SEARCH Africa. Getting ready.
225.02km above the high mountains of Pakistan.
Roll Over above Belgium...
Hi all, first ever roll over above Belgium today together with my friend Filip Peremans... Good kick. Thanks to Kris and his team : http://www.stepinballooning.be/
Full story soon on TV. Stay tuned. :-)
Black Diamond gears just landed @ my place...
I just received a huge box full of brand new Black Diamond gears I will bring to Pakistan next month... ;-) Looking forward to use it in real conditions... For now I am just climbing trees around my house and running around with my bagpack full of old books to train...
The trekking poles are so light and super short when packed.. Perfect for the Red Bull X Alps race too. The BD team also sent me a few headlamps for late night walk... Getting ready... :-)
You know the saying: "hope for the best but be ready for the worse."
Getting ready fo a third trip to Pakistan...

Here is a short description of our next expedition:
In Mai 2011, 4 of the worlds top acrobatic paragliders along with a specialist photographer and dedicated cinematographer will leave their hometowns across the world and meet for the first time in Pakistan. Horacio Llorens, Hernan Pitocco, Veso Ovcharov & Thomas de Dorlodot will embark on a journey north to the remote Hunza Valley where they intend to break the world altitude record and perform a synchronized acrobatic dance over the Karakorum glaciers testing their teamwork and bodies like never before. During their travel through Pakistan they will embrace the local cultures and be testing each other’s personalities.
Located in the northern territory of Pakistan, the Hunza Valley exposes an amazing, yet treacherous panorama that is only suited to the most committed pilots. It stretches the northern length of the Himalayas and poses an incredible and unique location for the sport. The sheer scale of the mountains create an immense amount of thermal heat which allow the pilots to reach record breaking heights of over 8,000 meters above sea level. We belive that here is no other place in the world these heights can be reached.
The Hunza valley is popularly believed to be the inspiration for the mythical valley of Shangri-la in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon. As one travels up on the Karakoram Highway, the beautiful sceneries keep on revealing themselves. Prior to the early 20th century, the people of the Hunza valley are said to have had an average lifespan of 100. This group of people were highly associated with nature, especially regarding dieting habits and lifestyle. They highly acknowledged the apricot seed, using it as currency. The Hunza valley is frequently referred to as Shangri La, and is also known as "The Valley Where you Live Forever".
I have my plane ticket... :-) for the next adventure...

Hi all,
Today was a good day, the preparation of the expedition goes well, we are getting ready and preparing all the gears. With one month to go, I feel that everything is going on time. The new harness I will use for XC flight just arrived at my place. I am looking forward to fly it. It is super light and has a great look. Next week the mountain gears will arrive (tents, gloves,...), an also the gliders... I have the visa, the cameras, the oxigen botles...
Our only concern is Veso's visa. It looks super complicated to get. We are doing the best to get it on time.
I will keep you posted soon,
Cheers,
Tom
A long weekend in the Alps. Chamonix.

After a great time with Peak Performance's team, flying tandem, skiing and enjoying the great weather, I was happy to meet my fiends Richard and Max at the take off of Brévent above Chamonix this saterday. They were obviously coming for the same thing: Fly XC and cover some distance. We started fast and high, headed for Plaine joux and for the Aravis. Then we took the direction of Megeve and back to the Mont Blanc. I was amazed by the glacier. I flew right above it. It remembered me some flights in Pakistan. Then I went to col de Balme where I had my last flight at Red Bull X Alps 2009. So many memories... All together I flew almost 80km. It could have been longer but I was happy to land near my car and share a beer with friends in the city center... :-)
The same evening I went to sleep in the forest near Thones. I know a great spot where I often come to park my car and sleep. Into the wild spirit. Love it... :-)
I almost lost my Iphone while taking those pix...
The Amarok just landed in front of my doorstep...

It just arrived at my place yesterday... A brand new Amarok by Volkswagen. I believe it is going to be the perfect car to travel the alps, go on training and for my brother to follow me during the race... This car will take me in all my adventures around the world. I am now preparing the bivouac stuffs. Tent on the roof, fridge, etc... For now, I am training every single day... I took my bike for 50km this morning and will run 10 km this evening. Next week I will be in the alps for some mountain training and hopefully some nice flights. If anyone is in Chamonix, contact me. I will be happy to try some serious distance.
Winter training session in Guatemala & Mexico.

Hi all, I would have enough stories to write an entire book about this trip... I arrived 2 and a half months ago in Valle de Bravo (Mexico) for XC training. I had great weather conditions and flew some distance almost everyday... This place is just amazing and there is a lots of pilots to fly with from all around the world... A lot of fun and a great spirit there. After 2 weeks there and already 35 hours of flight under my belt I decided to go to Tapalpa near Guadalajara. Great valley and strong thermal conditions.. Just as we like it :-). I had the chance to get great weather conditions and I broke the distance record of "la Ceja" take off, flying 120km de very first day I was there... That is what I called "being at the right place at the right moment" except that later I landed near a town well know to be the "base camp" of the "Familia", the most violent gang of Mexico. I had to hide in a truck to get out of town and to make it back at La Ceja where everyone was pretty worried for me.. Those 4 weeks, were great to get back under my wing. I am super happy about my glider, it is a great compromise for the Red Bull X Alps. I am looking forward for the super light version of that Avax XC3. Later my friend Horacio Llorens joined me and we started to fly acro as much as we could. It is not the exact Red Bull X Alps training but it surely gives me more confidence to fly in very harsh conditions. We practiced som roll over from a bridge (I might use that this summer if I do not have other take off options...haha..), B.A.S.E, and flew paramotor above the ruins of Tikal. We had a great time and did a lot of flying. I am now going back to the flatlands of Belgium to get more involved into the physical preparation. I will post some films and more pix as soon as I have done some computer work. :-) Blue skies and soft landings, Tom.
Selected for Red Bull X Alps 2011.
Flying in the dunes of Pakistan
52 days in search of a world record in the Karakoram.

I am just back from a 52 days expedition with the Spanish National TV in the high mountains of Pakistan. The idea was to try to break the paramotor altitude world record and to intend a long bivouac flight across the Karakoram. As you know, the weather in Pakistan has been horrible in the late 2 months. Sadly, there is now around 15.000.000 homeless people in the south of the country. People here are really having a hard time.
We spent most of the time in our tents at base camp waiting for good flying conditions. Snow, rain, more snow...
Finaly, we had the chance to enter the Concordia glacier flying at more than 7000 meters high. The view Ramon and I got to see there was probably the most beautifull thing we have seen in our life... and the flights we have done were certainely the most engaged ones we have ever done.
We are now preparing a full article that will be published in Paramotor Magazine soon.
Stay tune.
Blue skies and soft landings.
The pics of me or my glider were taken by Ramon Morillas, Sebastian Alvaro and Pati Trepando. THX to them.
tom.




Black Light Expedition in Peru


"The Elements", the making off.
Here is a small sequence that will appear in the movie that will be produce by Canvas TV. Thanks to Felix Wolk and Cedric de Bruyn for their help and smile...
Photo: Felix Woelk, Cedric de Bruyn.
Stay tune,
Blue skies & soft landings.
tom.
Visit to Gradient in Praha.
I just came back from Praha where I went to visit my friend Ondrej Dupal and his team.Ondrej showed me around the factory and explained to me all the aspects of developing a new paraglider. I was amazed by the work it represents. A work of precision, research and development. The team is very nice and the spirit there is great. They are right next to Praha, so we could enjoy some good Czech beers in the center later in the evening. We talked about all the future projects we will work on together. The list of all the projects is long, but we are looking forward to get everything ready to make all those adventures posible with the best gears available on the market. First trip will be a climbing expedition in Péru with a Montana... For now, I came back with my brand new Aspen Freestyle 20 for some acro action.I will tell you more soon.
Blue skies and soft landings, tom
Training sessions in the Himalayas...



40 days in Pakistan in search of Altitudes World Records.
We are now back to Europe after more than a month flying in the high mountains of karakorum. We had great conditions and made many flights. We stayed at base camp at 4000 m for days waiting for good conditions to intend high altitude flights. Ramon went up to around 7800 m next to the Masherbrun and holds the new paramotor altitude world record. I flew at 6711 m with paramotor and at 6625 m on paragliding without oxigen with my Gradient Avax XC2. This altitude is 2100 m higher than the Altitude World record holded by Robbie Whittall (4526 m)... This flight was very scary because we didn't take oxygen and I suffered the effects of strong hypoxia. I could not see anything... Acording to the GPS track, I went up from 3600 m to 6625 m in 11 min in a very strong thermal. It was a pretty bad feeling to be almost blind and flying in between 7000 meter high mountain peaks. Hopefully, everyone came back in one piece. We have been flying super close to huge glacier and into snowing clouds taking off from roads or from tiny fields and in very cold temperature close to -35°. The material was still perfectly working in those harsh conditions and we where both amazed to ear the sound of our great HE motors at those altitude where the lack of oxigen can kill a man in a very short time.
We made tons of pictures and videos. Sebastian Alvaro from "Al filo de lo imposible" and director of the documentary is really happy, we have great material for the movie.
Beside the flying part, we met great peoples and had a amazing time, sleeping in tents in the snow, waiting for good weather, practicing ice climbing on the glacier and meeting the locals. Soon some more information will appear in Paramotor Magazine and in Aerial soon. Cheers.
Expedition Nanga Parbat (8125m). Himalaya.



One year ago Ramon Morilas asked me if I wanted to join him in is project in Pakistan to intend to fly above the famous Nanga Parbat(8125m). I did not take long to say yes... Since then we have been preparing a prototype of the HE R220 to be able to fly at those altitudes. We have made tons of flights in the Sierra Nevada, flying in strong thermals, very cold weather and strong wind conditions. I have been learning a lot on Ramon's side and now we are both ready to go and give it a try.
Here is what is going to happen in Pakistan :
It is probably the most ambitious projects I am taking part in sinds I started to fly 8 years ago. It would also probably be one of the most important project of those years in the paragliding and paramotoring scene.
We are leaving august 25th for Pakistan. We will go to the base camp of the Nanga Parbat (8125m) so called the »killer mountain » with a TV crew of the spanish national television (TVE) and the well known TV presentator Sebastian Alvaro. We will have to hike during 4 days to reach the base camp then we will stay at least 3 weeks at 4100 m to get used to the lack of oxygene and to prepare the material. The goal is to be the first pilots to fly above a 8000 m peak and to break the altitude world record. The all adventure will be followed by the TV crew in order to make a full documentary about our adventure and to bring it into the mainstream press all around the world. It is now been one year we are preparing with our sponsors for this projects and I am really looking forward to be in Pakistan. My job there is to make aerial footage and to intend to follow Ramon as high as I can. I am looking forward to see where are my limits and how high I can get. We will be living for one month in one of the most remote place of the world, flying paramotor and paraglider, sleeping in tents,... I cannot wait to get there.
I will soon give you the adress of the blog I am working on. Stay tune. tom.
Acrobatics 09.
Red Bull X Alps 09.




I'm still recovering from the race at the time I'm writting this message... Indeed this edition was very hard. A lot of walking, very litle sleep, always on the edge... but what a great time we had.
The race started very fast from Salzburg with around 90 km under the belt a the end of the first day. We were running most of the day wich was a big mistake. On the next day, many pilots could already feel some pain because of pushing to much. We all had huge training cessions before the race but running down hill was a mistake. The second day I could already feel strong pain in my left knee and at the end of the day I couldn't walk anymore. I felt miserable, so much training to finish like that... Finaly I decided to take it easy for the next days to try to recover as fast as posible. It lasted 3 long days. Walking was painfull but I kept on going as I could, not being able to bend my leg. Then, one morning, the pain stoped. I still had some reserve because I was not pushing hard on the last days. I had a second start. We traveled a lot with the french team. It was good to share good times and bad times with Julien Wirtz, we are much stronger together. Good flying was not hapening so we kept on going, putting one foot in front of the other days after days. Together, we made it back from 24th to 11th. Then, a new competition started into the competition. The fight for the 10th position. We finaly had a good flight from the Furka pass. I flew almost all the way to Zermatt, leaving Andy Froetscher and Julien Wirtz 30 km behind. Then came the longest day of the race... 29 hours followed closely by Julien and trying to catch Ramon. In 29 hours I walked around 120km with my bagpack. I slept one hour when a caught Ramon then we kept on going because Julien was getting closer. We finaly had a last flight from "col de balme" where my friend Pal Takats took off 2 hours earlier. I lost myself in the mountain there and Ramon took advantage of it. After landing I started to run and managed to keep my 10th place till the end. Julien was 7km in my back but called me to say that he wasn't going to run after me. In one hour he couldn't close the gap. I arrived in Chamonix right next to the mont blanc. The scenery was amazing, I couldn't move anymore. I had reached the limits of my body.
It was great to do the race with Max. He did an amazing job. It would have been imposible to achieve anything without him and his experience by my side.
Even if I promissed myself never to do it again, I already know that I'll be back in 2011... Now I'm trying to get back to a normal live but I still wake up after 3 hours of sleep or when the sun comes out thinking that I have to keep walking... It was a great experience to deal with so much pain, frustration and joy... I love it...
blue skies and soft landings.
Tom.




