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.