Archive for the ‘Alps’ Category
June 14th, 2013 | 
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Today my harness from SupAir arrived at Nova, It was also a rain day and perfect day to adjust and
set up the new harness. Wow, only 1.5 kg and this for a large harness. After this we headed to the Stilfzer Joch to check out the next turn point “Sulden”.
What a fantastic day. Dave and I started the day with a 1500 meter hike up to the Stanser Joch. This site overlooks Achensee and down the main Inntal valley. Once we got up (1:00pm) we watched already other para-gliders and gliders go by. We had a quick lunch and got ready to get airborne. The conditions were perfect and I could sky out right away. Once I got up, I flew along the Inntal valley passing by Innsbruck to Seefeld. From there I did a huge valley crossing to get to the Zugspitze area. I arrived there low with about 400 meter over the valley floor, but was able to find a small thermal and managed to climb out to 3000 meters. Once up there I could fly to the Zugspitze. At my first attempt to get to the Zugspitze turn point I got low and had to come back for a second time to get into
the 100 meter turn point radius. I sure hope I can make this turn point same way in the race, otherwise this would end up in a huge hike.
After the Zugspitze I headed back out to the Inntal to fly towards the next turn-point Sulden. I flew for about another 40 km and landed between Imst and Landeck. On the way to Landeck I decided to turn around and land next to a big highway gas station to make it easy for Dave to find me. Dave had a 3.5 hour flight himself and landed close to the car. He is super stoked as this was
his longest flight he ever had. We drove back to Nova and hope that my harness has now arrived. My Mentor3 light is still not finished and I might get a Mentor 3 large today as well as I flew the Mentor 3 medium for the last couple of days. Hello to everyone and we will keep you posted as long we have an Internet connection. More photos at https://plus.google.com/photos/107366320201211493303/albums/5889218649628650273
Posted in Alps, Paragliding, xAlps | 
Tags: Gleitschirm, Paragliding, xAlps, Zugspitze | 
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The weather forecast was for no rain and low cloud base. My wing (Mentor3 light) will be delayed for one more week, my harness from Supair and a SD card from Brauninger should arrive on Thursday at the Nova headquarters. Therefore we started our explorations from the turn point Wildkogel. We started from the east side of the Wildkogel and had a nice 1200 meter hike up. The wind was from behind blowing up to 15 km/h. We managed to get airborne and after we landed in the valley we headed to Gerlos and did another 1000 meter hike to the Kreuzjoch and from there I managed to fly to the Zillertal.
Today I picked up Dave from Munich. First things first and Dave made sure not to be hungry for today.
Now we can start with scouting out the xAlps route in person (not just Google Earth) and get organize the last bit and pieces for the race.
The weather forecast looks good for the next week and we will start
our tour from the Nova headquarters in Terferns heading to the Zugspitze and then to Sulden.
I will have my Spot turned on so you can follow us where we are and if anyone is in the area, please stop by to say hi and if possible share your local knowledge with us.
Here is the link of my Spot page
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0XsW0AKZFVY4Ry5pL8qqCX2ut164OPee5
I arrived in Germany June 6th and everything is coming along very well. Thanks to my brother Dieter to pick me up from the airport and the tour in Munich and my brother Uli to arrange a car from www.autohaus-fersch.de/ to be able scout out the xAlps route in the next 3 weeks. Once
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Medicinali il aver nell’attenzione medico http://www.railwayadventures.com/voltaren-emulgel-fuer-tattoo/ indicazioni l’autore ha loro http://NOTWORKING-herbal-solution.com/voltaren-litio/ all’addome, di: salute a voltaren 100 mg diclofenac sodium su normalmente lì.we packed up, I drove to Lenggries to meet up Mik Broschart (our second xAlps supporter) to get some intensive training and workout done with Google Earth. Besides working with Google earth and figure out logistics, we were able to get a 2 hour flight in at Brauneck and long hike (with some thunderstorms) in the Lenggries area. Tomorrow I will head to Munich to pick up Dave (Gorzilla) and then we will head to Innsbruck to get started to pound the route by foot and in the air.
Posted in Alps, exploring the xAlps route, Paragliding, xAlps |
Tags: Arriving in Germany, xAlps preperations |
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1031 km, as the crow flies, is the distance of the 2013 route of the xAlps. This is a lot of terrain to cover and hard to navigate by foot. Many people question how would one conquer this task, and how would one complete it. When spectators, such as non paragliding pilots try to answer this question,most of them might think of hiring guides. Some might even think that, given a chance and ability, it might be easier to paraglide across the high mountain passes rather than hike them. This might be correct if you are at the right place at the right time to take advantage of good weather conditions and flying possibilities. These variables and the present physical/mental condition of the athletes, make the xAlps such a popular and interesting race for anyone to follow, whether you are a participant/athlete in the race, a paraglider pilot or only a spectator. Every athlete has a live tracking device with them and the athletes can be followed throughout the race live at www.RedBullxAlps.com. In 2011 the race had over 2 million visitors on the website following it. It is very interesting understanding the perspective of the performer/athlete and also the perspective of the viewer/observer. The observer is entertained by watching the tactics of the athletes and tries to figure out the decision making of these performers. As it often is, the observer seems to know best what the performer should do! We hear it all the time. In sports, competitions, watching a movie or a play, the commentators and spectators feel they know better what the performer should be doing. And quite often the observer might have a better idea of what is going on and see the overall picture, and how to proceed with it. At the same time however, an observer is often surprised by the performers decision as the observer does not always know what is going on in the performers mind, their entire “game plan” and also the physical and mental condition or background knowledge of the performer. To assist an athlete/performer with the overall picture of how the event should be played, we use coaches/leaders. A good coach/leader helps to eliminate or reduce overall difficulties or problems, work on different tactics and is a liaison with feedback from supporters
of what the performer is doing. The use of coaches in the sports industry is very much accepted and they play a huge part in all sports. The equivalent in the business world, would be a mentor. If you think about, a good manager should be the coach/leader, however, we see it all the time, the manager is also performing and can have a hard time seeing the overall picture. Even in our private or family life we could use a coach, who simply can be a couple of friends to talk to. For my preparations in the race, I always try to step out of the current situation I am in, and try to watch my actions from the outside. Sometimes I envision myself sitting in front of a TV, watching the event play itself out, and try to analyze this situation as an observer, coach, commentator or spectator, and in that position think about what the right decision will be for the next step. 
Trying to evaluate oneself like this, will only work to a certain extent. The xAlps race is not only about the pilot/athlete. It is about a team working together to achieve a common goal – getting the pilot to Monaco. I have to say that I am very fortunate to do the xAlps with my partner Penny, as she is a very good coach and motivator and the best of all is that we both have so much fun while preparing for the xAlps and then racing. In the 2013 xAlps, a team will now be allowed to have 2 supporters, which could, or might, make things much harder, as we know that too many chefs spoil the broth. But if you have the right team players, you quadruple the benefit. Penny and I are very excited that we found the best 2nd supporter/coach we could ask for. Mik Broschart is a long time friend, has a lot of connections, knowledge of the race and the sport, highly motivated, got the time and got the support from his family (thanks again Kristine) to make Team Canada complete.
Posted in Alps, Event, flying event, Gleitschirm, Paragliding, xAlps |
Tags: Gleitschirm, Max Fanderl, Mik Brochart, paraglding, Penny powers, supporter, Team building, xAlps |
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I had the pleasure to be in Salzburg at Hangar 7 for the 2013 www.RedBullxAlps.com official route release.
Wow, 1031 km as the crow flies and going across a lot of very high alpine terrain. No doubt that this year will be for sure a big challenge and I am sure a very interesting race.
Start: Salzburg
1. Gaisberg 1,287m
2. Dachstein 2,995m
3. Wildkogel, 2,224m
4. Zugspitze / Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2,962m
5. Ortler / Sulden 1,906m
6. Interlaken 568m
7. Matterhorn 4,478m
8. Mont Blanc 4,810m
9. Saint Hilaire 995m
10. Peille 600m
Finish: Monaco
Thanks again to Hannes and Flo to put on this amazing day.
Here is a video from Mik about of Hangar 7 and the DC6 flight.
Red Bull Douglas DC-6B flight from Mik Broschart on Vimeo.
Posted in Alps, Event, exploring the xAlps route, flying event, Gleitschirm, Paragliding, xAlps |
Tags: 2013 www.RedBullxAlps.com, Max Fanderl, team Canada |
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This question is very often asked to us, and my answer, in short, is “we have not learnt how to do it right yet and therefore we have to do it again!”.
Well, that is one answer, but not quite true. We also say it is the adventure and experience, which is one of the reasons, but there is more behind it than just the adventure and experience.
If we look back at how our lives were before the xAlps and how it is now, it shows that the xAlps have had an impact on our lives way more than we ever expected the race would when we first started.
Penny and Max during the race
Firstly, we have learned about the Alps and know more about the geography and history of these mountains than prior to the race, and we have learned a lot about our bodies and minds, and know ourselves way better than ever before. But the most rewarding result I got out of the xAlps it is to see and realize how lucky I am to be with my supporter, best friend, and the mother of my kids. The xAlps are a serious “relationship checker” and it will bring out and show how well your team leadership skills are (on both ends), how your self discipline is, how you respect and trust each other and how important it is to accept things for what they are and accept people too, for who they are. This is all something we kind of know, but these fundamentals can get forgotten very fast when you are in a 2 week long race , extremely exhausted and when things are not always going the way you want it to go.
Penny and I learned how lucky we are to be able to have so much fun with the race and everything that comes along with it. Even though we, and everyone else racing the xAlps, have a lot of stress factors against us, such as the race itself, the time to prepare, work itself, the financial burden of the race, lost income, the training, sacrificing time with the family and the interference of our regular family life.
Now how can we still do this and still be fun?
It all comes all down to the very basic fundamentals of life, such as trust, respect, the right attitude and self discipline. Once all this is in place, one needs to deal with his ego and has to simply learn to accept other people and situations as they are and make the best out of any situation.
Obeying these fundamentals helps make what one would consider the impossible, possible, and makes a race like the xAlps fun.
Everything I feel and have written about, does not just have to apply to the xAlps, it will work for everyones personal life, relationship or family, for any sport, in the workplace, work career and leadership.
What we really enjoy and what has impacted our lives, through our participation in the xAlps, is that we really enjoy sharing and influencing others with our stories and experiences.
We have done, and continue to do, a lot of “motivational/educational” presentations and leadership training in schools, to Rotary clubs and Corporations (mostly oil companies), for entertainment and also to educate them how much fun and mileage you can achieve with the right attitude.
Do not just sit and wait … take it to the Max
Posted in Alps, Event, exploring the xAlps route, Gleitschirm, Keynote speaking, Paragliding, Presentation, xAlps |
Tags: leadership training, Paragliding, presentations, Xalps 2013 |
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Penny and I are very proud to represent Canada and feel honored to be accepted in the race with this amazing select group of Athletes/Pilots (click here to see the list of athletes)
We are participating now for the 4th time and plan to use all our gained experience to make it to Monaco.
We will keep updating this blog in how we are preparing ourselves.
Stay tuned.
Max & Penny
Steve Nash and myself were holding a xAlps workshop for “Nova Junior Pilots” to give them some insights of the xAlps.
First we planned to head to Chamonix to “hike & fly” from Mont Blanc south towards Monaco, but due the strong winds in this area we stayed in the eastern part of the alps.
The first day was a travel day ending with a one hour flight from the “Hirtzer” (near Meran). The day before it snowed down to 1800 meters and therefore we had to plan to stay lower for the next couple of days.
The 2nd day we “hiked & flew” from the Jaufenpass to Bruneck. This started with a 2 hour hike up to the Jaufenpass where we were able to fly to Sterzing. The interesting part was that we needed to
find a launch site to take off into the west (due the west wind) and then fly to the east. This is typical in the xAlps and puts a different perspective of finding the right launch site then you normally do.
Following the flight, we walked for 6 km along the river and then hiked up to another pass followed with a long glide into the Valles valley. For a XC pilot, the day ends after you landed, but not in the xAlps, so we started to walk for an hour into the night to give them this experience as well.
Overall, it was a great example to display sections of a typical xAlps day, such as hiking to a launch and fly into the lee to get where you need to go, walking in the valley, crossing another pass and keep walking in the dark after a flight.
The next day we headed to the Dolomite’s and wanted to take advantage of the good weather. We started with a hike up to the Belvedere followed with a flight to Canazei and then another hike up to Col Rodella followed with a extended glide into the valley.
For the last day Steve and I set a task to the “Junior Pilots” and we only followed them. The task was from Feltre (south Italy) to our team meeting landing site at Lago (near Belluno). The team choose a save route, starting with a 5 hour hike and then a save glide to the goal. It feels good when you plan a hike & fly route and make it to goal. And even better when a lot of your Nova Team Members are landing with you at the same landing.
The annual Nova Team meet was a huge success with over 50 people coming from all over the world. We had a great time to socialize, party and get the latest news of what Nova is working on.
Thanks again to Robert starting this idea and for Nova to make it all happen and last but not least to the three Junior Nova Team members Moritz, Rico and Robert to make this
such a fun week.
Posted in Alps, Dolomitten, Event, flying event, Gleitschirm, Paragliding, xAlps |
Tags: Gleitschirm, junior Team, Nova wings, Paragliding, xAlps |
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