The Wanderbird season 2025 has come to a successful end, with more participants than ever before, a further expanded international community, and new event formats. A total of more than 450 hike & fly athletes took part in the three Wanderbird Trophies, several community hike & fly events, and academy formats, leading to over 600 individual participations.

French athlete François Montuori is the champion of the third Wanderbird Trophy after participating in this year’s events in Kitzbühel, Stubai, and Paznaun, Austria.

The season kicked off in Kitzbühel the week before the Red Bull X-Alps. This was the first-ever Wanderbird Trophy to feature two competition days, with participants from Austria and Germany, as well as athletes from the USA, Canada, Finland, Serbia, and other countries.

The event saw mixed conditions, with a challenging first day under cloudy skies followed by a second day offering perfect conditions for a 60 km task. François Montuori took gold in the Hero category, followed by Peter Bergdolt in second place and Helmut Eichholzer in third, all flying the Ozone Zeolite 2.

A special highlight was the first German Hike & Fly Championship, which was held as part of the Trophy. Peter Bergdolt (Ozone Zeolite 2) and Karin Schugg (Ozone Lyght) secured the titles.

The second event of the series took place in the Stubai Valley, featuring a 40-kilometre route that took nearly 100 participants on an Alpine panoramic tour with impressive glacier views. Conditions turned out to be better than forecast, allowing athletes to complete the task in just a few hours and almost entirely in flight. François Montuori finished third, behind Aaron Durogati and Lenart Oblak.

The final trophy of the season took place in Kappl and See in the Paznaun Valley. Strong southerly Föhn winds made flying impossible, and after a detailed weather briefing it was decided, for safety reasons, to cancel the flying part of the event completely. Instead, participants completed a trail running task through high Alpine terrain, a decision that was widely appreciated given the strong wind gusts. François Montuori finished in third position, securing the overall season win.

The official season finale took place in Marquartstein, Germany. In addition to a yoga session, equipment workshop, community hike & fly, and talks, the overall winners of the Wanderbird Championship 2025 were announced.

In the Hero category, François Montuori (Ozone Zeolite 2) from France won the men’s competition ahead of Lenart Oblak and Peter Bergdolt (Ozone Zeolite 2). In the women’s competition, Pauline Müller claimed victory ahead of Karin Schugg (Ozone Lyght) and Elisabeth Fuchsreiter. Over 100 Wanderbirds attended the season closing event to look back on an extraordinary year together.

Here is what François had to say about his victory:

“I made this a main goal of my hike & fly season. The short race format with one-day tasks suits me very well. Managing strategy compared to a multi-day race is very different, bringing hike & fly closer to cross-country competition. It is something I really enjoyed, especially discovering Alpine ranges I did not know at all.

It was also great to meet the team behind Wanderbird. A big thank you to them for their work promoting hike & fly and supporting elite pilots and the professionalisation of our sport.

In the end, I am very happy to have achieved my goal by securing the overall victory after a first place in Kitzbühel and two podium finishes in Stubai and Kappl & See.”

Up-to-date information as well as all competition results can be found here.

Photos courtesy of Wanderbird.