31 März 2008

Rockstar in Munich


I went away for work to Sao Paulo, and when I came back I found out that my team mate Jamie became a film producer! She has come to Bassano to fly and after we got back to Munich, she must have been bored, so she helped to create a video to participate in a Gibson guitar contest, and I think it turned out great. If you like to see some great shots of Munich and if you appreciate a solid rock guitar, have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rzqjFj9M5I

25 März 2008

Bassano - the top pilots



The first time I ever got a trophy in pink, haha!

Primoz and Michi with their prizes look quite happy.

24 März 2008

Bassano in the snow





Yesterday it was raining along the mountains, so we had a tourist day in Venice, saw Piazza di San Marco, Rialto and the nice old channels. Lucky it wasnt raining there!
Today it looks worse, it is snowing to nearly down the landing field in Romano. The awards are at 11.30, hopefully on time, because it will be a difficult drive home across the Brenner in the snow. I dont have snowchains...
After a year with just one comp day, next year will be hopefully better again. If Easter is in April, it is better for flying. It happened just too early this year.
The first flight was great, except extremely cold, but I rarely remember a cloudbase like we had, with a great view into the Dolomites. And now I am coldproof too, I just found out that two pairs of gloves work well for me, also my warm, goretex insulated Adidas boots are great for this kind of weather and still fit into the harness. Its too late for this time, but I will remember the winter setup for next year. And for some probably cold flying days in April in the mountains. Last year April had the only useful really big cross country days in the northern alps.
I look forward to getting home and having proper internet, here it was very difficult to find a connection at all, so I will update my page with photos tomorrow.
And tonight I will cook porcini risotto at home!

22 März 2008

Bassano

Some of us optimistic minds went to Bassano despite the weather forecast. And we had a great first task on Thursday, 100 kms. What a cloudbase - and what a cold! Must have been minus 20 centigrade at 3000 m! Michi Friesenbichler won the day ahead of Primoz. I was just happy to make goal at some stage...
The wireless connection at headquarter sucks, so we had to go to Bassano to find a cafe. Took a long time, but now I can write a few lines to the rest of the world.
Yesterday was cancelled due to overcast conditions, difficult wind on take off and no thermals. Today it looked great in the morning, but then quickly overdeveloped. We waited for ages in the cloud, then eventually launched, but it got worse in the air. Cloudbase came down, lift everywhere, the wind picked up - paragliders were all going backwards! I decided to fly as far away from the black wall as possible and landed 13 km south of headquarter. Safely, happy to be on the ground. The organizers dont give us the possibility of a proper weather forecast. I heard the word "thunderstorms", but only in Italian. And yes, they arrived tonight, thunder and lightening outside now.
For tomorrow it looks like a tourist day in Venice, since predictions are worse than for today. Maybe we can fly on Monday, if we are lucky (and can get up the mountain, cause they predicted snow...)
I will try to get back online, but it is difficult in Italy! Still Jamie and I are having a good time, the pizza is fantastic, so is the cappuccino.

09 März 2008

Brigitte

"Brigitte" is a women´s magazine sold in German speaking countries, and in the current edition, sold until March 11th, they published an interview with me which is quite fun to read. Have a look at it, if you get the chance - even the pilots on my last work trip had a good laugh!

New Team Sponsor: Adidas!

This Friday we went to Herzogenaurach with the german women team and got a lot of beautiful equipment for the coming world championships at Monte Cucco. Proudly we kept the gear on when browsing through the outlet strore and we could see a lot of people checking us out.
Next weekend, we will all meet at the Free Flight, a hanggliding and paragliding exhibition in Garmisch, probably in our new team dress for the first time on a public event.
I wish I could have gone flying with the other girls today, but the long work trip to Buenos Aires and a freezing, 8 degree centigrade cold crew rest gave me a bit of a cold Im trying to get rid of. Im looking forward to Bassano in two weeks and another work trip to Sao Paulo after that.