Traversing the Rockies

The Paraglider Podcast

Gavin McClurg is a professional adventurer. As well as circumnavigating the world by boat, he used to be in the US ski team, is an accomplished white-water kayaker and he currently holds the North American foot launch distance record (387 km), set from his home town of Sun Valley to near Helena, Montana. In summer 2014, Gavin and Will Gadd, himself a flying, climbing and ice climbing legend, set out to complete a 700 km traverse of the Canadian Rockies and fly to the US border and into the record books - they did the distance flying, without any hiking. The aim was to make forward progress only when they were in the air. The project was filmed and sponsored by Reel Water Productions and Red Bull and is released as The Rockies Traverse. The Canadian Rockies are remote and there are few landing opportunities, which made the flying both exciting and dangerous. Added to that, Will and Gavin had never met before commencing the adventure. As a result of this amazing trip, Gavin and Will were nominated for the prestigious National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Award. In this podcast, Gavin gives me the background to the journey and lets me have an insight into the planning and execution of this remarkable adventure.