World Altitude Record by Antoine Girard

Hello everyone,

I completed a 19-day, 1,260 km solo paragliding vol-bivouac expedition through the Pakistani Himalayas.

Despite capricious weather, the journey was punctuated by extraordinary milestones:

– Soaring across the Deosai plateau: a wild, remote high-altitude plateau at 5,000m with minimal relief.

– Circling Nanga Parbat (8,126m) and crossing high mountain passes.

– A 150 km flight along the Biafo and Hispar glaciers between Karimabad and Payu, passing beneath Spantik (Golden Peak, 7,027m) with 60 km of glacial crossing.

– A 120 km flight, including 60 km directly above the Baltoro Glacier.

– Soaring over Broad Peak (8,051m) and reaching an unprecedented altitude of 8,157m!

– A 248 km flight establishing the Pakistan distance record.

The defining highlight was climbing above 8,100m to soar directly over the summit of Broad Peak (8,051m)—a historic world first. After many attempts, the paragliding world had long debated whether thin high-altitude air could generate sufficient lift to climb above 8,000m.

We now know that it is entirely possible.