Sailing day at work

At a firm I work for we had a Sports day the other day. Above all it's a team-building thing and we do it two or three times a year.

In Winter we usually go skiing and in the Summer there are many options. This time we went sailing for a day.

Our day together started in Izola, Slovenia, where for starters we listened to some sailing theory. Soon after that we went on board.


After some more briefing (this was a first time sailing for some of my coworkers) we set sail. The weather and also the winds were ideal.

We even tried a short regatta. Our boat finished last, but we had a great time in the process.


In the evening we gathered for a delicious dinner. Afterwards it was time for some nightclubbing. I went to bed at half past five in the morning in a surprisingly good state.

And another day at work was over. It was a good day. I hope we do something like that again.

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Beech mast in winter

This is how a beech mast looks on an idyllic winter day.



Photo was taken during a short break by a cross-country skiing track (Vojsko, Slovenia). In spite of the intentional macro blur, a skier can be seen in the background.

Buy a DVD video titled: Slovenia and Croatia

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Skiing in the Dolomites, Italy (Part 2)

Considering the topic of the previous post I also have to post a few photos of snow cowered slopes. If I don't do that you might think that all we were doing last week was emptying bottles.

In the Part 1 of “Skiing in the Dolomites” I have posted a summary of my ski report. I tried to do a comparison with previous years, but I can't find any old ski passes (data since the 2004-05 winter can be accessible on the Dolomiti Superski web site). I was almost sure I didn't throw them away. If I have any luck finding them sometime later I'll do the comparison then. You know how it is - you always seem to find things you don't need at the moment.

I hope you are able to get a taste of the Dolomites winter atmosphere from a photo selection bellow.
Some of the mountains in the backgrounds of my photos are repeating over and over again. I just couldn’t help myself - they are simply magnificent. On the first two photos Monte Pelmo (3168 m) is visible in all its beauty. First one is Col dei Baldi and the second is Col Fioret.
The next one is a demonstration of what not to do anywhere near the yellow sign.
On the last photo there is an apartment house in which we have stayed for a third time in a row. Considering the price, location and furnishing, the apartment is a real bargain.

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Skiing in the Dolomites, Italy (Part 1)

And I am back - finally!

I have spent a week on white slopes of the Italian Dolomites. It was a great week full of skiing, eating, drinking and of course enjoying quality time with my skiing companions.

Almost the first thing I did when I got home was to check one of the cool features of the official Dolomiti Superski web site. It is called "Check your own ski-performance". In the provided report one can check altitudes reached, kilometers of slopes covered as well as the map with the routes covered.
Besides the skiing activity all of the inactivity can also be seen on a graphical timeline.
Quite interesting indeed.

There are many cute little wooden "rifugi" (refuges/bars/restaurants) on the slopes. Most of them were just calling for a short stop. We named them "traps". They are mainly using various home distilled fruit products for bait. With much success if I may add.

Here is a summary of my 6-day report.



All this is a side product of monitoring the skiers movement within the Dolomites ski area. If you buy a multi-day ski pass, you get one with a chip and your name on it. Every time you use a ski lift, the chip sends a message to the system. I guess they designed the system primarily with the skiers’ safety in mind. In spite of that I just can't get rid of the "big brother is always watching you" feeling.
I have also noticed that my last few rides went by unnoted. Obviously even the Big brother doesn't see it all. I wish!

Once again I have managed to take some gorgeous photos of the scenery. As soon as I download them from my camera, I'll post some of them. Until then - "All you need is just a little patience..."

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Sledding

It has been one of my favorite winter activities during childhood. Every winter I couldn't wait for local road conditions to get just right for sledding. I have to admit I still have some of that enthusiasm hidden somewhere deep inside of me.

As I was growing up, I could see on-going progress all around me. From my point of view it was mostly a good thing (telephone and eventually even internet).
But it wasn't all like that. For instance when they upgraded a local tarmac road to asphalt, it also meant the end of sledding. I may be forgetting some locals, for which this change was of course for the better - they could get to civilization with fewer problems. But who cares about that - the topic is sledding and not some irrelevant issue of being cut of from the rest of the world for half of winter!

The other day a friend of mine invited me to try a toboggan run. It is called Vogar and is supposed to be the longest run in Slovenia (5 km or 3,1 mi). It has been a couple of years since my last sledding experience and I really wanted to do it again.

It was a beautiful Saturday winter morning and considering great company it could get only better. At least I had thought so.
Before we could reach a mountain cottage at the top, we had to take an hour long walk up a steep path.
When we had finally (all sweaty of course) reached the top, the cottage caretaker has informed us that the road downhill, in other words our toboggan run, has not been plowed yet. There were some fallen trees blocking the road. This meant the way down was also going to be on foot. We were not very happy with that fact, especially after a friend admitted that the day before she saw a report on the internet stating the same thing.

Well, if nothing else we got to enjoy idyllic Alpine scenery (we're admiring Lake Bohinj on the second photo), some fresh air and a tasty dinner on the way home. Better luck with sledding next time I guess.

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