Suspended between sky and earth in absolute silence, the Loire Valley reveals itself differently from the basket of a hot-air balloon. At the controls is Rémi Ouvrard, a young and already celebrated French balloonist who has turned his passion into a profession — and into a string of vertiginous world records.
“You feel a great calm, a serenity,” he says as the balloon drifts over the royal landscape of the Loire. “It’s like being on a flying carpet.” For his passengers, the morning flight offers new scenery at every turn. “We discover new landscapes every day. It’s great for the passengers, because right now we’re doing a long route,” Ouvrard notes.
A World Record, Standing on Top of the Balloon
For day visitors, his story sounds barely believable. Photo in hand, he shows himself hoisted atop his father’s balloon. “We set a world record. I climbed up and stood on my father’s hot-air balloon five years ago,” he tells them.
“Flying in the basket is total plenitude. But flying above a hot-air balloon is a notch above. I was facing the rest of the world, and the world isn’t bad at all. It’s simply magnificent, absolutely beautiful,” Ouvrard recalls.
The feat, staged for the 35th edition of the French charity telethon, was certified by Guinness World Records. At an altitude of 4,016 metres, standing on a heat-resistant wooden board, he grabbed both the stars and the cover of the record book.
Spider-Man at 4,600 Metres
The cosmonaut suit is long gone, but the young aeronaut keeps spinning his story. Dressed as Spider-Man and attached to a 10-metre ladder with a safety harness, he signed a new feat in French skies. “At 4,200 metres I’ll have to climb back up. World record — it’s going to be high,” he warns. He ended up beneath the balloon at 4,603 metres, delighted like a child.
His taste for altitude runs in the family. In one photograph, a two-year-old Rémi appears in the arms of his father, Jean-Daniel Ouvrard, himself a balloonist, beside the family balloon. “Inviting him inside this hot-air balloon was truly extraordinary. It’s a life spent showing him this element that carries so many emotions,” his father recalls.
From Mass Flights to Private Twilight Cruises
As dusk falls, the big morning balloon and its 19 passengers give way to a smaller craft and a moment of intimacy. “It’s like surfing on water at sea. It’s just that it’s over the treetops, but there’s no problem,” Ouvrard says.
His guest for the day is “very moved.” For the pilot, the appeal never fades: “France seen from the sky in a hot-air balloon is simply the top of the top. Showing French heritage to all these passengers, knowing that even for me there’s no weariness.” A bubble of gentleness, lighting up the Moon and the Sun a little more.
