Hugo Schotman

Mammut video edited with iMovie '09

Here is a video I shot and edited for the Mammut testevent 2009:

In iMovie '09 you can sync edit points with beats of the music. You have to add the beats yourself. I did this by 'tapping' (the 'm' key) along with the beat while playing back the music. Unfortunately, if you don't 'tap' slightly before a beat, it actually gets placed slightly after the beat. There is a bit of a delay. In this video it is not too noticeable. (Of course now you've read this you do notice it ;-)

Videos on Flickr: good for short clips

Trying out the Flickr Video capabilities.
The 90 second limit allows for nice little snapshots like these:




These videos were shot near St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria.

Advanced ski instructor training experience

Simon writes an (to me very recognizable) account of his first advanced ski instructor training.

The next one will be even more challenging with a giant slalom, skiing moguls on one ski and skiing with your eyes closed ;-)

Congratulations Simon!

PS: What happened in the Baum-bar after the exam?

Weisse Rausch (White Rush) ski race video

Great video of this year's White Rush (Weisse Rausch) race in St. Anton am Arlberg (Austria). I just watched this time.

(Also see my experience of last year's race here.)

Skiing on 2 continents: pretty crappy winter!

Not that it's crappy that I get to ski on 2 continents... (Due to a big, secret web project in Boston I get to stay over there a lot.)...
But the conditions are pretty crappy this winter both in Europe and on the east coast of the US.
St. Anton looks like early December in a bad year. And it is.. Eh.. February?
Vermont, New Hampshire... Not much better.

So maybe it's just a very late start?
The past days saw a big dump on the east coast.
I'm hoping for some nice powder days in St. Anton in April.

Lesson for snow instructors

An Austrian news site has an article about the aftermath of a severe Avalanche accident that took place January 2005  in St. Anton.
The article (in German) reports that the ski-instructor who led a group of skiers off-piste has now been sentenced in court, 1.5 years after the incident.
Although he was not officially working but just touring with friends he was considered responsible. (He pleaded guilty to misjudging the situation and the avalanche risk.)

At the time of this particular incident I was on the same mountain but on the other side (around the corner as it were).
The last remaining victim was found after several months when the snow receded.

New snowsports site

ultimate-ski.com is a website launched in January with a wealth of snowsports information.
Judging by the section about off-piste skiing in the Arlberg region (which I happen to know very well) it looks like their coverage is excellent.
The site also features some comprehensive information about avalanche safety in English.

White crash!

A false start, some frantic skiing and then a big crash!
I finished somewhere in the last 3rd, with a time of 16:58.83.

Here's what happened:
The tactic I had come up with for the race went horribly wrong. I am a good skier, better than many of the participants because I am a ski instructor with some experience but not as good a race skier as some of the people with real race/ competition experience. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to start far away from where the professionals were standing so I'd have some space to ski and not get run over by the profis. To get an idea what I'm talking about, check out this picture of the 2005 start:

From: http://stantonamarlberg.com/arlbergadler/bilder/Der_weisse_Rausch_2005/slides/22.html

This year, some people started skiing several seconds before the starting shot was supposed to be fired. It started all the way on the right, furthest away from where I was standing. Before I had realized what happened and started skiing myself, several hundred people were already in front of me. That is including people who were much less well prepared than I was. My ski's were waxed to go very fast, I was using proper racing ski's and I was wearing a racing suit. That was making it really difficult because I was going faster than the people in front of me but there was no space to overtake them! Add to that the fact that a lot of participants who are not used to high speed skiing like the professional racers got nervous and started to swerve and tried to brake. That is not very pleasant for people behind them going at 80 - 100 km/hour (50 - 60 mph)!
Okay, I thought, let's wait until after the big climb up and then start making up time and position on the long straight stretches. So happened: I overtook many and it looked positive for a while. That was up to a steeper part of the course with a big turn to the right. There, right when I was almost at top-speed, someone made a sharp turn right in front of me. I simply could not break out of my track gracefully. I went right off the course pulling a rope and a signpost with me for about 10 meters. After determining that I wasn't too badly hurt (only a bloody nose and lips that were hurting), picking up my poles and climbing back up I continued the race.
The part where I fell was right before a long, flat road where you really needed some speed so as not to lose too much time. Bummer!
However, the fall had shaken me a bit more than I realized and I really couldn't go full power anymore anyway. The new goal was just to keep going and finish, preferably without crashing into anyone.

Here are some pictures of the first skiers finishing and a short report on the St. Anton weblog (in German).

Several minutes after finishing and catching breath I started to notice pain in my ribs and left leg that was obviously suppressed by adrenaline or something. Turns out: nothing broken but a bruised rib and a pulled muscle. A few nights of bad sleep and it will be fine again.

I am glad I participated and learned some lessons for next year: I'll use ski's with a big shovel (fat tip) that are easy to turn in deep, slushy snow and I will start all the way on the right side, right next to the professional racers.

It is definitely a big rush!

The Weisse Rausch (White rush)

This year I will finally participate in the "Weisse Rausch" ski-race. I'll take it a bit more seriously than the people who will stop at each mountain hut on the way down for a shot ("Schnapps") but less seriously than the people for who the race is just one discipline of the "Arlberg Adler" triathlon.
The race starts with a mass-start (see picture) and it has a nasty climb in the middle. Walking up 40 meters through slushy snow with several hundred others at an altitude of almost 3000 meters will cost the most time during the race. After that climb it's another 9 kilometers continuous downhill through slush. Fun!

Snowfix video podcast

Negative Gravity from the UK have started a video podcast about snowsports: Snowfix.
The makers are based in Val d'Isere, France but they bring up-to-date information from resorts around the world including weather reports and cool action videos.

More background in an Article from Snowboardclub UK.

Reconnected

In St. Anton now. The snow is all-right. Working and training for an entry exam for the highest level ski-instructor academy in Austria ('Staatliche skilehrer').
And... I now have internet access in the room that I have rented for the winter season.
This means I can post to this weblog again :)

Blink; you're in an avalanche!

Malcolm Gladwell was in Zürich last week, talking about his book Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking at a Swiss independent research institute (GDI).

With my mind wandering al over the place as usual, I drew a comparison between his examples of (often critical) decision making and the methods being used to asses the risk of avalanches. The goal there is to decide: do I go on this tour or not? If yes, which route should I ski/ Board to keep the residual risk to an acceptable level?

Very important is the balance between the scientific theory of determining the risk and the human factors influencing both the risk itself and the decision making process! This is where Malcolm's theory becomes relevant: to what extent does our subconscious interfere with the outcome of our theoretical analysis? Or, can it be the other way around? (You 'feel' it's not safe but the reduction method says the risk is acceptable.)

It seems that this is actually taken into account in the standard risk reduction method developed by Werner Munter in Europe. His work is the standard for determining avalanche risk and he has developed the '3x3 risk reduction method' that is being used all over the world.

Notes from a Backcountry Avalanche Workshop on clubthread.com:
"Munter's Reduction method is based on the idea that there are two modes of thinking: Scientific or "left" brained; rational, conscious thought, slow, differentiating, based on scientific details and Operational or "right brained"; Quick, responsive, intuitive, gut-feeling, based on past experiences and able to recognise patterns; and the acceptance that we will need to use both modalities in our decision making processes in order to make better decisions.

Studies have shown; in order to make better decisions, the maximum of variables we can deal with is only 3-5, these variables should have no more than 3-5 different values. More information than this quickly leads to overload and does not increase the quality of the decision. It is better to have one basic approach, less details are better."

Malcolm gave an example of situations where decisions based on a limited set of variables significantly increased the success rate: Doctors distinguishing patients who were having heart attacks from patients who weren't using only 4 indicators.

The standard reference book for Avalanche theory by Werner Munter (in German) is: Drei mal drei (3x3) Lawinen. Entscheiden in kritischen Situationen.
A partial English translation can be found in Powderguide by Tobias Kurzeder and others.
The research data that the book is based on is kept at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research Davos (SLF).

Some quick reference sheets from the SLF:
- Caution - Avalanches!
- Avalanches. Danger!

Another post about the Valfagehrbahn

On the St. Anton weblog... (German)

New and improved Valfagehrbahn

15.10.2005 14:20:03
Originally uploaded by Hugo_s.

Some pics of the new Valfagehrbahn... Looking forward to some long and warm rides! (It has heated seats!)

How to get a winter- / ski- / snowboard job in St. Anton

(I answered a question about a previous post. The answer may be useful as a post of it's own.)

To find a job for a winter season in St. Anton you can go directly to the skischool and apply for a job.
You can get a beginner level ski- or snowboard instructor license in about 2 weeks provided that you're a comfortable skier/ boarder. (Not super, just decent. You will be drilled during the course.) The ski school can help you with this or you can go directly to an academy like: http://www.snowsports-academy.at/

For other kinds of jobs, a local link that might work is: http://www.arlberg.info/?mID=36
You could also try something like: http://www.natives.co.uk/ Also, just contact the tourist office and ask them for a list: http://www.stantonamarlberg.com/

See also: the St. Anton weblog (German)
Bobo's
Krazy Kanguruh

Finally, if you are going, let me know ;-)

St. Anton has a blog

My favorite ski town has a weblog and a Wikipedia entry (in German).

I work in the Skischool in St. Anton sometimes, usually over Christmas and New-years and spend a lot of weekends and vacation time there.

Avalanche beacon recall

Just by accident I discovered that the avalanche beacon I use - the Mammut Barryvox - has to be replaced:
http://www.barryvox.com/


In other avalanche news:
Man rides avalanche feet-first
Man peed way out of avalanche

To dos

It's nice to have many different kinds of things to do...
but too many can be too much! A lot gets half done but nothing gets finished.

This past weekend I started to re-focus and tie up some loose ends so that I can dedicate my time to a couple of key activities. One of these key activities - as you might have guessed - : ( RSS + enclosures + OPML ) = podcasting.

Luckily I also got some R&R: a day of skiing in Hoch-Ybrig, a small resort very close to Zürich but surprisingly nice for such a small resort.

Switch from snowboard to ski: leg trouble

A snowboard trainer warned me that switching from board back to ski sometimes causes trouble. On a board you're constantly shifting your weight from the front to the middle of the board. This means that on a board both legs are used differently: leaning more on the front leg than on the hind leg. On ski's this should not happen: both legs should be used the same!

After 3 weeks of intensive snowboard training I switched back to skiing. The result seemed to be that I was leaning too much on my left ski. It figures, My board stance is 'regular', meaning left foot in front.

The fix: a day of skiing without poles and some short-turn technical exercises.

On vacation

I have been on vacation for almost two weeks now and have had no opportunity to post. On the to-do list: more Podcasting related posts and some snowsports posts. Maybe next year...