Jeff SHAPIRO
Team adventure
Jeff Shapiro is a professional climber and pilot who has dedicated his life to the mountains. Whether climbing on rock, ice, or flying above, he strives to achieve the "full value of adventure and self-exploration." Over the course of his 30-year climbing life, he finds the greatest rewards in purposeful attempts at new routes of scale. A new route on the northwest face of Ri Wu Qie Feng in the Daxue Shan Range in western China and, the first ascent of the south face of Brammah II in the Kashmir Himalayas are two recent successes.
Jeff is also a world class hang glider pilot, professional paraglider pilot and family man. He competed in the 2018 X-Pyr, represented the US at the World Championships in 2009-2011, and enjoys mixing his passion for flying and mountain adventures. When he's not climbing or flying, he's a philanthropist, conservationist and master falconer. Jeff currently lives and trains in Montana with his 14 year old daughter and his wife of 23 years whom he considers "the most tolerant woman in the universe." His favorite food group, by far.... is sweet chili sauce.
How long have you been flying?
For 27 years. First in hang gliders and now exclusively in paragliding
Your harness?
Kolibri for Bivouac and adventure flying and Kanibal Race II for competition and XC
Why Kortel Design?
Because Kortel designs well thought-out solutions for pilots looking for a maximum balance between comfort and functionality. Having an effective and well thought-out harness at the crucial moment is important. And, I like the "family" atmosphere at Kortel. The Kortel team is keen on the pilots having a quality flight experience and this is seen in their harneses.
Your best flight?
The most beautiful flight? That's really because they're all beautiful! One of them was memorable: I took off in Quixada, Brazil, at 6:45am and flew with a friend all day, landing at sunset after 10 hours in the air on the edge of the Amazonian jungle! Watching the Sun go down from the air on this flight was magical!
Any plans?
My next projects include an attempted flight-bivouac over the ANWR in the East of the Brooks range (the northernmost mountain range of Alaska). I also look forward to trying new distance records in Texas and Brazil. My dream is to mix the flight bivouac paragliding with a first attempt to climb technically difficult in the Himalayas.
