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

Holland/Belgium/Germany Motorcycle Ride

This past weekend I took a ride up to Holland from Stuttgart on my BMW F800GS. I was in a hurry to get there so I took the highway on the way up. On the way back, I took a long ride from Maastricht down into Belgium and through a piece of the Ardennes Forest and over the Eifel in Western Germany. It's an incredible place thick with dark Belgian pine over a mossy primeval forest floor. It's easy to see where the Brothers Grimm got the setting for a lot of their stories.

I came out of Eupen in Belgium and traveled across the German border and into Monschau, a medieval village deep in a gorge on the Ruhr River. After a lunch of smoked trout and salad, I continued on down the ancient Roman route to Trier, the oldest city in Germany.

It was nice to get out for a long ride late in November when the weather is normally uncooperative. But by the time I left Trier and the sun went down, the temperature dropped swiftly as I rode over the Hunsruck and down to Kaiserslautern. But a hot shower and a fine dinner at the Barbarossahof put things right.

The Abandonment of Nuristan

Ghosts of Alexander posted comments on the US decision to abandon a series of outposts in Nuristan province along the Pakistan border in eastern Afghanistan.

I was on the first SF team that went up into Nuristan in early 2002. It was obvious then that the province was key terrain along the Pak border that needed attention before the Taliban resurgence that inevitably came.
We laid the groundwork for cooperation with the border keepers in the region, but like many of our endeavors, it fell to the wayside when we rotated out and more conventional troops moved into our basecamp in Konar.

I feel badly for the soldiers that were killed recently when their outpost in Nuristan was overrun. I have no intel on what the circumstances of the attack were, and I'm skeptical about news reports, but in these cases it's my opinion that someone broke one or more of the 3 principles of patrolling - Planning, Reconnaissance and Security.

Abandoning Nuristan will turn out to be a very bad decision in the war in Afghanistan.

Prep for Winter Touring

I spent the day Sunday in the village of Tiefenbach while my sons were training with the USYS State Soccer team. It's about halfway between Heilbronn and Heidelberg in an area of low hills and vineyards. With winter coming on, I've been trying to get in shape for some serious ski touring, so I took advantage of the day and did some nordic walking in the countryside. I guess I did about 8 kilometers of fast-paced hiking with ski poles and by the end of the afternoon I felt like I had really accomplished something.

I also got to spend time in the woods, which is always a great way to spend the day.

I've begun to do some "unconventional" training techniques to get in shape. I was inspired by a newsletter put out by a guy by the name of Michael Geary. His web site contains lots of ideas for ski-related workouts that will build leg strength and all-around stamina.