Jan: Innsbruck
Feb: Dolomites
Mar: Perigee Moon
Apr: Blackbird
May: Sunset
Jun: Bike and Logs
Jul: Rocks
Aug: Loch Morlich
Sep: Forest Art
Dec: Purple
Sunday 18 December 2011
Photo Every Week 2011
Didn't manage to complete the 2011 Photo-a-Day challenge after the 2010 success, so fell back to just one photo every week. Here are my 12 favourites for each month.
Sunday 4 December 2011
Skiing Tignes
I've never been to Tignes before, believe it or not. So it was good to be able to get there as part of another snowHeads bash. There had been a bit of a snow drought pre-season across most of Europe, but somehow the pisteurs had managed to keep the Grande Motte glacier in perfect order and had somehow conjured up a perfectly usable "Double M" piste back down to Val Claret.
Most of the week was blue skies and no clouds, but the final day was a bit snowy. Was good to lay a few fresh tracks before heading home.
The journey back was fun. The bus was late, then the bus turned up in a carpark up the hill, so we all traipsed up there with skis, bags, etc. Then it turned up at the airport less than 1hour before my plane was taking off! No idea how a coachload of people got checked in, bags dropped and thru to the gate in time, but afaik, we all did.
So just a few more weeks until the 2nd trip of the season...
Most of the week was blue skies and no clouds, but the final day was a bit snowy. Was good to lay a few fresh tracks before heading home.
The journey back was fun. The bus was late, then the bus turned up in a carpark up the hill, so we all traipsed up there with skis, bags, etc. Then it turned up at the airport less than 1hour before my plane was taking off! No idea how a coachload of people got checked in, bags dropped and thru to the gate in time, but afaik, we all did.
So just a few more weeks until the 2nd trip of the season...
Saturday 24 September 2011
MTB Odenwald
Thought I'd explore a bit further than my usual loop up to Burg Frankenstein. So went down the other side of the hill and up to the castle on the next hill over. Nice rooty single track on the way, which ends at an 8-way junction.
Tannenburg is more ruins than a real castle, and it seems there's many ways to get up there.
Nice view of the next hill too, which is the highest in the area.
Then on the way back, scaled the climb up to Burg Frankenstein again. So all in all a little hillier than I normally ride, but I really ought to be riding more hills to keep fit.
Wednesday 31 August 2011
IRW 2011
Once again, it was already time for the annual rocketry pilgrimage to Scotland for the International Rocket Week. This time the basecamp had moved again to a Scout Camp just outside Paisley. Of all the places we've been, I think this was probably the best. A hut with 4 walls and heating, camping at acceptable rates, although the drive to Fairlie Moor was a bit longer.
As a bonus, this year we had a couple of the guys from the Register visit so that we could thrash out some ideas for the LOHAN project. They kindly wrote an article about the IRW too :)
The first day was no flying, just a few aquajet water rockets on the Scout Camp. Day 2 saw us arrive at Fairlie Moor *in* the clouds, but eventually the clouds went and left us in sunshine. Flew the Qubit on a D12, since I'd prepped it for the day before, but the dog trainers at the scoutcamp weren't so happy with the pyro flights. Then it was to Nardini's in Largs for Pizza :)
Day 3 saw us launch from near the picnic site, since there was still a beehive near the usual HPR site. Lobbed a VB Extreme rather quickly on an E30, and the Art Applewhite Saucer on a D12.
Day 4 saw us back at the usual HPR pad location, since the beehive had been moved.
Day 5 I lobbed both the Qubit and Saucer on D12's. The main spectacle of the day was Jonathan Rhodes' L3 cert which kicked its motor out mid-flight, and Sean o'Niell's M hybrid, which also suffered a major failure mid-flight. Oh and the Turkish guy's L2 flight which lost all 4 of its fins during boost.
Day 6 was no flying, since the wind was too high. A few people did fly some kites though.
More Pics Here:
Monday 22 August 2011
MTB Scotland 2011
This year we combined a mountain-biking trip with International Rocket Week again, like last year. Except this time we did a whole week rather than just 3 days. First stop was Aviemore for some riding mostly on natural trails, and then next stop was 4 trail centres from the 7 Stanes.
Day 1 - Aviemore / Burma Road
Burma Road is one of the classic walking / cycling trips on General Wade's Military Roads. From Aviemore it's a single steep climb of about 500m vertical, followed by a quick descent, then basically following a river to Carrbridge, before returning to Aviemore.
It took us about 2hr30 to reach the summit, but we did stop off to find a geocache on the way up, and weren't exactly rushing it on the first day.
The river valley is rather quiet, and very scenic. I think we saw a total of 2 people all day - 1 on foot, 1 on a bike going the other way. Sluggan Bridge is not to be missed.
Day 2 - Laggan Wolftrax
The Laggan Wolftrax is a Forestry Commission trail centre not too far from Aviemore, with a couple of Red Loops (bot were fun), a Black (didn't do that), and some swoopy/jumpy trail down to the carpark (did bits of that a few times). Phil crashed on the last jump, and somehow ripped the brake lever clean off the bars (but was not damaged), and bent a wheel.
Day 3 - Loch Morlich (walking)
Since Phil's bike needed repairs and the bruises from the day before were a bit sore, we decided to take 1 day out and walk around Loch Morlich. Checked out Bothy Bikes shop, and also the famous Inshriach Nursery Cake Shop. This is highly recommended. The cake is superb, and there's a view of numerous bird feeders, and more species of birds, squirrels, etc. than most people could name.
Day 4 - Innerleithen
Drove south to Innerleithen (the first of the 7 Stanes trail centres on out list), and met Howard there. There's really only 1 red trail (plus lots of normal non-marked paths), which basically goes up-up-up, then down-down-down. Saw lots of death-cap toadstools on the way up. Phil broke mech hanger almost at the summit of Minch Moor, which took a bit of bodging in to a single-speed.
Day 5 - Glentress
Second trail centre. We did the Red loop with the intention of doing Blue or something after lunch, but we had so much cake and a late lunch that we decided to skip the afternoon riding.
Day 6 - Ae
Is there any other town or village in the UK with a shorter name? We drove to the final hostel and met Jez (Howard's friend) to do the Ae Red loop. Weather was amazing, and too hot and sunny to sit outside for lunch (plus there were huge 2inch long wasps, which turned out to be non-stinging wood wasps).
Day 7 - Kirroughtree
Last day and the 4th Red loop. After lunch we had a bit of time to do some of the Blue loop, although a large section was closed due to forestry work.
More Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104347553800437592244/MTBScotland2011
Day 1 - Aviemore / Burma Road
Burma Road is one of the classic walking / cycling trips on General Wade's Military Roads. From Aviemore it's a single steep climb of about 500m vertical, followed by a quick descent, then basically following a river to Carrbridge, before returning to Aviemore.
It took us about 2hr30 to reach the summit, but we did stop off to find a geocache on the way up, and weren't exactly rushing it on the first day.
Day 2 - Laggan Wolftrax
The Laggan Wolftrax is a Forestry Commission trail centre not too far from Aviemore, with a couple of Red Loops (bot were fun), a Black (didn't do that), and some swoopy/jumpy trail down to the carpark (did bits of that a few times). Phil crashed on the last jump, and somehow ripped the brake lever clean off the bars (but was not damaged), and bent a wheel.
Day 3 - Loch Morlich (walking)
Since Phil's bike needed repairs and the bruises from the day before were a bit sore, we decided to take 1 day out and walk around Loch Morlich. Checked out Bothy Bikes shop, and also the famous Inshriach Nursery Cake Shop. This is highly recommended. The cake is superb, and there's a view of numerous bird feeders, and more species of birds, squirrels, etc. than most people could name.
Day 4 - Innerleithen
Drove south to Innerleithen (the first of the 7 Stanes trail centres on out list), and met Howard there. There's really only 1 red trail (plus lots of normal non-marked paths), which basically goes up-up-up, then down-down-down. Saw lots of death-cap toadstools on the way up. Phil broke mech hanger almost at the summit of Minch Moor, which took a bit of bodging in to a single-speed.
Day 5 - Glentress
Second trail centre. We did the Red loop with the intention of doing Blue or something after lunch, but we had so much cake and a late lunch that we decided to skip the afternoon riding.
Day 6 - Ae
Is there any other town or village in the UK with a shorter name? We drove to the final hostel and met Jez (Howard's friend) to do the Ae Red loop. Weather was amazing, and too hot and sunny to sit outside for lunch (plus there were huge 2inch long wasps, which turned out to be non-stinging wood wasps).
Day 7 - Kirroughtree
Last day and the 4th Red loop. After lunch we had a bit of time to do some of the Blue loop, although a large section was closed due to forestry work.
More Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104347553800437592244/MTBScotland2011
Sunday 13 February 2011
Skiing in the Dolomites (again)
After a week in Campitello in 2009, and a week in Arabba in 2010, it was time for another week in Arabba in 2011, with the same snowHeads bunch. Of the attendees in 2009, all but one was on the 2010 trip, and again all but one on the 2011 trip, but now with many many more additional attendees, such is it's popularity!
On Friday, drove down to Innsbruck after work to meet up with Talltone, Masque, Degage and HarrisontheRabbit, who'd driven from the UK! Then we all drove on to Arabba in the morning. Talltone and I were on the piste by lunchtime for a good half day skiing.
This was the first proper test of my new K2 Rictor skis, although I'd skied them for 2 days in Austria a few weeks prior. Nice skis. They may be "All Mountain", but they still go quickly on piste, and edge to edge is pretty impressive too.
Sun
The first day was an easy ski out to San Cassiano and La Villa with a group of about 10 (mostly) 1st time birthday bashers. So it was basically me that did the guiding.
Mon
After an easy first day or so, it was time to get a bit more adventurous. So I joined SteveM, BFG and JK on a trip up to Marmolada to do the 1 mile vertical triple cable car ride followed by 1 mile vertical red run back down. It definitely is a lot better if you go reasonably early. Less queue, less crowds and less cut-up piste. Then we headed back and did a complete Sella Ronda orange (clockwise) circuit.
Tues
Another long-ish day with SteveM and BFG, but this time we headed out to Santa Cristina and did the long 10km run down in to Ortisei. Brilliant run.
Wed
A slow day playing around between Arabba, Corvara and Selva. Followed by dinner on the mountain, and skiing back down to Arabba with LED lights.
Thu
Went for another Sella Ronda green (anti-clockwise) circuit with Surfski, Lynn, et al. Stopped off in Colfosco to find a geocache with Surfski. Bumped in to a German guy just afterwards, who was also looking for the cache.
Fri
Last day with most of the snowHeads. Went caching with Surfski again to find 2 caches in Corvara. Found 1 OK, but the other was MIA. Then we headed over to La Villa and then Santa Croce to meet up with another group for lunch, and then skied back.
Sat
Since we knew there'd be massive traffic on the road out of the Sella Ronda down to the Autostrada, and there was no real rush back, the 5 of us that drove down (plus Mike Rainman) decided to get a crafty bonus half day on the piste. So we skiied over to Canazei, caught the bus 5 minutes along the valley to Alba to play around on empty pistes for a few hours, then skied back. After that it was the loooooong drive home with a stop-over at Bregenz.
Can't wait to go back again!
Stats for the week were (after adjusting for final run of the day to Arabba):
Pictures can be seen here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/SHBB2011Arabba
On Friday, drove down to Innsbruck after work to meet up with Talltone, Masque, Degage and HarrisontheRabbit, who'd driven from the UK! Then we all drove on to Arabba in the morning. Talltone and I were on the piste by lunchtime for a good half day skiing.
This was the first proper test of my new K2 Rictor skis, although I'd skied them for 2 days in Austria a few weeks prior. Nice skis. They may be "All Mountain", but they still go quickly on piste, and edge to edge is pretty impressive too.
Sun
The first day was an easy ski out to San Cassiano and La Villa with a group of about 10 (mostly) 1st time birthday bashers. So it was basically me that did the guiding.
Mon
After an easy first day or so, it was time to get a bit more adventurous. So I joined SteveM, BFG and JK on a trip up to Marmolada to do the 1 mile vertical triple cable car ride followed by 1 mile vertical red run back down. It definitely is a lot better if you go reasonably early. Less queue, less crowds and less cut-up piste. Then we headed back and did a complete Sella Ronda orange (clockwise) circuit.
Tues
Another long-ish day with SteveM and BFG, but this time we headed out to Santa Cristina and did the long 10km run down in to Ortisei. Brilliant run.
Wed
A slow day playing around between Arabba, Corvara and Selva. Followed by dinner on the mountain, and skiing back down to Arabba with LED lights.
Thu
Went for another Sella Ronda green (anti-clockwise) circuit with Surfski, Lynn, et al. Stopped off in Colfosco to find a geocache with Surfski. Bumped in to a German guy just afterwards, who was also looking for the cache.
Fri
Last day with most of the snowHeads. Went caching with Surfski again to find 2 caches in Corvara. Found 1 OK, but the other was MIA. Then we headed over to La Villa and then Santa Croce to meet up with another group for lunch, and then skied back.
Sat
Since we knew there'd be massive traffic on the road out of the Sella Ronda down to the Autostrada, and there was no real rush back, the 5 of us that drove down (plus Mike Rainman) decided to get a crafty bonus half day on the piste. So we skiied over to Canazei, caught the bus 5 minutes along the valley to Alba to play around on empty pistes for a few hours, then skied back. After that it was the loooooong drive home with a stop-over at Bregenz.
Can't wait to go back again!
Stats for the week were (after adjusting for final run of the day to Arabba):
- 148 lifts
- 49334 vertical metres
- 277km slope length estimation
Pictures can be seen here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/SHBB2011Arabba
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