Helmut Achatz

Having other athletes, friends or your parents as role models is something you are familiar with. Nobody would really see anything special in that. But what about a flying role model, a golden eagle for example? This is far from commonplace, except perhaps for Helmut Achatz. He has chosen Bruno. "A friendly, relaxed flying colleague with a fantastic knack for thermals." And Helmut knows all about that, after all he is a paraglider himself. As well as having fun flying together, they both love the beautiful expanses of the mountains.

Helmut Achatz has been travelling the Alps in almost all alpine sports since he was a child. He has been a paragliding instructor since 1989, organises paragliding trips and gives multivision lectures. About his new project "Eaglewings protecting the alps", he says: "In addition to working with golden eagles, my aim is to connect the various glacier regions and summits thematically. To this end, we will be reporting on the individual stages of our tour from east to west in the global media on an ongoing basis. We will show the special features of each section. Hiking, mountaineering, climbing, ski touring, freeriding, paragliding, canyoning, ice climbing - hardly any alpine activity is foreign to us, so that we can provide fascinating insights. We deliberately present various local aspects from a professional perspective, including geology, ornithology, flora, fauna, weather phenomena and contemporary history. My aim is to understand the Alps as a whole, as a system on which the glaciers have a direct influence."

Helmut Achatz,

Do you have a role model?
"Bruno, one of our golden eagles. A friendly, relaxed flying colleague with a fantastic knack for thermalling."

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR HIGHLIGHT WITH THE BIRDS SO FAR?
"There have been a few: with the eagle on the north face of the Königspitze in winter - turning up from a "waterfall" in cold air, on the Vajolet Towers when it swooped towards me coming out of the sun, collecting a joyfully beaming, half-iced eagle in a snowstorm on a Dolomite wall after an amazing camera flight and: when the eagle fell asleep on my fist after a great day of filming - that's trust!"

WHAT WOULD BE A BIG GOAL OR A DREAM OF YOURS?
"Flying and filming with snow vultures in Buthan or with a wandering albatross in Galapagos."

IS THEREA MISSION FOR YOU?
"Money isn't everything. We are only truly satisfied in jobs where we can make our own decisions and fulfil our strengths."