Dave's Photo & Travelblogue

Frostbite and the Captain Morgan Twins

The snow this winter isn’t that bountiful, so I’ve been quite often to nearby glacier ski resorts. I’ll give a few details later about the charming town of Lanersbach in the Zillertal valley. But first you have to see the temperature at the top of Hintertux Glacier on our first day:

“Heiter” usually means fair, clear, or bright. But in this case the sign was WRONG. Outdoors it was cloudy, snowing lightly, and the wind was blowing at 40-50km/h (up to 30mph). –22C equates to –8F… and the wind chill, well, that was around –38C (–37F). Keep in mind that’s before accounting for the speed we were moving downhill (directly into the wind). I got a bit of frostnip on my ears, so I wore a liner cap under my helmet on the following days. “Gefrorene Wand” was quite accurate on this trip: Frozen Face!

It wasn’t all snow and frostbite. One evening we went to Kleine Tenne in Lanersbach, and found that Captain Morgan Austria was there with the Captain Morgan Twins and their bikinis! Paul was kind enough to pose for a photo with the twins.

Good music, a kicker (foosball) table, and Zillertal Pils made it a great night, although we were a bit too tired from the cold to party like rock stars. We made it back to the Kleine Tenne one more night, when the Bavarian party band Chari Vari was there… although none of our group was a big fan of the folky-rock style with double accordions.

The rest of the trip was all about skiing and snowboarding. Here is a choice view from the quad chairlift above Sommerberg, where you can see the neighboring T-bar:

And, on the last day, this beautiful view of Hintertux greeted us upon arrival. You can just see the moon over the peaks toward the left side of the picture.

Getting to Lanersbach:

• Here’s a Google map of Lanersbach. I highly recommend Lanersbach if you’re going to Hintertux for an extended trip. It’s about 10-15min drive to the mountain base by car or ski bus, and you have a much wider selection of nightlife and restaurants than in Hintertux itself. The town is about 2h drive from Munich, and a little less from Innsbruck.
• There is a Spar grocery store in Lanersbach, but beware, in Austria the stores close very early (6:00pm I believe).
• Restaurants are plentiful, and we went to several on the one-way street (north of the main street). Hermanns Klause restaurant (associated with a bed & breakfast) had tasty food, but was smoky. The restaurant at Hotel Jaeger had a non-smoking area, salad bar, and excellent food. As one of our party was sick at home, they even made a “to-go” entree and gave us a real plate & silverware with it. Of course, one night we went up the hill to Madseit to our favorite: Alte Huette at Hotel Berghaus. I had a fantastic lamb schnitzel, a dish I’d never seen before.
• Kleine Tenne had a good number of people on both Friday and Saturday nights. We were lucky that it wasn’t too smoky, but don’t expect a non-smoking nightclub in Austria. There was another nightclub next door that we didn’t try out, so clearly there is some party potential in Lanersbach if you’re there on the right week/weekend.
• Skiing possibilities abound: you can ski Eggalm right in Lanersbach, try Rastkogel or Finkenburg a few km down the valley, go up the valley to Hintertux, or even drive 20min down to Mayrhofen for a larger-town experience (and Austria’s steepest prepared ski slope “Harakiri” with 78% grade!).

If you give Lanersbach a try, I hope you enjoy the trip, and come back here to tell us about it!

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Mainau Butterfly House

On the island of Mainau in Bodensee, one can find a multitude of flowers. It’s known in German as the Blumeninsel, and lies just across from the German town of Meersburg on Bodensee. There are probably millions of flowers scattered around in thousands of gardens on this botanical island. Here’s a favorite shot of mine from the butterfly house:

This was taken with my Nikon D90 and a 70-300 VR lens, which does a great job of shortening the depth of field.

A few more shots of flowers on Mainau will be coming up eventually! If you want to be notified, just subscribe to the blog with the orange RSS / Email buttons in the left sidebar.

Getting to Mainau:

• Here’s a Google map of Mainau. I arrived at the ferry terminal on the right side of the island, coming from the nearby town of Meersburg. But you can also arrive there by car and park easily in the large parking area.
• One tip: if you arrive at Mainau later in the day, you can get the Sunset ticket (1/2 price compared to the normal €15.90 entry fee). It’s good after 17:00, which in the summer is no problem! Winter prices are much cheaper at €7, but then you can’t see many flowers, so I wouldn’t recommend it. If you do the sunset ticket, make sure you still have a way home, as the ferries from Mainau may stop running early (I had to take a bus to another town, then ferry back).

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The World’s Best Beer

Everyone likes something different when it comes to beer. For some, it’s no beer at all. For Germans, it’s beer made only with water, hops, yeast, and barley. But for me, it’s variety and flavor. And, as I like-a the sweets, Belgian beer fits the bill perfectly: cherry beer, forest fruits, coconut, dark, light, strong, sour… every combination is possible.

In August 2007 I visited Brussels with my buddy Pete for a Belgian beer festival called the “Belgian Beer Weekend.” This is a yearly event in the main square, where almost all the craft brewers in Belgium come to exhibit their wares. We tried 27 beers each over a (4?) day weekend, at various restaurants, alley pubs, and beer stands.

We took a tour of the Halve Maan brewery in Bruges. This was one of my favorite photos of the weekend, with a nice, short depth of field:

Notable moments: we wrote down all the beers we tried on Pete’s expired TAN list because it’s the only paper we had. (Except one, which was written on his arm after forgetting the TAN list.) One dude had a bachelor party at the festival – it was 5c to paint a stripe of baby blue paint anywhere on his body. We saw him later on, and he was completely blue. Best quote from an old-time beer poster in French: a mother holds a beer while her baby nurses. “Beer is nourishment! She buys her beer at the brewery, but makes her baby’s drink herself.”

The beers we tried, in order of consumption:

• Hoegaarden
• Mort Subite Kriek
• Petrus Tripel
• Kasteelbier Donker (CRAZY SWEET!)
• Kwak
• Duvel / Belle-Vue Gueuze
• De Silly Abbaye de Forest
• Deus Brut des Flandres
• Hoegaarden Rose
• Lindemans Old Gueuze
• Leffe Blonde / Jupiler
• Maredsous Donker 8*
• Affligem Christmas
• Moeder Overste (Mother Superior)
• Blanche de Brugs
• Timmermans Woudvruchten (Fruits de la Foret) WINNER – tied as best beer of the weekend
• Black Hole
• Chimay Blue
• Bon Secours Brune Perle
• Mort Subite Gueuze
• Orval
• Leffe Blonde
• Brugse Zot Blonde
• Mystic Kriek
• De Garre Tripel WINNER – tied as best beer of the weekend
• Brugse Zot Blonde (should’ve been Brown, but they gave us a free Blonde after the tour, so we drank this one twice)
• Stella Artois

Getting to the Belgian Beer Weekend:

• Here’s the website for the festival, Weekend de la Biere.
• Look here for a Google map view of the Grand Place, where the festival takes place.
• What to do while you’re there besides drink at the festival? There are MANY museums around Brussels, even a sewer museum. I’ve visited a brewery, the comic museum (which is mostly older European comics, NO DC or Marvel superheroes!), Atomium (which was a bit disappointing for the price), and many other sights. But honestly, I was not overly impressed by anything, so don’t get too excited about the city itself. The small city of Bruges was much more charming – and made a very nice side trip for one day.
• Food: eat some mussels with fries, “Moules Frites,” one of the signature dishes of Belgium. I think they eat more mussels per capita than anywhere else? Once when I was there, I was lucky that a mussel festival coincided with the beer weekend – SOO tasty. And of course, you have to try a Belgian waffle with your choice of toppings. I also highly recommend a stew made with dark beer; this common dish always has a fantastic flavor.

Enjoy Belgium and their wonderful beers. There is something for everyone: even those who normally don’t favor beer might enjoy a mild Lindemans peach lambic! Have fun, and don’t drink TOO much…

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Being Frozen in Stubai

When you think of a glacier, you probably already think “cold.” But of the many days I’ve spent at glacier ski areas this year, none were colder than this past Sunday and Monday at Stubai. The temperature was about –15 to –20C (that’s 5F to –4F) on Sunday, and in the evening the winds picked up. Monday the wind chill must have been way below –20C, even though the temps warmed up a few degrees. Check out the snow being blown from the peaks:

Now, don’t get the impression it wasn’t FUN! This was one of the best ski weekends I’ve had this year (from 18 days snowboarding so far). The snow was perfect for carving, and off-piste there was about a foot of powder.

For those wishing to travel to Stubai, don’t expect huge nightlife. The nearest big town is Neustift im Stubaital, and it’s nothing like Mayrhofen, St. Anton, or Sölden for nightlife. We stayed in a small Pension in Milders, near Neustift. “The Farm,” the big apres-ski place in Milders, had a total of 3 people at 9:30pm (and they were all smoking). However, BIG PROPS to Restaurant Steinadler, which we found was non-smoking. That’s very rare for Austria. Besides that, the food was fantastic. Here was my Cordon Bleu (which also came with a salad plate and a side of cranberry sauce):

I had a surreal experience there. I dropped my fork, and as I looked around for our server (maybe 7 seconds later), there she came – with a new fork. Apparently she had heard it from the other room, and recognized the difference between fork and knife hitting the ground. Amazing!

Pensions (= Bed & Breakfasts) vary quite a bit throughout Germany and Austria, but in my experience you’re guaranteed a decent bed and a simple breakfast for a bargain price. Our pick in Milders was okay, but a few features might turn off some travelers. Ask yourself: what percentage of today’s Americans would physically be able to sit down on this toilet!?

The next morning we went back out for more adventure on the slopes. It was a windy day, but once we were on the slopes (wind at our backs) it was great. I figured out the settings on my bindings and boots to let me carve like crazy on my Virus Xtremecarver, leaning all the way over so my nose was almost touching the snow on every turn. And the views were fantastic!

Check out this distant mountain formation which looks like a bowl full of clouds:

Getting to Stubai

• See this Google Map for the location of Stubai; you’ll find Neustift im Stubaital along the road leading to it. Note that it’s 16km or so from Neustift (the nearest large town) to Stubai.
• Pensions (= Bed & Breakfasts) are a great place to stay. Usually the proprietors are very friendly and helpful. Often the room is fantastic for the price; although sometimes it’s a bit lacking in one area or another. Occasionally you find “WC im Flur” which means a shared bathroom in the hall, but you’ll often save €5-10 a night for such a room.
• I highly recommend the restaurant Steinadler in Milders. Non-smoking, fantastic food, friendly service, and psychic at bringing replacement forks. From the card I picked up there, I found they also have a Pension with a quite reasonable room rate (€24 per person for double room with breakfast; even cheaper in the summer at €20). Google map here. Milders is a cheap taxi ride from Neustift central, in case you’re there on a weekend and want to try for bigger nightlife than “The Farm” apres-ski in Milders.

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Have YOU been crushed by a dolphin?

If you have, please call our toll-free number, 555-DTH-FR-ABV.

I have to tell a story about the guy in this photo, and old friend named Rich.

Rich weighed in a bit heavier than me at the time of this trip, probably around 125 pounds. Now, that’s remarkably small. What’s even more amazing is that Rich could eat anything. Literally. We’d go to the Outback, and he’d devour half a cheese fries, a salad, the 22-oz Porterhouse, and the loaded baked potato. Then he’d proceed to order the coconut-chocolate-sundae for dessert and polish that off, before finishing one or two other sundaes that others at our table couldn’t manage.

Then there was the time he ate a 48-oz Porterhouse at Shula’s. We only heard about that after the fact, but it was from a reputable source who would never exaggerate his eating prowess (his wife!). For those metric folks, 48 oz of beef is a 1.36kg steak, minus the bone in the middle. So this guy can really eat.

Well, on the trip to the Bahamas where I took this amazing dolphin jump photo (with a Canon Rebel film camera, probably in 2000), Rich got sick. Some kind of food poisoning. It was the first time in the six years we’d known each other when I out-ate him. I believe I was flipped the bird when I pointed that out…

But, to Rich’s credit, we kept adventuring around the Bahamas. Within a day, he was able to demolish the $50 dinner buffet at the Atlantis hotel (which to this day remains the most amazing buffet I’ve ever been to). Thereafter we snuck into their marine habitat, and had a great time wandering around the nearly-deserted tanks (which I believe, at that time of night, were only open to resort guests). What an awesome trip!

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Snowboarding Helmetcam Update

I had a few questions come up about my video setup… so here it is, in all its simplicity. At first it was side mounted, but this hurt my neck after several hours, so now it’s on top.

Equipment:

• Nvertigo-X Skydiving camera helmet with chin cup
• Canon Vixia HF200
• Kenko KGW-05 wide adapter
• Manfrotto 323 quick-change adapter
• Newton cross ring sight with Schumacher rotating clamp
• Home-made neoprene “camera condom,” from an old wetsuit hood
• Piece of gaffer’s tape over the “mode” switch so it stays on video, can’t be bumped to photo mode (which screws everything up if you don’t notice it)
• Pattex glue for the neoprene (glues neoprene like nothing else, according to some friends who SCUBA)

Photos of the new Neoprene cover with side opening. I left an open area by the lens so the Instant AF sensor can still work.

I made this side opening cover after many pain-in-the-$%# moments on the slope, when I had to completely remove the (old) cover to use the viewscreen.

Settings:

• Highest quality setting, at 1920×1080 Full HD
• Shutter speed (Tv mode) 1/500 or higher (maybe 1/250 but then you get a bit more motion blur in the video)
• Optical stabilizer on, though it doesn’t help much when you are moving
• Virtualdub and Deshaker software used to stabilize clips
• Editing done with Pinnacle Studio 14 Ultimate Collection

Hope this helps some other camera-amateurs like myself! Next on my list (if I find time) is to make one of the home-made steadicams from PVC pipe, like you see in many YouTube tutorials. Not sure I’d put it on the helmet, but for handheld stuff, it might eliminate the need for the (slow, slight-quality-reducing) Deshaker step.

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Beautiful Views at Hintertux Glacier

If you’ve been reading for a while, you probably saw my post about Hintertux just as this winter began. In past years, I’ve only gone there when the other areas didn’t have enough snow. But this year I went back mid-season and found piles of the stuff, way deeper POW than the other resorts at lower altitudes.

Here are a few scenic shots:

The clouds were quite amazing at times on Sunday, as a storm cleared off.

In my last Hintertux post I mentioned extreme weather. Well, here’s the result when it’s –15C with snow in the air. Oh, let’s not forget, the whole top of the mountain was in a cloud.

After I melted all this ice out of my beard, I gave up and put on my neoprene facemask. Heh.

Pictures are all from my trusty Canon SD1000. That little camera has gone more vertical miles in my pocket than any other piece of electronics I own. And despite my taking the occasional hard spill on an icy slope, it’s still unscathed!

Since I love these shots, and don’t have any particular “favorite photo” (how would one choose?), the frozen beard goes out to Wendy from down under!

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Snowboard Carving – Feb Craziness!

Alright, it’s finally time for a little taste of what’s possible with my final video setup! I just threw together a couple good carving clips from two trips, one in early Jan and one in early Feb.

Go to YouTube to watch the video in HD!

Thanks to the amazing carvers in the video: Peti, Lowcarver, and Alexey. They ride boards from Oxess, Virus, and Prior. I need to improve my technique to get those nice, laid-over turns, especially on the backside!

The first clip is at Zillertal Arena, the rest are at Hintertux glacier (both in Austria). Next week I’ll post a bit more about my Canon HF200 camera setup, so if you want to read about that, subscribe with the orange buttons on the left sidebar for RSS or email notification. Hope you enjoy the video!

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Best Omelette Ever

For such a tasty dish I must use the French spelling! Now this is some pretty food…

Omelette Ingredients:

• Homemade whiskey/chili oil, red pepper, shallots, garlic – sautéed with some basil, oregano, and salt
• 2 eggs and a splash of milk, beaten and poured into the sautéed vegetables
• 2-year aged Cabot cheddar and a bit of smoked Black Forest ham folded in the middle

There’s nothing better, the day after spending 8 hours on the ski slopes, than waking up and eating a serious breakfast.

Random omelette tips:

• I use a non-stick pan from Ikea. 1 tsp oil or butter should be enough to keep the mixture from sticking.
• Use a low heat on the stove; otherwise you have a problem in the initial stage before folding. The bottom will burn before the top is cooked all the way through.
• Tilt the pan occasionally before folding (2-3 times). Roll the liquidy part around to keep it evenly distributed.
• I put some ingredients in with the egg as the omelette cooks, and then add a few more things just before folding. Then it doesn’t get too fat to fold, as happens when you try to stuff a cup of meat, veg, and cheese in the middle.

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Powder in Kitzbuehel, Austria

Kitzbühel has always had a special meaning for me, because that’s where my Mom learned to ski many years ago. She was studying in Europe, and had the chance to ski in Austria one winter. Now, some ~40 years later, I live about an hour and fifteen minutes’ drive from there!

The mountain is surrounded by several quaint little towns: Jochberg, Kitzbühel, and Kirchberg im Tirol, among others. One of its strengths is the huge amount of open, ungroomed terrain, which is fantastic when there is new snow.

Under the lifts C1 and C2 (which arrive, respectively, at the tops of Steinbergkogel/1973m and Ehrenbachhöhe/1796m), there are a lot of steep inclines with few trees (sorry, no picture). Beware when there’s not enough snow; but normally by mid-winter it’s full of POW and ready for freshies whenever there’s a 6-12” dump.

Here’s a shot near one of the many lifts to Ehrenbachhöhe near the end of the day:

Getting there:

• Google map to my favorite starting lift, Fleckalmbahn (a gondola).
• I found this incredibly geeky website which has a database of lifts. The link takes you to Steinbergkogel, complete with pictures of the slope below the lift. I love it!
• Here’s a picture of the area below Steinbergkogel, where I think the best powder runs are. On the right, and in the bottom of the picture, where you see the shadows – that’s it!

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