Monday, December 24, 2007

Family Adventure Vacation - Stowe Vermont

Stowe Vermont – Family Vacation

Sunday Dec. 16

The travel to Stowe was not looking good as we boarded the plane to JFK. Two major snowstorms had been in the forecast for days – and the travel advisories were up in full force. Sure enough as we arrived at JFK around 3 PM, it was snow turning to rain. All the northbound flights from JFK were cancelled, except one – ours to Burlington Vermont. We only faced a 2 hour delay which gave us time to explore JFK’s food choices. We arrived in Burlington around 5 PM (it gets dark around 4:30 PM) and picked up our rented Mitsubishi Galant to head to Stowe at the tail end of the snowstorm and 2 full feet of Snow. The drive up to the Trapp Family Lodge (a family business of the Trapp family from the “The Sound of Music”) was a nailbiter. As I kept the gas on the floor with the wheels spinning and the motor revved at 100% - the car was slowing to crawl. It must have been pure luck – the little car made it up the mountain. After a nice dinner at the Trapp Lodge – we headed to our cabin, turned on the TV and wound down – tired from the excitement of the day long travel.

Monday Dec. 17

This was the least eventful of the days. The snow was still not cleared from the roads – but we did venture to the grocery store where we stocked up on food for the week and also bought some snow disks for sledding. That afternoon we tromped through snow, sledded down hills and explored the area around the lodge which was still pretty much snowed in.

Tuesday Dec. 18

It was time to learn how to do cross country skiing. The Trapp Family Lodge is known for some of the best XC skiing trails in the country and also expert instruction. The entire family got to learn all about XC or Nordic skiing – our instructor (Larry) was great and we made it through our lessons. After some skiing and lunch (we could ski right to our cabin)– Catherine and Linda decided to do the snow shoe adventure while Anna and Ron tried their hand at the ski trails. XC skis are “squirrely” to say the least. We moved well – but Anna spent the better part of 3 miles on her butt, and I was having trouble with controlling the skis on the downhill. Still we had fun and were quite tired by the time it got dark. Time for some relaxation as Tuesday would be the start of downhill days.






Wednesday – Friday

Mt. Mansfield had 3 feet of natural snow and also plenty more man-made. Linda started with lessons getting good instructors on both Wednesday and Friday. We put the kids in mountain adventure school, and they learned both skiing (Anna’s strength) and snowbarding (Catherine’s strength). Linda improved so much from lessons – that I decided to take a morning lesson on dynamic skiing (thanks to Jonathan, my instructor – he was awesome). After the lessons even the hardest slopes that I had found challenging earlier – were now easily handled. All the nuances that I had been missing were now solid. I spent the afternoon trying all the slopes that looked too steep or slick – and never felt uncomfortable or out of control. I did fall once – it is still tough to hit a mogul on a steep incline. Linda had improved greatly also – she still does not like steep – but she controls the ski’s on the green slopes. Catherine had mastered the basics of the snowboard. All three days had good weather with temps ranging from about 5 F – 15 F, good ski weather.




Saturday Dec. 22

This was our last skiing day and I wanted to give XC one more shot. The weather was also a lot warmer – about 20 F. Anna and I headed out on some more strenuous slopes, while Linda and Catherine went off in snowshoes again. After 3 days on alpine skis I found the XC skis difficult to handle, they love to slide all over the place, I even feel 3 times though not from going fast – simply slick ice and snow and unstable legs in the skis. Anna fared much better, mastering all the down-hills and up-hills we faced in the XC skis. We then picked up some snowshoes and went back and did a family snowshoe hike. Just for reference – you still sink in the snow and even a short distance in snowshoes is quite a workout. Another good night of sleep.





Sunday Dec. 23

Traveling in the north in the winter is always a challenge. We stopped by the Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream factory for a fun tour on the way to Burlington. At lunch I got a phone message from delta that our flight from Burlington to JFK was cancelled due to bad weather in the area. A heroic effort from a Delta gate agent diverted us to Cleveland and then to Atlanta where we missed our connecting flight to Orlando. Luckily we were able to book a later flight (lots of flights between Atlanta and Orlando on Delta) and finally make it home.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Kelly Park Orienteering - December 2007


The routes are exact based on a GPS I carried in my pack. Total time 79 minutes 25 seconds, total distance 5.6 miles, equivalent road distance 8.9 miles.

S to 1 – Trail run to attack point. I originally was going to attack from south of the green area. The white open looked good and it was not hard crossing the splotchy green. Came out just west of the flag, though the control description “terrace” was not too useful.
1 -2 – My mistake of the day. My bearing was slightly off and the lack of features was apparent. I saw the trail, ran too it and used the hilltop to attack. I misread the contours thinking the dashed contour was the bottom of the low area, instead it was a sub-contour and the flag was on a tree on the hillside. I corrected as soon as I saw my mistake (which you can see from my route.
2-3 – My plan was to beeline the control, but the terrain was really bad so I used the east trail as a backstop and attack and relief from the uneven ground. As I got into the low area I did not see the control which was on the northern edge of the low area and well hidden.
3-4 – This was pretty easy and the spur top and trail was apparent, though I did have to do some weaving through the thicket areas.
4-5 – I was proud of myself – finding the little gap in the dark green to the control east, cutting through and quickly finding the control.
5-6 – Plan was to hit the trail T-intersection and attack from there, bulls-eyed it.
6-7 – Never saw the vegetation boundaries (2 dashed circles), but the flag was obvious from 100 meters.
7-8 – Headed North until I got tired of the terrain – headed to the trail and put on the burners. Location was pretty obvious in the white finger protruding into the thicket. Attack point (depression) was also easy.
8-9 – Just run hard, looking for the easiest route and terrain, easy find on an obvious thicket.
9 – F Sprint to trail, and in.
Results (how are these for close results ! - 50 seconds separate the top 3):
Bob Putnam 78:35
Rob Kohnen 79:10
Ron Eaglin 79:25
Tim Buchholz 80:00
Jeremy Hauff 81:40
Wecefar (Kip and Jessica) 82:15

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Kelly Park Orienteering


I figured I'd at least post my GPS track from the Floida Orienteering Championship. The event was an awesome race, with at least 5 competitors within 2 minutes of each other. Each of us made at least one mistake (mine was on #2 - which was in retrospect a pretty easy control compared to some of the more challenging controls that I did get. On Monday I'll scan and post the actual map with my route on it. I ran the entire even with a GPS on tracking mode in my backpack.


I am able to transfer the route to my Nationa Geographic TOPO software, which in turn I am able to print at 1:15K scale and trace (using a light table) onto my orienteering map. Unfortuantely my home scanner is not working (damn HP printers/scanners), but my scanner at work does work OK. Anyway - Here is the USGS version of the map, I'll also give my thoughts on various controls and where I made my mistake on #2 (which won't make much sense looking at the USGS map). Total off-road distance 5.7 miles (a tough 5.7 miles) and a travel time of 79 minutes 25 seconds. I did run too conservative as I had too much energy at the end, which at least made controls 8, 9, and F pretty fast.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Primal Quest Bound

I figured this is as good as a place as any to announce something this big. I am joining Team Blue on their epic adventure that is Primal Quest ( http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/wp-primal/ ) . Of course this is more than just entering a race. On any given day I can simply show up and complete an iron distance triathlon event (they actually seem kind of short - like a long training day) - though I am still amazed at how much they cost ($400-$500). This is different, this requires starting in ironman shape and honing to a level well beyond this. It also requires certified skills in ropes, climbing, first aid, navigation, swimming, whitewater, and paddling. Of course to that end you have to do the certifications (I will be going with my team to Camp XStream http://www.gravityplay.com/campxstream/index.html for the certs).

The commitments are more than just physical, the cost ($12,500 per team) is also pretty intense. To that end I will probably be hosting seminars on everything from navigation to paddling - all for the SDR2PQ - "Send Dr. Ron to Primal Quest" fund. Watch this space - I will be testing myself to some higher limits to ensure I am ready for this goal. I've already started upping distances, laying out a more severe training schedule - doing what needs to be done.

I join 2 other Floridians (Blaine Reeves and Don Nettlow) who will be racing for my normal team (Team Travelcountry.com) in this PQ preparation effort. I have 200 days, I will be ready...