Sepp Gschwendtner

Sepp Gschwendtner (born September 11, 1944 ) is a German paraglider pilot and one of the pioneers of this sport in Europe. He was also one of the pioneers of modern sport climbing in Germany. He succeeded in 1981 with the “Münchner Dach” on the Prunner Wand in Altmühltal, the first route in Germany with UIAA level of difficulty 9. In 1984 he succeeded with "Zombie" on the ashlar wall in the same area, one of the first routes in the lower tenth degree (UIAA). The route name arose from the fact that Sepp Gschwendtner felt like a zombie after the exertion . In 1985 he received the Silver Laurel Leaf , the highest sports award in the Federal Republic of Germany, alongside Wolfgang Güllich and Kurt Albert for his achievements .

In 1985 he began to develop the Kochel climbing area , ended his sport climbing career and began paragliding. In 1988 he completed the first documented cross-country flight in Germany at Wendelstein . This led over a distance of 14 km. On December 17, 1989, he set a course record of 91 km in Bitterwasser ( Namibia ).

Today he works for the German Hang Glider Association (DHV) as editor of the in-house newspaper DHV-Info .

Web links

• All paragliding course records at the FAI