Bad Blogger

Ales doing what Ales does best....smoking and chatting.
We lived with Ales and his family for a month in Slovenia.
Nicest people ever.

Well, after Annecy we had to drop Pete at the airport.....in Ljublijana, Slovenia. That is a 9 hr drive. We stayed at our friends place in Zelesniki and flew a couple times in Kravevecs. Then we had to leave for Croatia to get Greg.

On launch.

View from the air.

Ales in the air, main launch in background.

Site-seeing on the way to Croatia.

The flying in Buzet was tough. Low and slow. It made me very happy that I wasn't selected for the World Cup there. It would have made for a long, frustrating week for me. Oh, and it is very, very, very hot in Croatia. We decided to head to the Adriatic Sea to get a really good sunburn. I am still pealing from the 3rd degree burns I received on my white body.

World Cup race coming past launch......low.

OUCH!

The Week in Review

Our Gaggle in Annecy!
Antonie in orange, Doc in red, Jonty lower white, Me upper white, and Len taking the pictures.

Pete on glide lookin' fast!


After sitting in Slovenia in the rain for too many days to count, we left for better skies. The Slovenian Open was a bust with only two tasks. The first one, most people weren't even at the start when the racing began. I know I was a least 4 k from the start cylinder at race time due to 20 people in front of me not wanting to launch. Lesson learned....don't set-up behind anybody if they only give you 20 mins. to launch and fly 6 k to start the race. Later, the task was stopped due to rain. The second task I actually finished 6th earning a whopping 100 and something points since we didn't even make it to the second turnpoint.
So, when the rain continued for the Nordic Open Len said he and Doc were leaving and we decided that was the best idea we had ever heard! Off to Annecy, France. It turned out to be the best decision we could have made. The weather and flying were incredible. Annecy's scenery is unmatched. Len gave us quite the tour of the area. Saturday we were even able to get into a competition in La Clusaz. The task was a 60k triangle that sent us fromLa Clusaz back to lake Annecy and Roc de Boeufs over the Aravis mountains with a view of Mt. Blanc and goal in town.
Len, Pete and I made goal in the top 15 and Doc had one of his best flights flying almost 4 hrs and landing in the town of Thones just shy of goal.
We really hit the window for flying in Annecy. One day was flyable until the sun went down. I was climbing in front of Les Dents de Lanfon in 1600 fpm lift at 7:30 in the evening! Viva la France!

Now Jens and I are back in Zelesniki, Slovenia and flew in Kravavec yesterday. The weather isn't great, a little too windy. We are off in the morning to Buzet, Croatia to pick-up Greg. Next stop is Serbia...maybe.

Lots more photos of Annecy (courtesy of Len Szafaryn) at my picasa page. The link is on the right sidebar.

Bohinj Bistrica.......Today: Cancelled due to rain.

Yesterday was an official practice day that turned out to be a rain day. Around 3 o'clock, we headed to the Bohinj Bistrica which is a major mountaineering jump-off to the Triglov National Park. Triglov Peak is the largest peak in Slovenia. Bohinj is also the site of Lake Bohinj and an amazing waterfall Slap Slovica.



510 steps to the waterfall






Coffee at the lake.

Making the Most of Rainy Days

Pete telling a cow what's what after it got a little too feisty.
Pete and I at the war memorial commermorating a battle during WW2 where 200 Slovenians defeated 2000 Germans.


View from our Cappuccino stop in the town of Dragonise.
Summit of our hike on the Alpina Via trail. It started raining as soon as we made it back to the car. Imagine that....rain.

RAIN!

Not much to report from Slovenia except that it is raining. Slovenia is such a beautiful country. It is almost too perfect. I keep wondering what crazy secret all this perfection is hiding....Yesterday we hiked to the Alpina Via trail and toward Crna Prst, a peak we flew over during the first competition. We were in the clouds for most of the hike and experienced A LOT of rain. I also broke my camera. So, no new pictures for a while.
Greg has some new posts on his blog...with picturess. So, be sure to check there.

Korea Photos...Finally

Here are some photos of the Korean World Cup. You will notice that there are none from the air as I was too scared by the conditions to let go and snap pics. Thanks to Jeff for being a great travel partner! More photos can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/melanieepfister

Greg's Blog and Ratitovec Open Link

We are Slovenia now trying to figure out where to go to sit-out the next storm.
For now, you can get caught up on the past few days at http://blog.gregbabush.com
I am traveling with Greg and Jens for the next couple months. Greg is much better at blogging and is quite a photographer as well. So, check to see funny pictures of us.

We were in a competition this week near the town of Zelesniki. To see results and some pictures go to: http://www.klub-krokar.si/open2009/index.php?subpage=rezultati&lng=en