François Bon has made a speed-flying descent of the south face of Aconcagua, one of the world’s great mountain walls. Speed flying (aka speed riding) is a blend of free skiing and high-speed paragliding. Bon, a French rider, has become the most high-profile speed flyer in the world, with a descent of the Eiger by the west and north faces, as well as Mont Blanc. 

Bon summited 22,841-foot Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, after an 11-day approach and climb in early-winter conditions. Skiing off the snowfields on top, he descended the 9,000-foot south face in 4 minutes 50 seconds. “With the altitude it goes so fast!” Bon said. “I fell from the sky along the walls.” 

Aconcagua’s great southern wall was first climbed in 1954 by a French team.  

With wings about half the size of paragliding canopies, expert speed flyers cruise at 50 mph or more; the skis allow launches and occasional touch-downs on mountain walls that are much less than vertical. Bon has descended from 15,774-foot Mont Blanc to the green grass of Chamonix in three and a half minutes, and his speed-flying descent of the Eiger last year with Antoine Montant was captured in a riveting video.

Date of Descent: March 2008 

Source: François Bon

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