Sunday's race

So, we were all wrong.  We did race on Sunday.  Amazing as there was a ton of snow.

Then, just after the race completed, it REALLY  started to snow.

If you wish to see more photos, the are in my gallery.

I'll bet

We don't race today.

We stepped out of the Chateau into 5cm of wonderful powder and it is really coming down.

But, the Lake Louise team will try.

mike@portcredit.net

Sent via BlackBerry on the Bell Mobility network

Saturday start of DH

Now delayed another 30 minutes due to snow and course prep. 1pm Mountain time.

That is all. 

It is now late on Saturday night.  No races happened today and we waited until 2pm for the races to be cancelled.   I give full credit to the Lake Louise Sled Dogs who did all they could to keep the course clean and safe.  But, mother nature just kept it snowing.

In fact, we got about 15cm of the forecasted 1cm.  

On TV, you get to see the nice front side of the start tent.  This is what the back looks like.  Ted kept calling it Ice Station Zebra.  The snow on my pack is what accumulated in about 5 minutes.

Saturday - it is snowing

It is snowing lightly here and there will be some concern as to which start we will use.

The visibilty is also poor and we won't know until about 11:30 which start we are going to use.

mike@portcredit.net

Sent via BlackBerry on the Bell Mobility network

Wow

With 60 minutes to live TV, we have to move to the lower start due to wind.
That includes all the timing equipment and the front advertising facade.

We should still be good to go on time.  

And, we were on time.  Vonn blew the compitition away.  

Thanks to Skunkworks Software for the screen shot of Lindsay going through Radar (speed) 2 at the bottom of Gunbarrel.  The new graphics are pretty cool.  

Ladies go for it tomorrow

Not too much been happening for the last few days.  Tuesday's training was cancelled as the track was too soft.  Wednesday was actually cold as was today.

Today, the radar was just driving me crazy.  The 'Skunk' and I have been trying some new radar views.  I'm finding that side slippers and even forerunners speeds are read just fine, but then the first racer comes down the track and all bets are off.  

Today was a great example.  I moved closer to the track (and netting) and thought that it would be a no brainer.  Not so lucky.  After lots of different adjustments, I got it right at racer 30.  Tomorrow is race day, so I had better get it right by the first racer.

It has also been cold.  Not normal Lake Louise cold, but cold enough.  Tomorrow, it is the full cold package including the coaches coat.  

From what I can tell, if you want to watch Friday's race, you might have to watch it on CBC Bold.  Saturday should be on CBC national (not sure for the rest of the world).  

The old boy still has it

Even at 36, Herman the Herminator can still race a Super G.  He did put on quite a show yesterday and our boy from Calgary was at least 2nd.  What a thrill that must be considering that Herman has been racing for decades and John Kucera is just over 20.  Wow.  But, John K has indicated that next time, he will be standing higher that Herman.  

The race yesterday went very well, except for the moment that Murphy showed up.  With 3 racers into the program, the battery on Radar 2 (bottom of Gun Barrel) died.  No reason why, other than it for some reason did not get charged, even though the charges we use did say it was charged.  

As I'm still trying to tune Radar 1 for the SG skiers (ie:  find the sweet spot that we get the best reporting), I now have to bail to the bottom of the course with the spare battery/RS485 box.  As this is a speed event, I can't go down the course and must find a way to get there outside the fence.  I can ski about 1/2 way, but the rest requires me to travel by skis down an up opened run with only enough natural snow on it to hide the holes and the rocks.  Then, through the woods, and down the outside of the A netting.  This still leaves me on the wrong side of the course and takes me about 12 minutes to get there.  

Dave B. gets escorted across the course to get the spare unit.  He tries to power the radar/interface box for a few racers by using a 9V battery which sort of works.  Dave runs back up hill, while I take off through the woods by foot to get back on a ski run.  Peter Dyson, who was watching the show from inside the timing shack, meets me at the lift with another spare battery and I cycle up and around to get back at my station.  Soaking wet and sliding down on my head through Sunset gully, I get back on my station after about 22 minutes.  Not bad I guess, but it should have never failed in the first place.

Not only that, one of the start clocks (the live one) also failed with a dead battery.  There is a pattern here.  We should get that sorted out today.

Today (Monday) is a sort of off day).  I'm sitting on the main floor of the Chateau either writing this or reading a book.  About every 20 minutes I get interrupted by the Japanese tourists who want their picture taken.  Too funny.  I have had to deal with every portable camera possible and figure out how to turn their flash on even with the Japanese character set on the screen.  All in the name of timing.

So.. more on the radar

Having just returned from dinner with the team, I had a chance to talk to the Skunk about the radar data.  

It is too bad that the speed data was NOT presented to viewers.  What you would have seen is all the speed variances at each racer.  This was due to the wind just slightly above me.  While it seemed to be that the wind was blowing down the pitch, on the top of the pitch, it was blowing into their faces slowing them down.  

By the end of the race, the sun had started to come out and wind died.  You do the math.

CBC sucks

Apparently they are not using our Radar Speed graphics.

Surprise to us.

So, unfortunately, you at home didn't get to see speeds.  I'm not sure if you got a verbal or not, and won't be able to tell until I get home next week.

This was a boring DH from my perspective.  There wasn't much of a change in the first 30.  Peter Fill raced a great race.  If your going to watch this, and haven't already, it doesn't get exciting until the end until the sun started to come out.

It was pretty warm by Lake Louise standards (-6C at the start I think), but it was absolutely freezing where I was 1/3 of the way down the course.  With no sun, and a wind it just chilled me to the bone.

Tomorrow is the Super G.  We moved the start down the mountain (to the top of Tickety Chutes -- just above where I was standing).  Again, timing was the last off the mountain as we had to wire in all 5 channels of data we use to our equipment (for you timing propeller heads, that is:

1. Primary Start 
2. Backup Start
3. Headset for starter
4. Headset for backup hand timing
5. Data - This is for the display board that we run at the start

This means we have to pull the cables out of the trees and then splice in our lines.  Not hard work, but still an hour's worth of splicing at cold temps.  And, we have to wait till all the other crews have moved their equipment in place (like put the tent up, install the start posts, medial has to put up the pretty looking face that you see on TV, etc).  

So, after that is done, we skied down in the almost dark.  It is work next Saturday as it all runs late and we ski down in total darkness.

Now, some of the nicer things about the Chateau Lake Louise.  Last night, while trying to find a package that was couriered to me from Toronto last Sunday, I found out that Canada Post does NOT deliver to the Chateau.  But, it isn't in Lake Louise either. Canada Posts web page says it is in Edmonton, but apparently parts of Canada Post are on strike.  If I'm lucky, I will get it before I leave for home a week ago.  The staff here did all they could to find it.  No joy yet.

Part 2 was that one of the staff at the desk offered to help me out with my laundry by taking it to a wash and fold in Banff today.  20 minutes later, we find out that there is no wash and fold.  Damn, that means I might have to do my own laundry on Monday.  But, wait one...  They offer to throw my laundry (not much) into theirs and have it delivered to my room later today.  When I got back, there it was.. all folded and clean.  Excellent. 

Today is race day

I'm writing this from my blackberry just in case I come up with some funny words.

-6C and a little breezy at the top. Track is in excellent shape, but the rest of the resort is a lot this. It hasn't snowed since I've been here.

Should be a good race. Watch for the 2 speed traps. We are using radar instead of the normal 'eyes'.

Speed 1 (where I'm standing) is about 34 seconds into the race. It should be the fastest reading - about 130kph.

Speed 2 is at the bottom of Gun Barrel and the speeds should be a little less.

Enjoy the show.

Day one training race

After meeting for breakfast at 6:30am (that means getting up at 6), we head off to LL and crawl up to the timing hut (in the dark).  

Today, was the first training day.  It went really well for us and we really got to test out the new radar equipment which was a solid success.  This technology, which we are pioneering, makes getting speeds much more reliable.  We are using 2 of them on the race course, both of which you should be able to see on the live show on CBC on Saturday.  

In the 2  pictures I have attached, one looks a little dark, and that is on purpose.  What it is really showing is that our very sensitive timing finish eye is having to look right at the Sun.  Amazingly, it worked fine, but nothing I would recommend to anyone.  

Bodie Millar won the training run (not that that is really anything to call home about).

I got back to the Chateau a little later than usual, only to meet up with the boys in one of the rooms.  Coop is attempting to fly his little Walkera 4#3B helicopter with some success.  It seems with the more rum he has, the better he is at it.  Not that there hasn't been a few crashes (including him dumping the ice bucket).  Now, this is a bad thing, as the humidity in the rooms is about 1% (maybe I'm exaggerating)... but it is very very dry.  The ice/water on the carpet can only help.

(As for the pictures, I will upload them in the morning when we get some reasonable internet back... at this time of the evening, it is just not usuable).

Tuesday (yes, it is only Tuesday)

I'm finding out that the internet here is just not what we are used to back home.  Then again, I guess I should be just enjoying the wonderful outside world!

So, moving on, yesterday and today was all about getting all the timing toys hooked up.  It does take a significant amount of effort to ensure that all the start devices, display boards, headset lines and even the finish line set just right.  

We had not been able to get to the start until this morning (we usually get up there on day one).  It just wasn't worth the trip to the top and then to have to ski down some trails that don't have the best snow cover on them.  From what I hear, other than the race track, which looks pretty good, there is only one other trail to ski to get back to the bottom.  

Today, we had the pleasure of getting the finish line hooked up and adjusted in the dark.  The sun had long set and we were just working with headlamps to get it done.  

Tomorrow is the first training run.  We are all set to go with the exception of hooking up one display board in coaches corner.  

The funniest part of the day?  Have a look at this video (ok, most of us do have a warped sense of humour).  To the best of our knowledge, no squirrels were hurt in the filming of this video.

Hotel Internet

This is starting to sound like a broken record, but how is it we can get free HIGH speed internet in a Motel 6, but not the same here in the Chateau.  Hence, the reason for no updates.  All the 'kids' arrived last night and totally swapped the hotel internet.  

It might be time for our secret weapon and pipe our own high speed from across the valley.  

More to come...

If this is November, it must be Lake Louise Alberta

Hi all

It has been some time since I've updated my racing/timing blog.  The same team is at it again and we travelled from points all over the world to meet here in Lake Louise Alberta.  Clearly one of the nice stops on the World Cup circuit.  We are here for 16 days of sun and some of the coldest weather that these racers race in.

Our digs for this trip is the Chateau Lake Louise.  Just one of the best views in the world.  

Our team comes from all over.  Ted and Andy from Montreal (Andy leaving in the middle of a bathroom renovation and he did confirm he did get the one and only toilet working before he left his pregnant wife).  James from Hawaii (you can read his R Rated blog--don't say I didn't warn you).  Dick, James, Mark and Coop all do the drive from Calgary, while Jim does his battles with Canada customs coming in from the Detroit area.

As I write this, I'm watching Canada's weather network, and I'm seeing the video from Ontario with all the snow they've received in the last week.  They are even skiing on the mountains of Mount St. Louis plus a host of other resorts.  Got to love those snow squalls.

Now, how is the snow here?  Check out the web cam for Lake Louise.  At least the ground is covered, but Coop was able to pull the trailer with almost a Ton (yes a Ton) of timing equipment up to the timing shack.  There is likely another Ton of Video equipment in the trailer as well.  The FIS did pass the track under their snow control program -- not that that is saying much, as we have seen snow control pass even with lawn mowers on the track.

Today, we get to head up and do some actual skiing.  We will start to ring out some of the wires, do some testing to ensure that the wires are OK.  The goal is for a training run on Wednesday.    

So, here is what happened...

The plane arrives from Toronto. Pulls up to the gate and the flight attendant opens the door, but he/she forgot 1 thing. To move the little leaver that tells the plane that it is not in flight anymore, but park.

Well, apparently the emergency exit slide has now filled the ramp exit. Can you image the poor guy on the other side? I hope he is still alive. Wow!!

I've now heard that they have to drop 60 people from the flight since they have one last slide. Oopppssss

What a morning

Woke up to an awesome mountain morning. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind and about -2C. But, all good things must come to an end.

The drive to Munich had everything from very twist narrow roads to doing 190k on the automate.

I'm now at the airport with time to spare, but something is going on in a baggage ramp that does not allow us to check in bags. So, I have to stand around and wait for who knows how long. And, this only affects Air Canada.

Long over due update

Wow, I just reviewed this and realized that I have not updated this in a while.

Carrying on from my last update, my back is much better. I have a new belief in chyropractors. This lady that my next door neighbour sent me to just rocks.

So, that brings me to the last week of 'stuff'. Work brought me to London earlier in the week. However, I've decided that when it is remotely possible, that I would make the odd detour. This time it was to Austria (after a meeting with a customer in Germany).

I've spent the last 2 days skiing at Kitzsteinhorn (http://en.kitzsteinhorn.at/). For the last 2 morning, I have woken up to rain and fog. Yesterday, I only made it up for half a day, but what a half day. 3200 vertical meters in fresh snow (somewhere between 6-12"). Then, today again the same thing. However, this time, I made it for first tracks and skied the morning in the fog with the brail technique. But another foot of snow fell. I was wearing my Garmin Forerunner 305 heart rate monitor and it tracked me doing over 6000 vertical meters. So, in 2 days of skiing, I didn't hear my skiis scraping over the ice once (you guys from Collingwood hearing this?).

In the picture above, have a close look at the red and white tower. Now, notice the size of the chairlifts running on the surface. That is the tram tower and they only use it to get from the bottom of the glacier to the top. NOT from the parking lot to the bottom of the glacer (also called the alpine center).

There is alot of history on the lifts, including the underground railway that used to take you up from the parking lot. http://en.kitzsteinhorn.at/information/gletscherbahnen/history.htm. Read about how a fire killed 155 people back in 2000 on the underground lift. You can read more about it at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1018153.stm.

I could see where this lift went into the mountain, but still don't have a clue where it exited at the top.

If you really like, you can spent the night in the igloos (http://en.kitzsteinhorn.at/news/?we_objectID=299). I'm not kidding. These have to be seen as they are huge.

This trip is now over

It is amazing how Air Canada can keep planes that came out about the time of the Wright Brothers still flying. My back is still killing me from yesterdays 9 hour flight home from Munich. Ouch

Many thanks to the Kitzbuheler Ski Club for sending a driver to pick us up and drive us to the Munich airport. Made for a very relaxing morning. Had we gone by train, we would have had to get up at 4am to make the train.

Did you know that Google has a language pack called called "Elmer Fudd"?? Go into preferences and you to can have a "hunt wabbits" option. Cool!

We never got to see what happened with the Robertson screw episode as we had to move the start down with an hour to go to the start. I'm sure we will hear about it.

That's about it. More pictures will be loaded on the web site later today with any luck.

Packed up - ready to leave

It is now Monday morning. We've packed up 2 tons of equipment and it will be shipped out to various parts of the world this week. We are all headed home to various parts of North America.
Andy gets home for one night and then is off to the NHL All Star Game. Coop goes back to Calgary and is there to help his kids with their math homework sitting across from them at the kitchen table. Ted, back to his other ventures with a trip to the UK on the way with James (The Skunk) joining him. BTW, if you want to read the Skunk's blog, you can see it at http://www.themightyskunk.blogspot.com/. Be aware, he is a little more colourfull that I am.
Yesterday was a great show with Bode winning the Classic Super Combined. ORF is so much better at doing a ski race then CBC, but then again, CBC is much better at Hockey.
I will upload some more pictures when I get home later tonight.
BTW, Scott MacArtney from the US who had the big crash in the finish on Saturday came out of home coma yesterday morning had 3 questions:

• How fast was I going (he was the fastest at 141K)
• How are my knees (they are fine)
• Did I break my skiis (who cares)

He will likely make a full recovery.

The Kitzbuhler Ski Club is sending a van to take us to the airport in Munich. It arrives in about an hour.

73....

Downhill Race Day

We've spent a week getting ready for today. Then, with less than 1 hour to go, we find out that we have to move the start to one of the lower starts due to the wind on the mountain. So, in 40 minutes, you have to connect all the timing equipment to new wires. But, you have to wait for the media guys to move the facade that says Audi first before you can run your wires. Then, you have to resync all your timing equipment.

Coop's team pulled it off with minutes to spare. Well done!

The race did not disappoint. Racer #2 had the highest speed on the Zeil Schuss of 141kph. However he missed judged the jump into the finish and landed so hard that it left him with a serious concussion. Both Ted and I actually thought he was dead or was going to be shortly. They air evac'd him to the local hospital, but then moved him to Innsbruck. Fortunately (from what I hear) he will make a full recovery. As well, there were 3 other crashes that seemed very horrific, however it is clear that the netting did its job.

Today's amazing thing is the crowds. In the first picture above, look up the hill and count the people. Then, later today (at 6:30pm) they do the bib draw. It is dark, and even a little foggy. There must have been 20,000 people there when I left and then kept coming. They are all singing, drinking, waving flags and firing snowballs. You can click on each of the pictures above to see a larger picture.

More pictures on the gallery at http://portcredit.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=28

Wow - 1 hour to go

And we just heard that we are moving to the fowl weather start due to wind. Coop's 3 person start hut team will be hauling ass to make this happen in 30 minutes. We are live on TV at 11:30am.

I'm my crampon hike down from Ziel radar, what was once hard as concrete is now so soft that I sunk right up to my hip. We have to get this in the bag before this course flows down the hill.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Course Overview for Saturday

I found this great view of the race course. http://www.hahnenkamm.com/cms/en/winners_courses/course_segments_graphics/index.html.
As you hover your mouse around, you can see some arial shots.

Race day - finally

We weren't sure if we were going to get today's race off, but the weather stayed cold enough and the visibility was pretty good. Hopefully, if CBC broadcasts the SG race on Saturday. Watch for our coats (see attached pictures) in both the start hut and the finish line. In fact, just after Jim Karnes took this picture (that is his wife, Chris), one German speaking guy wanted to know where he could buy my jacket. After talking to his english speaking girl friend, he was really disappointed that there were only 10 in existance. He also didn't have the 1000 Euros that Skunk said I could sell it for.

I can't tell you how much fun it is to watch the Canadians race and do well. Robby Dixon started 43rd and finished 6th (http://www.skiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6046&Itemid=2). Robby's run woke us all in in the finish hut as he had the fastest 1st interval. We normally assume that anyone past the 30th started won't break the top 15, but it does happen sometimes.

2 Canucks in the top 10. Great!!

We then toured the village and although there was a crowd, by Kitzbuhel standards, you could shoot a cannon off. The same time tomorrow, it will take you 30 minutes to go 200meters.

Apparently Brian Adams is playing tonight. (Update on this. Coop and Andy went to see Brian Adams, but it was just a parade of celebs --- who knows, Brian could have been there)

The race does have its own web site at: http://www.hahnenkamm.com/

More on the Media guys.....

Nice bunch of guys! l-r Andrew Allen (hill ape), Brian Cooper (head hill ape), Ted Savage (head cheese) and Jim Karnes (chief controller of who gets to race and leave the start gate--ie: makes sure that the right bib number is reported to TV and the rest of the media people, and manages all the speeds, intermediate times and final times).

Since today's training was cancelled due to mild weather (and some very wet snow), we had to head to the start to move the start equipment for the GS start tomorrow. When we got there, we found out that that Media guys have RIPPED off the bracket we use for the radar and it was just plain missing.

We searched for about 20 minutes before we found it. Now, Coop has NOT started his Robertson screw replacement, but it is going to start in earnest on Saturday. There is NO way these guys are going to find the right screw driver to get these out (unless one of them shops at Canadian Tire). This is going to result in them actually bending and breaking their wonderful signs, but who cares......

Having had to work with these guys at Lake Louise, they are just going to be fuming when their departure is delayed and they don't make the bar on time.

As we went to set up the start for the GS, the start posts were already set and the Audi facade was already in place (ie: the media guys had been there). One of the guys from the FIS showed up, stated the start was in the wrong place and left. This meant that that same media guys had to crawl out of the bar, put their wet boots back on and head back up to the start of the race course to do it over. Too bad for them and they actually might have to work for 3 hours this week. Rest assured, this war isn't over.

I'm attaching a video that you can play. It is taken about the Housburg (listen to the music that is piped all over the mountain). The racers pass through the Red Bull gate (you can't see where you are landing, and pick your takeoff by aiming at a landmark like a church) and then have to make a hard right turn just after they land to make the run down the Ziel (Finish) Schuss. We have radar running at this point and on TV you should be able to see them accelerate to almost 140kph. At that point, they hit the Ziel Finish Jump (at 139kph) and coast (yea right), into the finish.

So far that jump has claimed 2 forerunners. One with broken vertebrae and the other with a broken leg. One racer also broke his leg after making a mistake on the jump. As I am standing on the right side (skiers left) of the finish line, I get to watch each racer make this jump and hope that he lives.

No training run tomorrow

Good day today as we got the training in today. The first forerunner was injured on the Finish jump. He must have missed the pre-jump and went straight up and then rotated and landed on his back.

Yesterday, one of the forerunners did the same thing and broke to vertibrae. This is one dangerous hill. Today, there was about 3 crashes and one required an air lift. He broke his tib/fib as he sailed right through a B net and into an A-net.

No training run for tomorrow. The weather for the next few days is just way too mild with little or no cold weather and maybe rain. I imagine that the priority will be to hold the downhill at the risk of not holding the Super G or the Slalom.

One at least one of the accidents, the racer behind was not stopped. Either the jury missed the radio call, or the racer ignored the yellow flag. Since I don't have a jury radio, I was unable to hear the actual radio call.

Last night was a great dinner with the representatives from Rolex and Mikey Huber, the race organizer. Mikey has many stories on the history of the Hanenkam.

Wednesday morning

At this point of my day I'm already on the hill. I've just finished installing the radar for the Finish run. Amazing that the racers can actually stop on where I can hardly sideslip.

I've uploaded some pictures with comments to www.portcredit.net/gallery. Look for Kitzbuhel 2008.

As they say, revenge is sweet. Most of you have heard of our battles with the media guys. I might have mentioned that they plastered advertising all over the start hut which totally put us about 2 hours behind schedule yesterday.

Today, we had to rerun run some cables behind the aluminum walls. This required Cooper to take out about 50 Phillips (starred) screws. Well, he made a slight change when replacing them and he used Robertson screws. You know, the ones you can only get in Canada!!

We can't wait to see them start to take this apart Saturday night (unless there is a Canadian Tire somewhere that they can find a screwdriver), which they start doing about 20 seconds after the last racer has left the gate. Hopefully film at 11.

What happened to Sunday

Simply put, we went out drinking. Very late night. I never got to the update.

So, back to Sunday. Our second day on the hill and this allowed us to spend some time to really get to know the hill. OMG, what a hill. At Lake Louise there are only 3 areas that a little hard to slide slip. Here, at the Hahnenkamm, there are at least 6 areas that I can count that will make you change underwear if you mess up the slide slip that you are doing at about 60kph.

I have yet to do the last 2, and I have a choice to either do them tomorrow (Tuesday) or climb up through the woods for about 200 vertical meters carrying batteries for the radar. If you watch this on this coming Saturday, this will be the 3rd speed into the finish.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having lunch in the start building. Lots of history here and lunch we no exception. The start building is built into the side of the hill and has a complete living area attached to it. Joining us for lunch was Dave Pymm and the President of the Kitzbuhel Ski Club. We just lucked out with that lunch.

We spent today getting the rest of the 'eyes' in place and working. As this is the super bowel of ski races, you can just image the amount of advertising in place. It gets in our way everywhere and we have to deal with it. Advertising sells, so timing is expected to work around it. Argh.....

My job was to ensure that the 2 radar devices we are using to measure speed where installed in a good location and working correctly. When I left the start, that one was fine (it will used to measure the fastest to 100kph). When I got back there are 4:30pm (it was getting dark), the radar was no where to be found and the entire area where I had the radar mounted was now covered with Audi advertising. We can't even shoot a radar signal through the advertising, as it is built on an aluminum base.

The 2nd radar was on a part of the hill I just didn't want to slide slip down today. It might have had something to do with the Snow Cat at the bottom of the run. So, I had to climb up to it. By my calculations, it was about the same distance as walking to the top of Craigleith from the bottom (about 250 vertical meters).

In the picture above, you get a view down to the finish from Radar 2.

Saturday - tour of the hill

Morning started off pretty good. Some sun, but we got to head up and take a tour down the Hanekam. Make sure you watch the race next Saturday. If you haven't read Ken Reid's book, The White Circus", the start WILL get your attention.

To describe this, if I left the start, I would be in a FULL and I mean Full slideslip.

You then stand on your right ski to greet the Mausefalle. It is a 75% slope and so far you are no more than 10 seconds into the race. Pucker factor is huge, but it won't be the worst your are going to see. That is coming later.

Anyway, once we finished the tour, we spent the afternoon in the drizzle putting together the Alge video wall. 6 panel wide and 4 panels high. You can see this from the next country once it is running. Each panel weighs about 40 kilos and we have to hoist them with a rope up as we assemble it like a lego set.

Not sure what the weather is going to bring, but they have been talking about it all day. It was above zero most of the day, and it is either going to rain or snow like crazy. I might actually have to get my poles out some days this week.

As I post some pictures here, try to have a look at the slope based to the person in the picture and how they are standing on it. Look at the attached picture and you see Coop standing on an off camber turn into the Steilhang. Now imagine you are doing 100kph. The racer comes from the right of the picture and exits out the back. One heck of a right hand turn.

Kitzbuhel

We made it in time for dinner on Friday night. Our last part of trains, planes and automobiles was Ted picking us up at the train station in Kitz. He showed up in the 'happy van'. The HV has room up front for 1 (but their was 3 of us). The HV is a large windowless panel van, so that meant that Coop and I had to get in the back.

The back is filled up with the entire video wall. Large panels that make up the entire score board for the finish area. It wasn't too bad, since the drive is only about 10 minutes. Talk about sensory deprivation. We did just fine until Ted had to slam on the brake for someone who pulled out in front of him and Coop went from the back to the front in .2 of a second. That was followed by us hollering from the dark back "We're OK!".

Today, hill inspection for us. A thousand thanks to The Skunk for taking my skis in to be sharpened. Apparently the tech spent hours breathing life back into my skis which were last out to play in Lake Louise. If you remember, there wasn't a lot of snow there. Skunk claims he can't even find a single scratch on the bottom.

Off to breakfast.

Arrived Munich

Arrived here at MUC 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Why does that happen when your not in a rush?

To boot, my bag was #2 down the chute. Again, this always happens when you have 4 hours to kill while we wait for Coop to arrive.

At YYZ

Amazingly slow here at YYZ and that with only a few people in line. Must be all those that never fly!! Even lining up for security with 6 people in front of me took 30 minutes. The line kept getting bumped with wheel chairs. I counted 9.

My good looking seat turned to crap when AC changed to an older plane.

BUT, the gate agent kindly found me 2 seats to myself at the back of the plane. Excellent!

Andy made it to 1st class. I'm in the back.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Here it is... Another race, this time the super bowl of races in Kitzbuhel Austria. We will be doing a Super G, Downhill and a Slalom race late next week. With that includes 3 days of downhill training and who knows what else.

I depart today from Toronto later tonight, meeting up with Andy who is doing the Montreal, Toronto, Munich route. To add to our troubles, Toronto is going to get snow later today (after basking in +15C earlier this week and 100kph winds yesterday).

When we get to Munich tomorrow morning at 8am local (2am ET), we get to sit around and wait for Cooper to fly in from Calgary. Next, the train part. 4 trains from Munich to Kitzbuhel. At that point, we get picked up by van (we hope) so we can slug all our bags to the Villa Mellon (http://www.villa-mellon.at/).

Some of the best web cams you might want to check out are at http://www.kitz.net/. Look for the Wettercam and you can surf around down and even seen the start hut (more like start cottage).

Off to finish packing. Can I keep it under 70 pounds?