So I updated the blog to the new Blogspot format. Of course I haven't posted anything in over a year, but maybe this will inspire me to pick it up again.
Ski season is over in Europe and I survived thanks to an excellent knee brace I had built by the folks at Ossur. This brace has paid for itself already by saving me from some major damage on some of my more ambitious runs this past winter.

Olympic Memories

One month later and I am still thinking often of the Winter Games in Vancouver. There are moments from the various competitions that will stand out in my mind forever as some of the greatest in sports. I was fortunate this year to be watching the games on Eurosport, the excellent sports network we have here in Europe. Although the commentary was in German, the 24/7 live coverage of events, the lack of commercials and the general enthusiasm Europeans have for the Winter Games made for a wonderful experience.

During part of the Games, I was traveling in Norway, the absolute world nexus of winter sports. It was heartening to be going through rail stations, hotels and airports and seeing large groups of people clustered around the televisions, rapt in their attention to whatever was on. The entire country was in an Olympics-inspired fever.

Back home in Stuttgart, I had my kids join me to watch sports that they would otherwise have no interest in and they would get as caught up in it as me. Even the wife shared my excitement over the biathlon and cross-country events which are my favorites. When Norway's Ironman of Biathlon, Ole Einar Bjorndalen, anchoring the men's relay team, shot an astounding 5 shots with no misses in the final shooting and completely left the poor Austrian who had been leading behind, we danced around the room and yelled along with 3 million Norwegians. It was a dramatic and compelling victory that probably went largely unnoticed in the USA, but I will never forget it.

Other Olympic moments to remember:

• Lindsey Vonn's Downhill gold medal run
• Bode Miller on the Super-G
• American pair wins the Nordic Combined?
• Magdalena Neuner's incredible Biathlon performance for Germany
• And of course, the Canadian Ice Hockey team's performance in the Gold Medal game!

Of course, being half Canadian, I'm a bit biased, but the people of Canada have a lot to be proud of for the way these games went. Oh Canada!

Indian Soldiers Killed in Avalanche

The Indian Army's Military Mountaineering School in Kashmir was hit by an avalanche today, killing 17 soldiers.

Avalanche Deaths

Many people die each year in avalanches, and it's not uncommon here in Europe to see stories of avalanche deaths on a regular basis throughout the winter. One particularly tragic story came from Italy has week, where 3 people were killed in an avalanche, then 4 of their would-be rescuers were killed as well. I'm short of time right now, but there is more to say on this subject.

Olympic Biathlon Contender

Biathlon is simply the greatest sport in the world and it goes straight to the heart of military mountaineering. It takes extraordinary skills, conditioning and zen-like concentration to go from flat-out sprint to stable shooting position in just seconds.

That's why I was very happy to see a recent article in the New York Times that says we may actually have a viable American medal contender in the next Winter Olympics.

The Norwegian Home Guard school includes a 30-kilometer military biathlon as one of the culminating events of it's Ski School. It's a bit different than what you see on Eurosport - no skinny skis and race guns there. When I went through in 1991, they were still on wooden skis (allegedly required by the Norwegian Constitution) and winterized H&K G3s. The instructors said it was a "man's race." Skol!

Recent Ski Trips

Winter has officially arrived in Europe, and I'm happy to have gotten out on the snow a few times already.

I monitor the Feldberg webcam. It's the highest peak in the Black Forest, and an excellent area for cross country and backcountry touring. I don't recommend it for alpine skiing, mostly because of the unbelievable lift lines that are packed with some of the rudest and most obnoxious skiers on the continent.

That said, I took a drive down to Feldberg with my daughter and a friend a couple of weeks ago as soon as the webcam indicated there was skiable snow on the mountain. It was my first chance to try out my new Garmont touring boots with my backcountry rig, and I was pretty pleased with the way they felt the first time out. They are a bit narrow in the toes, but that is normal for my EE foot. I'm going to see if they can be widened at the ski shop, but it may be problematic because of the bellows that allow for touring flexion. We skied up to the peak from the parking lot at the base of the ski area - about 2 kilometers. The waxless base on my Karhu 10th Mountains worked pretty well on the uphill, but I am going to have to get some skins for better performance on the uphill steeps.

The second trip was for some alpine skiing at the Nebelhorn in Oberstdorf, in the Allgau region of Bavaria. The snow was flying on the mountain, and there was only one run officially open, but we managed to get some good runs in despite the limited terrain. Several people were seen skiing on the closed run down the mountain, and I would have liked to join them in the virgin powder down that long, steep trail, but my daughter was having problems with her rented boots and we had to cut the trip short. I saw a lot of sign from the chamois that are native to the region and we saw one big fat doe while we were riding the cable car back down the mountain. I'm going to have to get hooked up with a hunting trip to get one of those someday soon.

We are going back to the Allgau again this weekend, to our favorite area - Ifen.

I'm Not Dead!

A friend of mine pointed me to a cheezy video on YouTube about the battle of Wanat, Aghanistan. I have written about Wanat in a previous post. The video is a series of still shots with a voice over by the "poet" Acie Cargill. Somehow my profile picture from this blog made it into the shots of the fallen soldiers.

I have been to Wanat, but I never served in the 173d Airborne and I'm definitely not dead. Just wanted to set the record straight. DF