Damien LACAZE

Team competition/adventure

Thirty, already! I live in the Hautes-Alpes since 2011. The southern Alps bring me everything I dream of in mountains: valleys that have remained wild, un-crowded, where it is easy to isolate yourself, to wander, to ski leaving only your tracks. But also some of the most generous thermal conditions in Europe to go on cross-country flights always longer and more beautiful in attractive massifs: Ecrins, Queyras, Champsaur, Dévoluy. And finally, a dry climate and an intense Sun, 180-degrees away from my younger years spent in the Pyrenean humidity.

I come from the South West of France, rugby, and Pyrenées mountain range. These small, steep, and wild mountains have allowed me to discover mountaineering in all its forms just after adolescence. When I was younger, I wanted to be a guide, like my dad.

I discovered paragliding at the age of 22. Since that day, I haven't stopped thinking about these pieces of cloth, so fragile, so light but which give us so much pleasure and freedom, allow us to dare, to dream and to invent so many projects. Mountaineering had to give up room for paragliding...

Some dates that count:

2008: attempted entry to the ENSA to become a guide (I missed the Proba) and discovery of paragliding.
2011: first distance competitions
2012: graduation as a paragliding instructor
2013: Crossing the Moroccan Atlas in Bivouac flight(See the movie here) - First international competitions.
2014: I joined the French team -11th at the French Championship – and 11th in the Superfinal PWCA in Turkey
2016: 4th at the World Cup (PWC) in Portugal
2017: 1st at the Bornes to fly – Assistant flight of Benoît Outters to the X'alps (we finished 2nd place).
2018: 1500 km of Bivouac flight in Pakistan with Antoine Girard, second highest flight of history (7961m). Attempt to climb a 7000m (the Spantik) in 2 days from the Valley using our novel paragliding approach.

How long have you been flying?

In 2009, with mountaineeting buddies we said, I'm tired of walking down mountains on foot, what if you learned paragliding. I've been hooked ever since!

Your harness

For competes: Kanibal Race 2

For the walk and flight and bivouac flights: Kolibri or kolibri pro

For mountain flights: Kliff 2

Why Kortel Design?

Because they are nice to me 😉 And above all because you can be sure that the products are finished, robust and adjustable down to the smallest detail. I love the little tricks "à la kortel" that make his signature. He must not sleep much at night to invent such things...

Your best flight?

There are several, not necessarily the longest, but they all correspond to a period of my pilot life.

The first, my first 100 km (120 actuall) in 2011, St André – Briançon where I finished the evening with new friends in Embrun who welcomed me and introduced me to the mother of my children...

Then I'd have to say my first flight from Col Agnel, in May 2015. At the time this site was unknown. I had discussed this with Luc Armant who had made a failed attempt a few years earlier. I had walked 1h30 in the snow with my competition gear to take off from the Italian side. The flight had to work or I would have had another long day of walking. That day I flew 180km. The sequel: everyone knows it...

And finally, I'd say my first flight to Pakistan in July 2018. I wasn't yet acclimatized, and in the first thermals we were transitionning at 6200m. After 3h, we were flyaing against the steep faces of the Nanga Parbat! I still can't believe a flight like this.

Any plans?

Lots, but nothing very precise in terms of bivouac flights. Maybe the X'Alps in 2 years if I'm still motivated (they didn't want me this year). And others walks and flights next year (Airtour or XPyr). On the competition side, I'm not tired yet. I would like to make a podium on a big event.