Easter flying Meet at Panorama

The Easter flying Meet at Panorama was a great turnout.
In total we had 40 pilots and great weather. This year Easter was late and snow was still good and the flying conditions as well.

Friday was the best flying day, we all got at least 2 flights for our "Easter egg drops" and target landings. Later in the afternoon launching at the Cappuccino hut got difficult due the cross wind and stronger thermal conditions. Frank Kernick could sky our after a rather interesting launch. Several us us decided to head up to the summit and fly from there. 7 of us where able to sky out to 3500 m and fly about 20 out to the Lakeside pub (where we host our annual www.LakesideEvent.com for beers.

Saturday was great for egg drops and target landings and in the afternoon the conditions got to strong and started to overdevelop. This gave us some good time to ski with family and friends. The competitions where not stopping as we had our annual "Food Tray" race and Boat races in the bar that night.

Sunday turned out to be to strong and only about 5 pilots where flying and the rest of us had a great ski and swim day.

All in all it was a great weekend for the pilots, family and friends.

Why are we doing this ...

... hiking 20km and further with 20 kg backpacks, hiking Mt. Swansea with a 900m elevation gain, twice up and down in one training session, train 6 days a week in endurance sessions, weight sessions, stair climbing interval sessions, and "dragging" the kids across Europe, and......to do all this........ facing approximately a $20.000 bill!!

We are currently working with a film producer, Greg someone, who will pitch our story to international networks. He believes that the reason we are doing this might be a good sales point to the networks. So here we sit and ponder the question.........why are we doing this?

When we really think about it, we actually don't have a wild and cool story of why we are doing it. I can say though, the x-alps will push me to fulfill my dreams and passions of paragliding, and this time by flying and hiking across the alps. I can't say that I am really looking forward to the long and endless physical stress and bad weather we might face, but this comes with the challenge.
Penny's passion is travel, play and physical exercise. She has always wanted to do an adventure race, and loves any mental and physical challenge. The Red Bull X Alps is certainly going to do this. Our kids are go-getter's, and we believe that this will be a great experience for the whole family (our 3 and 5 year old kids and the grand parents).

We are lucky and blessed to be healthy and all feel that this will be a great experience for everyone.

Our training is going great, and most of the pre-race preparations are well under way. We are however, still looking for some help to finance this project. With a bill of approximately $20,000.00 that we are facing, for the race and prep work alone (not the "holiday" for the kids and grandparents), we are looking for options for outside sponsors. Now the only part we need some help with is to help to finance this project.

As a result, we have come up with the following idea. If we can collect enough Air Miles and Aeroplan points from family, friends or businesses, who have an abundance of points and don't think they need them all, the flights, car rental and gas can be paid for with those.

So if you have some spare points, please log on to your account and transfer some of your Air Miles or Aeroplan points into our account (Air Miles # 8000589 1472, Aeroplan # 723 134 193). The points don't have to be for a full flight, each point you donate will add up with others for the full amount required to book a flight.

Each point helps.

Thanks a lot,

Max, Penny, Katia & Erik

Slovenia part 2 and first flights with new Triton in Canada

Today I received my last missing bag. First thing was to unpack the Milka chocolate and Hariboo Gummibears. Second was to weigh the new wing. Guess how heavy the light version of the Triton 24 (large) is? 7, 6, 5 or 4 kg... It is just a bit over 5kg, exactly 5.1 kg. Well done Peter (manager for Nova productions), this is very light for a large glider.

Back to Slovenia, we had ideal conditions every day with about 10 km wind at launch and great soarable conditions mixed with some light thermals. We could climb up to 1400 m asl and flew up to 35 km x-country. I am not sure what kind of connections Brigitta and Dusan are having, but they seam to be working very well and we had great flights every day. By the way, the Nova Pilot team has a Photo Gallery and we have a lot of pictures about the meet at http://picasaweb.google.com/NovaTeamPilots.

One mistake I did going to Slovenia, was not taking my harness. As you all know, only change one part of the equipment and not all. So, at my first flight, I used the new "Globe" harness from Charly on my new Triton and it was kind of hard to have a real first impression about the wing.
Here is what I experienced. The Triton handles very nice with a short break travel and average break pressure. Launching is very easy, it thermals very well in light conditions and where the Triton really stands out, is the speed. It seams to glide best with little speed bar on and the faster you fly it does not seam to sacrifice to much on glide. Also an important fact is that the large Triton is only a EN "C" (for those who are not pilots, it means it is rated for intermediate and not for expert pilots). It only has a couple C's in not important flight characteristics (at least for me). Overall, the rest is either A's or B's (even accelerated). Now my Triton is build with extra light material making the wing even more tame and this makes the Triton in my eyes the perfect wing for the x-alps.
While testing in Slovenia, the only part I did not like to much is that the wing likes to get out of the bank after about 2 turns. We figured that this is due the stable harness and the Triton needs input with the seat board to stay within the turns. I also had the opportunity to fly the "Factor". What a great wing that is. It handles like a toy. Light break pressure and the wing can entirely be flown with the break lines, in other words you can use a stable harness and still have excellent handling characteristics. It seams that the Factor and Triton are performing the same in trim speed and in thermals. The main difference between the Factor and Triton is when you start using the speed bar. All I can say, both wings are a absolute wow. Well done Hannes.

While writing the blog, the weather seam to improve and checking the wind at Panorama ski resort, it did not look as bad as forecasted at NavCanada. So I packed my skies, the new Triton, my Apco AirChair and a medium "Sky" reversable harness from Jeff. First I flew with the Apco AirChair and wow, the handling is great and just as expected. Second flight I did with the "Sky" harness and the handling is excellent as well. The only difference is that you sit a bit more upright then with the apco AirChair, but it also could be that the medium harness is a bit on the small side for me.
I was very happy after these flights confirming that the harness is a big part of the equipment and should never be underestimated. Can't wait to get out for some big air now.

Slovenia report Part 1

What a trip. I am still not home. I am at Penny's parents place in Calgary and have some time to write this blog. Once the City wakes up, I will have a couple meetings, some shopping to do and then back home to Invermere.
Most people would think I am crazy to travel to Slovenia for a weekend. It was not crazy at all. it was the best I could do. The only thing missing was Penny and the kids. Next time we will try to get them to come as well.

Hats up to all the Nova Team members. All you guys made this an amazing weekend. Starting from getting picked up by Mik, staying at his great place with his young family (Emila, what a cute 3 week old baby and Kristine his accommodation wife) and a comfortable drive to Slovenia and back.
Once we got there, things just got better and better. Thanks to Brigitta and Dusan who organized this great meet, job well done. There was not a boring moment at all. We where flying every day and had lots of great opportunities to socialize at launch, landing site, dinners and meetings at the hotel. Every day we could fly little x-country flight (about 25 km and more). Igor who runs the shuttle service and a kiosk place at the landing site is a very nice and funny guy serving the best Slovenian Igor Burgers. The only thing missing (and he will work on it) will be some cheer leaders at the landing site.
If you can fly, every meet is a good meet, but the best was sharing the fun with all the Nova Team members (plus 30 team members where there). I have to say, this is such a great group of people what makes flying a much better experience. The whole group is so diverse, from competition pilots, test pilots, x-country pilots, and to just for fun pilots. I have never seen such a diverse group of pilots having so much fun together. Most teams are either a local club or only competition pilots flying for one manufacture.
Nova, thanks for putting this all on, I had a blast and it was great to meet and experience in how you guys work. Watching Alex's top landings while testing new gliders, Tony Bender trying to fly with a sleeping bag (based on his face, I guess he picked up the wrong back pack and thought there was a glider in it, but you never know). The great and detailed conversations with Hannes about wings, flying and family live. Getting to know Peter (Manger of production plant) was a great experience and it makes you even more comfortable to fly a wing build by Nova as Peter strikes me as an extremely detailed and thought through person (by the way, his dad makes excellent wine). Finally I also got to meet Wolfi with his great sense of humor and Till (Public Relations) who started and maintains the "Nova Team" spirit. Well done Till and Wolfi.
I also like to say thank again to Wolfi and Hannes as it seamed they picked up all the bills for accommodations, breakfast and dinners. Thanks Nova, to give us this royal treatment and the sharp looking Goretex jackets, I will come again and the whole experience with everyone in the team makes me a very proud Nova Team member.
I will have to stop for now and will talk in the next blog about the flying site, my new wing and everything else I learned about equipment and the discussions about the x-alps.

update and getting ready to pick up the new wing

As mentioned in the January blog, we changed my training to more gym sessions. Penny wants me to build up strength. My program is primarily leg work and some upper body work. She got me mostly on the Bosu Balance Trainer. Thanks Penny, your program already shows quite an improvement when hiking up Mt.Swansea through the snow with my toboggan (Rodel). Other then that, I ice skate 15km loops, ski (with the kids) and fly every weekend at www.PanoramaResort.com. The picture below is from the Panorama Summit take off site looking North west.

Speaking of skiing, I received a package from www.Superfeet.com with new SuperFeet insoles. These insoles are a must. I am using them now for years in all my shoes and they certainly do their work. Nick also sent me their newest "Cold Weather Insoles". I am using them in my ski boots right now and they are fantastic. Thanks www.Superfeet.com for sponsoring me with your great product.

Last week I got slowed down with bronchitis and my doctor put me on rest and antibiotics. To be sick is not fun, but the break from the intense training was serving me quite well.

To keep it all interesting, Penny had the romantic idea to have a toboggan race for Valentines Day. What a blast it was, we had 24 competitors, ages from 8 to 66, plus over 20 little kids doing races on the bottom of Mt.Swansea. So we raced 700 meters in elevation up the snow covered gravel road and then down on our toboggans. Thanks Brad for turning the snowed in road into a toboggan race track. We are hiking and tobogganing Mt. Swansea quite often during the winter, but it is way more fun sharing it with others. Specially when you combined it with a big potluck party.

I also like to mention that everyone should check out Tom Payne's blog. He has a great blog and he is sharing a lot of interesting information about the x-alps statistics and the route. His blog is at twpayne.blogspot.com. Thanks Tom I do appreciate your comments a lot, keep up the good work. I am really looking forward meeting you in Salzburg. By the way, Tom's supporter is our Canadian fellow Alex Raymond.

Now it is getting time to get ready for Slovenia. I will be leaving Wed (Feb 18th) to Calgary and then to Munich. In Munich I will be picked up by Mik (Team Nova Pilot) and then we are on our way to the annual Nova team meeting in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Besides the meeting, we will have a chance to try all the new wings from Nova. I also will have the opportunity to meet a lot of great x-country pilots in person who are already helping me with the route planning. And to top it all off, I will receive my light Triton I will use for the x-alps. Thanks a lot guys I am very excited and can't wait to meet you all.
By the way, it was Penny's idea that I should join the Nova Pilots meet. Thanks Penny, I am very lucky to have you as my supporter, trainer, future wife and mother of my kids. You rock.

January training update with Panorama flight video

10 days ago we had 2 days of rain, which resulted in icing over of the x-country ski tracks on the lake. A positive side of this is that it forced me to mix up my training a little, and do some skating. The skating loop is 15 km and is also a good workout.
At the same time, I am spending more time in the gym and in the swimming pool. Penny has created 2 new programs (legs and upper body) for me, which I thought I am doing fine with it. A couple days ago she came to the gym with me just to make sure all was on track and that I was doing the exercises correctly. Well I was doing the exercises, but not the "Penny Powers" way. With her corrections.....Boy could I ever feel it the next day. I did not even know I had these muscles. Anyhow it is quite amazing to see how muscle memory works. Just before December I hiked 20,000 meter in elevation in 6 weeks, with no problems, and no pain, and then Penny gives me a leg and lower body workout which hurt the next day. You can see it is important to switch your routine on an ongoing basis.

Some people have been asking me if I am sacrificing my young family (Erik is 2.5 years and Katia 4.5 years old) with all the training and preparations. Interesting question, which I had never thought about it before, as my life is all about Penny and the kids. I am a very lucky guy and work from home, so I spend a lot of time with these little rascals, plus we include them in all our activities. I do have a write up about Penny and the kids at our presentation script.
The only time the kids are not with us is Thursday afternoon. This is my date day with Penny. There we go skiing or flying without the kids.

Here is a helmet cam video of a flight from www.PanoramaResort.com summit (cut in half otherwise it is to long)



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Happy New Year - MBT

Happy New year, we wish everyone a great and healthy 2009.

We had some great holiday and spend the whole time at home. It was just great. The temperatures climbed into the minus 10-15 Cecilius range from the mid -20th. The lake was frozen solid and this allowed us to create a 20 km skating and x-country classic ski trail. Best of it, it is only 5 minute walking distance from my house. Classic and skate skiing is one of the best exercises for endurance and overall strength. So this will be one of my main workout in the next 2 month. So far I logged plus 200km at Panorama, Nipika and on the lake.
Christmas day we spend up at Panorama Mountain Resort (25 minute drive) to go skiing and flying. We (Frank and I) dressed up and flew as Santa Claus, Penny was flying as an elf and we all landed in front of the day lodge to entertain the kids. Katia (my 4.5 year old girl) figured out who Santa was, but Erik (my 2.5 year old boy) was full into it. Katia and Erik set a milestone for themselves in skiing, Katia can take now the chair lift on her own and Erik is now skiing all by him self (he likes the moguls the best).

Just before the holidays I got a package from MBT. MBT is a very unique shoe and is also called "the anti-shoe". I first heard about MBT talking to Urs Loetscher. Yes, good old Urs from the x-alps. Back then he told me he likes these sandals because he has such a wide foot. "Right ..., the old fox new better." There is more to it, check out what makes MBT so different from any other shoe at http://www.swissmasai.ca/Principle.aspx . MBT is sponsoring us with their shoes and currently I use them for my daily walks and in the gym. I have to say that I can feel a difference on my overall posture while walking and standing. I am not sure if I will be using them during the race, if so, I might only use them while we walk on the road, but first I need to use them more with longer walks and a caring my backpack to see how I do with it.