrate on my flying, resting and have to hand, all the information I need. During the daytime, I can count on them to support me morally and technically, and I know I will have everything prepared so that when I arrive at the end of the day, I can just eat and rest. At nightime, whilst I‘m tucked up in bed, they will be tidying up, drying my clothes and preparing my kit for the next day. Charging up my GPS instruments, monitoring the weather and looking for the best place for me to launch from the next day… I will wake up in the morning and my breakfast will be already waiting for me! It is really quite a thankless task and represents an unimaginable amount of work and preparation.
We will also rely on other professions for additionnal support: a pharmaceutical expert for any medical issues, a mountain guide for high-terrain assistance and a meteorologist. Officially for Red Bull, the team is, in principal, made up of myself and two others, who I am going to present to you now:
Philippe “Fifi” Barnier, who already has admirable experience of the race. He assisted me in 2011 and 2013 XAlps as my main support team member.
He will be responsible for providing information on the meteo and tactics i.e. the different flight options depending on the weather conditions and advising me on the other pilot’s positions. Also, route mapping and route choice. He is also my “physio-masseur” and will be responsible for my clothes and shoes during the race.
Lionel “Yoyo” Patty is a professional in the building industry and has a passion for motor sports. He has vast experience in 4 × 4 desert raids (Tunisia, Libya, Morocco…) and is a generally a passionate adventurer, especially in the desert arena! He is responsible for all the “logistics” and will handle the communications side (films, photos and videos for the Red Bull, the press and our sponsors), transport management and equipment, provisions and supplies. In addition, he is our “Head Chef”! Lionel will also support me by accompanying me sometimes when I am walking or hiking along a route or indeed, to launch. He will be able to bring me supplies or carry any addition things I need like water, food or clothing, and can also support me mentally – it’s nice to have reassurance and talk to someone for company. On launch he will be able to assist me, laying out my wing and helping me however that may be, before taking off.
Clément Latour, Lionel Patty and Philippe Barnier
Did you all know eachother before having been put together as a team?
Clement: For the race in 2013, I had opted for two teammates and the combination was pretty good. It is important that people in my team get along well with eachother because I will be too busy with the race to have that kind of contact with them. Fifi and I have already known eachother for some years, and is a good friend of Lionel. Fifi told me of Lionel’s great raid experience and together we form a group.
How long ago did you choose your team?
Philippe: With our past experience, we knew the preparation that needed to be done in advance, which included working on some past weaknesses. I think our organisation is pretty much in place now.
Lionel: We started talking about it at the end of last summer, in the autumn of 2014.
Clement: Personally I have had the experience of the 2013 X-Alps in the back of my mind ever since and I knew I wanted to participate again in 2015. The registration deadline was August, meanwhile, we talked and prepared together up to the final selection date even though there were no certainties of us being selected. This is a team sport, so in any case, the though process had to begin before that date.
Clement, what are the specialties of each team member that will help contribute to your success?
Clément: Fifi, for his experience in distance and cross-country flying. Lionel’s speciality is 4×4 desert rally’s across Africa, sometimes in extreme conditions and unstable climates, spending extended autonomous periods in the desert. His ability of self-control and cool-headedness in harsh environments and stressful situations will come in handy, as no doubt there will be some frayed nerves at some point and we need Lionel to keep everyone level headed. Also his extensive knowledge of mechanics and power consumption is also essential for us managing the energy levels in the campervan and the undoubted hardware failures, should they occur. He is also our very important Cook.
Lionel … hmm, not sure about my cooking, but we will see!
How long have you been preparing?
Lionel: I have taken all my annual holidays in preparation for this race. There are many things we need to organise together, especially with so few months now to go.
Philippe: We all know the French Alps from Chamonix to the Provence fairly well; the mountains, valleys, breezes … We have the topographic map imprinted in our brains! But there are parts that we know much less, and these few months before the race will enable us to get to know these areas better.
Clement: We will focus on the eastern parts of the Alps and have already planned to spend much of our spare time getting to know Austria, Switzerland and Germany much better.
Will you be spending time testing your equipment and team skills before the big day?
Lionel: Every weekend in May will be spent in the campervan, getting to know the areas we know less, and simulating different scenarios. This will give us the opportunity to test out the campervan and all the equipment as well.
Clément: This is a time when I need to be flying as much as possible, weather permitting. If not, we will be mentally mapping out road systems, peaks and valleys by car which is also useful, as there will be no- fly days, so having sound ground-level knowledge is useful too.
What do you think you have learned from past years’ experience?
Philippe: I think that having flown high-level competitions will definitely help Clément. It seems now that many of the pilots fly at World Cup level anyway. Also, a wide knowledge of the valley breeze systems and convergence will play an important part in staying ahead. I remember a time in 2013 during a reconnaissance prior to the race, Clément and I had found a major convergence line in one of the valley’s near Interlaken. This was a point of the race that enabled Clément to gain a considerable advantage by taking a different route. Small pieces of information like this make a huge impact overall.
Once the race has started, how do you organise yourselves on the ground during the daytime?
Philippe: Everything is carefully timed, and there only one moment in the day when we can stock up on provisions that are needed. In the campervan we always have enough food for 2 days, which means that if Clément needs anything whilst he is in the high mountains, we can take it to him: clothes, food, batteries for his radio or GPS. This sort of advanced planning is carefully thought out so that we can adapt to any kind of situation.
What type of vehicle are you going to be using?
Clément: Lionel has spent copious amounts of time redesigning the inside of our vehicle, so that we have enough space for all the equipment! Not being a small guy and with size 48 feet, there is not a lot of room! It has been like solving a jigsaw puzzle but Lionel is getting there.
Lionel: The car is a VW T5, which has been redesigned to sleep one person inside, the other under a roof tent above, and the third outdoors if the weather is good enough, otherwise there will be two squashed bodies inside! A lot of thought has gone into generating energy and monitoring its consumption as well. There are many instruments to recharge each day and so maintaining the vehicle’s battery power is crucial, otherwise it will be a major problem for Clément.
Clément: We have to be able to stock absolutely everything for the race inside the campervan. I have two of everything: paraglider, harness, rucksack, radio GPS and vario back-up’s, reserve parachute…plus all the other equipment. It’s tight!
After coming 2nd overall in 2013, do you feel pressure to improve your performance?
Clément: I feel some apprehension about not reaching my own expectations, but regarding our overall performance, we are under no obligation to produce great results I don’t feel particular pressure from anyone. We are a group of amateurs, friends, who are going to try to do our best, whilst enjoying the experience. There are some very professional pilots out there who make some big sacrifices for this race, and who have greater financial means that we do. We are out there to have fun, and if we can achieve a great result, then it’s a massive bonus.
And the other French teams, are you in communication with one another?
Clément: We don’t really exchange information, and each team is training individually, although we have had quite a few exchanges with Gaspard Petiot, who has a great deal of experience both flying and walking, and lives not far from us. Antoine Giraud who also ran in 2013, had a great race coming in third position, only 40 minutes after me in only 8 days. I think I am right to say that we are all training hard now.
How do you communicate with the organisers and the outside world during the competition?
Philippe: We can stay in contact with whomever we chose. Our outside contacts are able to relay information to us at any time and have specifically made themselves available in order to do that. With regards to Red Bull, they provide us with individual means of communication. We also use Google Earth and our “live” version is 6 minutes ahead of the one seen. We also have a GSM telephone and know exactly where the other competitors are. We are in permanent contact with Clément by radio, although sometimes because of poor relay quality in the mountains, he will sometimes only be able to hear us. Nevertheless, we will always know of his whereabouts.
We would like to thank Clement and his team for this interview, and wish them all the best in their preparations.
The next Red Bull X-Alps Team France1 interview will be in April, when we will be asking the team some questions about the progress of their physical training.
If you readers have questions you would like to ask Clement, Philippe and Lionel, please send them by email to: info@paragliding.rocktheoutdoor.com
Lionel Patty, Clément Latour and Philippe Barnier
ROCK THE OUTDOOR will be sponsoring Clément Latour and his team for the duration of the event, and will be following his daily progress, from the Austrian Alps all the way to Monaco.
