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<\/p>\nAaron Durogati has set a new 24-hour hike-and-fly world record after climbing and flying an astonishing 19,424m of vertical ascent in a single day on Norway\u2019s Slogen mountain.<\/p>\n
The challenge took place on 7-8 June 2026, with Aaron repeatedly climbing and flying from the 1,080m mountain near Norway\u2019s western coast. By the end of the 24-hour period he had accumulated enough ascent to surpass the previous record by 1,890m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough, but I had really good support which kept me motivated throughout,\u201d Aaron said afterwards.<\/p>\n
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The hike-and-fly 24-challenge is deceptively simple but brutal: pilots climb a mountain carrying their paraglider, launch, fly back down, and repeat the process as many times as possible within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
The achievement means Aaron climbed the equivalent of more than two Mount Everests in less than a day, maintaining an average ascent rate of around 900m per hour.<\/p>\n
Slogen\u2019s location and the long daylight hours of the Norwegian summer provided ideal conditions for the attempt \u2013 and was the mountain used by Erlend Erkvitne during his hike-and-fly record attempt in 2024. The mountain rises directly from near sea level to 1,080m, allowing Aaron to maximise vertical gain on each lap.<\/p>\n
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The course followed a 2.57 km route with approximately 1,080m of vertical gain per ascent, starting almost at sea level and rising directly from the fjord. <\/p>\n
It is the same route Kilian Jornet, the \u2018GOAT\u2019 of mountain endurance, selected for his Vertical Kilometer record attempt. In midsummer the extreme vertical gain, near-sea-level start, and 24-hour daylight create ideal conditions for this type of challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a couple of hard moments, already after 4,000 to 5,000 vertical metres I got really tired, especially thinking about the 20 hours I had left, but I tried to stay really focused on every lap, every step,\u201d Aaron said afterwards. <\/p>\n
\u201cI also tried to divide the ascent in little pieces and be really precise, efficient and fast during flying \u2013 in a way just \u2018run\u2019 but of course at night, when it gets darker, also with some rain showers, it was tough, but I had really good support which kept me motivated throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Aaron, who won the Red Bull X-Alps last year, said he had prepared meticulously for the 24-hour challenge: \u201cIt was the full package, I worked really hard on my strength, my physical preparation, I built a few special paragliders for this project, special backpacks and harnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that out of 18 laps, every 10 seconds I\u2019m able to save here and there, will in the end make up to 1-1,5 minutes times the 18 laps, and that might make the difference between having a world record or not. So I was really motivated to be as efficient as I was able to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt feels really amazing as it was a long-term project. I\u2019m racing a lot and to pull off this whole project I needed about three-quarters of a year, and the right location and a good team. It was something that was missing in my career, and this year I found the motivation, the place and the time, and in the last 24 hours everything came together and I made it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The 24-hour hike-and-fly challenge can be traced back to 2014, when Austrian pilot Florian Ebenbichler recorded 8,860m of vertical gain in 24 hours using an ultralight paraglider.<\/p>\n
Since then the record has been broken several times. Most recently the record was held by French pilot Tanguy Renaud-Goud. That was set in April 2024 in France and used a full moon and special permission<\/a> to fly through the night.<\/p>\n Known for his achievements in hike-and-fly racing and cross-country flying, Aaron Durogati has built a reputation as one of paragliding\u2019s most versatile and accomplished pilots. He was won the Paragliding World Cup Superfinal twice as well as the Red Bull X-Alps in 2025.<\/p>\n The record<\/p>\n The 24-hour hike-and-fly record is not an official FAI world record but has nevertheless been fiercely contested over the last decade.<\/p>\n Florian Ebenbichler, Pascal Purin\u2019s future Red Bull X-Alps supporter and trainer, got the ball rolling when he completed\u00a08,860m\u00a0in 2014.<\/p>\n Two years later\u00a0Pascal Purin\u00a0himself\u00a0completed\u00a09,540m<\/a>\u00a0on 18 June 2016, flying in the Stubai Valley, Austria as part of his\u00a0training for the X-Alps<\/a>\u00a0in 2017.<\/p>\n Italian Olympic biathlete and paraglider pilot\u00a0Lukas Hofer<\/a>\u00a0then moved the bar significantly higher on 1 July 2019 when he spent nearly 20 hours climbing the Kronplatz 10 times for a cumulative total of\u00a013,040m\u00a0(also reported online at 13,390m)<\/p>\n In June 2021\u00a0Tanguy Renaud-Goud used the longest day of the year to complete\u00a013,390m\u00a0in one day.<\/a>\u00a0All the pilots to this point used available daylight and stayed within VFR (visual flight rules).<\/p>\n