Skiing in Sölden

First skiing trip of the season was an intermediate/advanced coaching clinic courtesy of Scott and Rob from Inside Out Skiing. Sölden (Austria) was chosen because of it's reasonably high altitude and 2 glaciers to ski on in the very early part of the ski season.

The plan was for this to be a Piste Performance clinic, but since it dumped it with snow after 1 day, it morphed into an off-piste clinic too. So we managed to do a little bit of everything from GS carving to Powder to Crud within the week.

It was a fantastic week, fantastic snow, and a great bunch of people to ski with. Can't wait for the next ski trip (Snowheads bash in the Dolomites again, hopefully), and maybe a return to Sölden for another coaching clinic next year!

Pics can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/SHTrainingBashSolden

Karmic Koala

Just some initial thoughts about Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, whilst I am installing and checking it out.

Netbook Remix version
Running on an Asus eeePC 901, currently running as a Live SD card.

Like:
- It looks pretty
- Black theme is better than brown
- NBR desktop looks much better than Jaunty version
- WiFi connected rapidly
- Sound level is correct out of the box (not need to frig PulseAudio)
- Audio buttons work
- Screen brightness works
- Files, new packages etc. are persistent on the Live SD

Don't Like:
- Software Centre (n00bs might like it, but I don't)
- Empathy does do IRC, but is really really bad (I had to RTFM!)
- Daft border to the notification bubble (flickers if you hit volume up many times for example)

Broken:
- Managed to corrupt/crash the NBR desktop
- When desktop corrupted need to power off
- Had to force WiFi reconnection after reboot


64-bit version
Running on an AMD X2 3800+ with Nvidia 6600 (fanless) graphics

Like:
- Better set of defaults in Software Sources (no need to add restricted extras)
- Fast boot (40s + BIOS activity), even faster shutdown (5s to be off)
- Firefox is faster than in Jaunty (and seems more stable)

Don't Like:
- Slightly jumpy sound when logging in (may be disc busy?)
- Empathy is bad. Real Bad.
- Ubuntu one is flaky, so added Dropbox (don't care about tomboy/evolution).

Broken:
- Doesn't install to MacBook properly - fatal grub2 issues.

Will be updating this post as I check out each feature, and try all the packages.

ALRS 2009

First weekend in October was my 6th (I think) trip to the ALRS rocket event in Switzerland. This was the 10th ALRS event in Val de Ruz, in the Jura just up the hill from Neuchatel.

Saturday was very sunny, and virtually no wind, so I flew the Tiny Pterodactyl (its 2nd flight) on an Aerotech F52-8T. It was debatable whether a 5s or 8s delay was best but it turned out that 8s was spot one. Flight was perfect, and it drifted right back to where we were standing. Then decided to fly the Art Applewhite Saucer (7inch) on an E30, which was certainly a crowd pleaser :) Landed about 50m away.

Sunday was a bit breezy, but I had to use up an Aerotech I218-R (Redline) motor. So that went in my Rebel Pirate. They are nice punchy little motors and the red flame looks cool too. Rocket landed about 500m away, which was not too bad.

Over the weekend, there were at least 5 Level 3 cert attempts, and I believe 4 successes.

Highlight was the 85kg Ariane 4 launching again on M1939 in the main stage, then 2x K550 and 2x J350 in the 4 boosters. The 4 boosters separate at burnout and the whole thing comes down in 6 parts on 6 chutes. Very impressive to see.

All pics can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/ALRS2009

IRW 2009

August saw my 17th annual trip to Largs, Scotland for the essential International Rocketry Week. Weather was a bit iffy all week, but there were still enough breaks in the weather to fly up on Fairlie Moor.
First flight of the week was my Qubit on a D11-P, for a live broadcast on Radio Scotland. Then on various days, the Art Applewhite Saucer (7inch version) saw much action mainly with Phil's and Mike's Microhybrids, plus one of Mike's spare Aerotech E15's, while the Qubit used up some more of my Estes D11's.

Didn't fly any HPR, mainly due to the wind, but it was fun to watch the Dutch guys fly a rather small rocket on a K550 to 15,000ft+ and then have to recover it from 2 valleys away! Oh and another rocket ending up in the reservoir, only to be retrieved a few days later by boat.

Complete picture album can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/IRW2009

MTB Slovenia 2009

Day 1 - Ljubljana and Drežnica
The first night was just a stopover in Ljubljana, then in the morning had a short walk around the city centre. Very touristy, and most places shut due to public holiday, but all the bars/cafes were open. Then we drove to Kobarid in the Soča valley and up the mountain to Drežnica where the guesthouse was. Unpacked and rebuilt the bikes, and did a short ride up to Slap Krampež waterfall just to make sure everything was fine.

Kosec-Slap Krampez at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 2 - Bovec Moznica Trail
The first proper riding day. Drove up the valley to Bovec (ski resort in winter), and then rode up the Soča and Moznica valleys. Stopped off at Fort Kluže on the way, and then did a nice rooty piece of singletrack back down to the river. Was pretty warm and sunny all day. The Soča River really is a strange turquoise colour.

Bovec-Moznica at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 3 - Drežnica Singletrack
Did a shorter route on the 2nd riding day. Quite steep on the way up, all on gravel track, then down a rocky bit of singletrack that didn't really allow any flow.

Dreznica Singletrack at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 4 - Slap Kozjak
A day off from riding, and transfer day to Prevalje. Took a quick detour to the Slap Kozjak waterfall. The end part of the walk, just as you approach the waterfall is strange, almost like being in a platform+ladders computer game. Waterfall was very impressive.

Day 5 - Jamnica
On the first day in Jamnica, the guesthouse owner recommended us a 21km round trip around the mountain. The views were amazing, and often right next to the Austrian border. The last part was fast downhill gravel track right back to the guest house.

Jamnica at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 6 - Jamnica - Mežica
Last riding day was in 2 parts. Firstly was a long fast downhill right to the valley, then up and over the hill to Mežica, passing right alongside the Austrian border again. In the afternoon we went on a guided tour through an old Lead ore mine. They drive you and the bikes from Mežica to Igrčevo a few km away, then you ride underground about 6km back to the start in Mežica. Quite cold down there (10c underground, 22c above ground).

Mezica Underground Mine Tour at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Where we stayed:

• In Drežnica (near Kobarid) - Turistična kmetija Kranjc
• In Jamnica (near Prevalje) - MTB Hotel / Bike Nomad

Recommended MTB Guidebooks:

• In German - MTB Slowenien

Recommended eating places:

• Idrsko (near Kobarid) - Jazbec
• Tolmin - Pension Rutar
• Prevalje - Gostilna Rupar

Photos:

• http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/Slovenia2009

EeePC 901 and Jaunty Jackelope

Just bought a new Asus EeePC 901 (Linux 20Gb Black).
First thoughts are: the stock Xandros based OS is a bit "My First Computer".

Now Ubuntu Jaunty Jackelope is out (about 2 days after getting the EeePC), I thought I'd give it a quick trial run, to start with just as a "Live SD" version of Ubuntu Netbook Remix running off a 4Gb SDHC card (class 6, 15Mb/s).

Looks nice. Don't know if I prefer the Netbook Remix interface or the normal Desktop interface. It's not a big deal to swap between the two though.

Things that work out of the box (Stock Ubuntu Netbook Remix v9.04):

• Webcam (enable it in BIOS first)
• Bluetooth (enable it in BIOS first)

Things that nearly work 100%:

• WiFi (minor bug - set your home router to WPA/TKIP, not WPA2 and it all works fine)

Silly bugs:

• The Horizontal volume control is daft, and although works fine on the EeePC, it is inconsistent and unintuitive when used with a mouse with scroll wheel.

Skiing in the Dolomites

Wow - what a week! The Dolomites are simply stunning scenery!
Stayed in Campitello on the snowHeads 5th Birthday Bash, but the Sella Ronda area is so well linked and signposted that we easily managed to ski Campitello, Canazei, Arabba, Corvara, Selva, Ortisei as well as Alba, Malga Ciapella / Marmalada all within the week and all on one (very pricy) lift pass.

On 4th Feb, we (Talltone, Whitenoise and The Duke) skied the Sella Ronda (green/anticlockwise) loop, which is where the above pic was taken (near Colfosco I think).
On 5th Feb, a whole load of us skied via Arabba, over to Malga Ciapella, and did the 1 mile vertical in 3 end-to-end cable cars.
Anyway, final stats for the week according to the nifty online liftpass checker thing were:

• Nr of Lifts: 104
• Height difference:33,792m
• Slopes length estimation: 177 Km
• Nr of wipeouts: approx 3
• Nr of beers: many
• Nr of Bombardinos: just the 1

Can't wait to go back...