Red Bull X-Alps

Applications to Red Bull X-Alps Open July 1st

Press Release / 22.06.2022

Save the date. Block out your calendar. Start preparing once again for the world’s best adventure athletes to hike and fly across the Alps by foot and under wing. The 2023 Red Bull X-Alps dates are set.

The world’s toughest adventure race will officially kick off with the Prologue on June 15, 2023, with the main race starting Sunday June 18, finishing almost two weeks later, on Friday June 30, 2023.

It will be 20 years since the first Red Bull X-Alps was launched from Austria’s Dachstein mountain, kick-starting the hike-and-fly race phenomenon.

In ten days, on July 1, applications to enter officially open on redbullxalps.com. Entries are open until August 31, 2022. A rigorous selection process is then held before revealing the lineup of approximately 30 athletes mid-October 2022.

“We are really excited to reveal next year’s start date and begin the process of athlete selection for the 2023 race,” says Red Bull X-Alps co-founder Ulrich Grill. “A June start date is the best time to run the race,” he adds. “The long daylight hours of midsummer are an important safety consideration. It means athletes have the best chance of maximizing their distance during daylight hours, whether hiking in the mountains or flying by paraglider.”

The Red Bull X-Alps has a huge global fanbase, and like the Tour de France, spectators often plan their vacation around the race, following the athletes across the Alps as well as spending every day for nearly two weeks watching the action via Live Tracking on redbullxalps.com. 

The route, which contains some surprises each edition, will remain a closely guarded secret until it is revealed on March 15, 2023. That gives the athletes only three months to research the route and prepare their minds and bodies for the ordeal. 

The Red Bull X-Alps is the ultimate test of body and mind. Anyone thinking of entering the race is required to prove they are not only a world-class adventure athlete capable of running ultra distances in the mountains, day after day with a heavy pack. They also need to be one of the world’s best mountain paraglider pilots, capable of safely flying cross-country in rough conditions when their body is exhausted. 

Applications open July 1, 2022, on redbullxalps.com.

ABOUT RED BULL X-ALPS

The Red Bull X-Alps is the world’s toughest adventure race. It’s a fiercely contested battle across the Alps lasting almost two weeks in which around 30 athletes run, hike and fly by paraglider up to 150km a day passing set Turnpoints positioned across the highest and most iconic mountains of the Alps as well as in famous resorts. With athletes often hiking up to 4,000m of vertical ascent each day and running as much as 100km on foot, it’s not only an incredible test of physical endurance but also of flying skill.                 The Red Bull X-Alps is the ultimate test of body and mind and only open to the world’s best paraglider pilots and adventure athletes. 

The Red Bull X-Alps was founded in 2003 by the late adventurer Hannes Arch and has taken place every two years since then. The 2023 edition marks 20 years since the first race took place. Every edition since 2009 has been won by the Swiss athlete Christian Maurer, or ‘Chrigel the Eagle’ as he has become known to the race’s legion of fans and followers.