ABOUT

ZOOM PARAGLIDERS - ALEX HÖLLWARTH

Born in 1982, I, Alex Höllwarth, live with my wife and our two children in Fügen in Zillertal/Tyrol. In 1994, inspired by my brother Hansi, I came into contact with the paragliding scene for the first time. Back then, I was able to watch well-known test pilots at work near my home. At that time, I already knew that I was enthusiastic about working as a test pilot and that I wanted to make this my career goal.

After a few attempts at flying myself, I completed my training as a paraglider pilot in 1997. My first glider was the NOVA Philou. In 2001, I began my career as a test pilot at Skywalk under the guidance of Jürgen Kraus. Here I learnt the craft of testing and trimming.

At the end of 2007, I moved to NOVA as a test pilot and gained my first insights into the development and design work of my mentor Hannes Papesh. This laid the foundation for me as a constructor and designer.

In 2011, I was given the opportunity to prove myself as a designer at Skywalk, initially together with Paul Guschlbauer. From then on, I was responsible for all Skywalk paragliders until 2022. This included successful wings such as the Mescal, Tequila, Masala, Cayenne, Tonic, Tonka and the Xalps 2 to 5.

In 2023, I left Skywalk to found my own brand Zoom Paragliders under the umbrella of Papesh GmbH and with my long-time companion and mentor Hannes Papesh.

HANNES PAPESH explains:

What is ZOOM?

ZOOM is a consequence of my "Free the Competence" initiative! I Believe we must give designers, test pilots, technical experts more weight in the industry again! Paragliding, like many other fields, has a history: in the beginning, the inventors (technical experts) started the companies, but once the business is up and running, the businessmen take over and try to oust the inventors from the company or make them small and unknown. But the business people forget that innovative technicians are needed! It won't work without them!I had to fight my fights to finally be free and independent. The success of PHI shows that the whole marketing blabla by the sales guys is not needed! You just need very good products: people try and buy!Now I'm able to liberate other designers and give them a chance to flourish.

Crew

ZOOM TEAM

HANNES PAPESH
CEO & Mentor
Absam | AT

ALEX HÖLLWARTH
Design & Testing
Maurach | AT

CHRISTIAN GOSSNER
Paragliding Teacher
Check and Repair Expert
Wildschönau | AT

BENJAMIN HÖRBURGER
Test Pilot / Distribution Germany
Scheidegg | DE

FRANZISKA BUCHER
Marketing & Communications
Basel | CH

VERENA GRATZ
Office
Maurach, AT

EUGENE YEVHENII ZAKHARCHENKO
Harness Designer, 3D Artist
Absam | AT