December 31st/07

December went by so fast. We traveled to Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, all inclusive resort) December 4th for 2 weeks. I bet I gained 10 pounds with eating all their great cakes and other food. We and the kids had a blast at the beach, excursions and the nice warm climate. This climate makes you think to get a job (paragliding guiding or instructions) down south over the winter.

Anyhow, it did not take us long to get used to the winter in Canada, The kids are already skiing, skating and all the rest of it. I flew as Santa Claus at Panorama Mountain Resort on Christmas day and we (Penny and I) managed to get a couple more flights in.
Even today, the last day of the year I got to do the last hike of the year up to Mt. Swansea with a great flight. It sure took me longer then normal, but hiking in the snow is a very good workout. During the hike I got the idea to start a annual toboggan race up Mt. Swansea in February or March. The race will be hiking up Mt.Swansea (about 2500 feet vertical) and race down the road with a toboggan.  Sounds interesting? Let me know if you like to join.
I also had a great chat with Nick Warren (x-Alps) just before Christmas as they sent us the Video and a note to see us again in 2009. We talked about the feedback I sent them and that I decided to go for the 2009 race. I really did not have enough time (2.5 month) to get ready for the 2007 race and I am sure I can do way better in 2009. The x-Alps team is not sure yet when they start taking applications. So we will have to wait and see. In the mean time I already started working on a more and better training program and studying the Alps with Google Earth to get more familiar with the Alps.

Happy New Year and all the best to all of you. 

Max
www.FanderlPowers.com
www.flyingMax.com

November 26th/07

We had a great November. Work is very crazy but a lot of fun. The kids are growing so fast and every day is just a pleasure (except the interrupted sleeps).
The weather was just perfect for training. I did not count how many days I run up Mt. Swansea (including the glider). Speaking of the glider (Nova Mentor Proto) Ron Ford bought the glider off me. I am very happy to see him fly the Mentor. It fits him way better with his weight then me. I am way to heavy to fly x-country with it.
Also very exciting this month was teaching Dawa Sherpa swimming. Dawa is a Sherpa from Nepal and lives at 13000 feet. He guided 5 times the summit of Mt. Everest and has been on many other expeditions around Mt. Everest. You should have seen his smile when the took off his swim-west and started to swim on his own. For him that is a huge accomplishment, somehow bigger then for others climbing Everest. Keep it up Dawa.

Also very exciting this month was the Super G and Slalom Worldcup of the Woman here at Panorama. The resort asked us if we would fly for the opening ceremony and keep the crowed entertained during the day with our flying. We (Penny Powers, Ron Ford, Brett Yeates and Jeff Grive) could not have had it any better. The weather was perfect and we did a total of 5 flights (each pilot), lots of free beer, food and lots of good looking woman in tight spandex. Thanks again for the resort (www.PanoramaResort.com) to have us and to make us feel so special.

October 29th/07

The last month was not as exciting as the summer and early fall. We did a lot of work within our Appointment Scheduler system (www.BookingCalendar.com) resulting to be a record month in sales. Right now it looks like we double our business every 6 month and we sure hope to keep going that way.

Besides working long hours I do enjoy my family and I really get a lot of hiking in. Thanks to the X-Alps, using now now much lighter equipment hiking with paragliding gear is much more fun. Right now I get up Mt. Swansea (2900 feet vertical) from bottom to top in 52 minutes with all my gear. Even better now, I use my bicycle, ride it from my house to the mountain, hike up, fly down and ride back home. If you would have told me a year ago to do that, I would have called you crazy. The main difference is the Harness, really the Apco AirChair or the Nervours harness is the best choice for hiking and for x-country flying. Sure there is better x-county harnesses out there, but if you like the combination, that is the way to go.

In the mean time I have decided that I will apply for the next X-Alps. I really enjoyed the whole thing (except some of the flying conditions). I do hope that we will have better weather conditions to make it more a flying event.
On a other note, I also had some time now to think about the even and it was kind of crazy to get into it as I did. If you think, I only had about 2 month time to train, prepare for equipment and get it all organized.
1 day before the pilots meet I got my wing, a proto type wing from Nova. By the way, thanks again Hannes (www.nova-wings.com), you have an amazing team, keep up the good work. 3 days before the pilots meet I received my reserve. The day I left to Germany I received my shoes and a week earlier I got the Apco AirChair (thanks a lot Vincene. www.mullerwindsports.com). This also did not give me much time to check out the best route and research other resources. As a matter of fact we found out during the Pilot meet who to contact to get weather services. Frank (supporter and instigator) had even less time to get prepared.

Anyhow, I will keep on training and working to get prepared for the 2009 X-Alps.

September 15th/07

What a great trip we had going to the Bowron Lakes. The weather was just perfect and it could not have been any better. We do have a slideshow and Video at www.FanderlPowers.com . Now I am getting back to work to catch up on all the work. Thanks Shalene and Cicely to keep everything running so well.

August 28th/07

Once I got back to Canada I was very busy helping to organize our 31st. www.LakesideEvent.com. After this successful event I got very busy to catch up with work and to plan for our 10 day Bowron Lake trip. We (Penny, Katia and Erik), my dad, Jeff, Vanya and EmiLou will be on the water September 8th..
Anyhow, you can see that we have no boring moments here at all.

I am overwhelmed with all the great support I still receive from locals and friends and I like to thank everyone again. At the same time I like to answer some questions I am getting asked all the time.

Question #1:
What happened and are you ok?
I do not have any injuries what cannot heal. My biggest mistake was that I was starting to do a lacy jog (not trained for and was not planned at all) instead of power walking. Jogging for plus 20 km the first day on pavement with the pack started to inflame my left knee.
The second day I did not get on the right trail and I made my own way straight up the mountain and I strained my knee even more in the rough terrain. The following days I was climbing all the elevations on my right foot only. This was the cause of my inflamed right Achilles Tendence. Hiking on one foot with the severe inflamed Achilles tendence was very painful or barley possible even with strong pain killers.

Question #2:
Would you do it again?
Yes and No.
I did not mind the walking and hiking at all. Actually I felt stronger as the race went on. Next time I would only do power walking. Also I would spend more time in exploring the route by plane.
The only part what I did not like was that I flew in conditions I normally never would fly in. The first day of flying I flew about 20 km in 60 km/h plus Foehn winds. I had at some places more collapses within a minute then I had over the last 5 years. I also do not like to fly at thunderstorm conditions or try to out fly cold fronts.

Question #3:
Are you still in good terms with Frank (Supporter)?
Yes I am we did not really have any issues. Frank realized that it took a bit more preparation then just reading up on some info on the flight to the race. At some situations he was quite stressed due the lack of local knowledge. He was not really happy that I was not drinking all the beer he wanted me to, other then that we had a lot of fun. Frank was a great supporter and really took good care of me and made sure that I was very well fed and rested.

I certainly enjoyed the adventure and I would like to give it a second try with the hope to have some better flying conditions. I will try to train power walking with the MBT shoes and see if that will be easier on the knees, heals and Achilles as they say. Overall I still see this race more as a big adventure and a great way to experience the Alps. The slogan would be to race hard but save and having a lot of fun with it would be key.

July 31st/07

Here is a statement of my race.
First of all I like to thank everybody sending me these great wishes and I also like to thank all the local support and the sponsors to help me with this adventure.
I really enjoyed the 8 days I was in the race and I wish I could have continued. I definitely needed a break for my inflamed left knee and the inflamed right achilles tendencies. The achilles tendencies happened because I was hiking the last 3 days on my right leg.

This was the reason why I was not hunting the last of the pack going to Cortina. Based on the weather forecast I decided to hike to Kronen Plazt and fly from there to the Marmolada. This is the best way to fly in and out. This way I could have passed several competitors. The weather forecast was a bit off and once I got to the top (11:00 am) the clouds started to form with a relative low base and started already to overdevelop. Now to catch up by foot was impossible and I needed a couple days to let the swellings go down before I start to run again.

Other then that I had an amazing time and if I would do it again, I would have to work a bit more on working on pavement then just hiking up mountains. I feel very strong and never got tired the muscles are in good shape and never hurt. The only part I did not enjoy too much is that I flew in conditions I normally never would fly in. Such as flying in very strong Foehn (Chinook) conditions or during thunderstorm developments.

Again, thanks a lot to everyone and I can's wait to get home to see Penny and the kids. Missing them was the hardest of the whole adventure and If I should go to the next X-Alps, they would have to do it with me.

July 28th/07

I am overwhelmed by all the good wishes in the guestbook. Thanks a lot. Every good wish gets me further.
As you could see I did not have the best start.
Actually I was happy with my first flight and the first day of walking. But my first mistake was to try something new. Lloyd the Australian fellow and super nice guy, told me that walking is harder then jogging and he told me about the old farmer who run a 650 km marathon in gumboots with a kind of lacy jogging style. So I tried this for about 25 km and it worked great. The only bad part was that I was not used to it and I got an inflammation in my left knee the next day. I guess I should practice this without a pack first to get used to it.

The second mistake was missing a trail up the mountain the 2nd day. I made my own way to the top (what is not an easy way) and therefore got up to the summit right when the cold front came in. This meant that I had to walk down other side. I started to walk up the opposite site to get ready for a big flight the next day.
Well, It was a great site, but the conditions where not for that site. So I glided down and hiked up another 1400m. I got up late, took off but could not make enough height to get over the ridge, so I decided to top-land and wait for the next day. I did not want to walk anymore due my knee injury and the Stubenerkogle is know as a excellent flying site. Well, the next day brought the wrong conditions for this site. Again, I ended up hiking higher, flying to Sport Gastein (instead across the main Crest) and hiking up to Hagener Huette (850m) from there the flying conditions where not good either and I decided to hike across the mountains to a chute at 2700 m. Literally I hiked everything on my right leg due my left knee problems. From there (at 7:00pm) I could either stay in the tin-shack over night or fly off a cliff. The second attempt to launch worked and I landed at a small town called Stall at 8:00 pm at 800 m ASL. Finally I made it over the crest and I started walking until 1:30 am to get close to Lience. I slept a couple hours in the van and started my day at 5:00 am with a short walk and a flight down to Lienc. From there across the town and another 1300m hike to the to of Hufstein. Once I got there the thunderstorms started to build and I managed to get a quick flight down towards Sillian before the rain and hail started. Guess what, I was walking again. In Italy I found a great mountain, hiked up at 10:00 pm to get ready to fly off early morning to fly towards Toblach. Then I got a phone call from Hugo (Columbia) Hugo told me that he had foot problems and that he is just about to quit but he would hang on until the next day and he would let me pass so that he would get eliminated instead of me. So, I decided to walk down the mountain and walked another 15 km in the rain until 2:30am to make sure I would pass Hugo. I met Hugo on Hufstein and he told me about he problems already, I did not know that he made it this far that day plus I passed Dimitris (Greek) before Sillian. Hugo is a amazing Athlete and not just that, he and his supporter are very special people. I feel very honored of his decision and it is great to have another special friend in my life. Hugo, you are the best. If you should be in Canada, please look me up.

Today I had some problems (blisters) with my feet due the long hikes and difficulties with my knee. They are very tender and I am glad to have shoes 1 seize larger then my normal seize. Otherwise I would not fit in my shoes anymore.
Overall I do have a lot of fun (even when it hurts) and feel very strong. I like to thank everyone again for the great guestbook entries. They keep me going and going.
Tomorrow I will have about 5 hours of hiking and then hopefully the right conditions to fly over the Marmolata.

Forecast is Sunny and Hot and thanks to Frank I still look big and well fed.

July 18th/07

The heat is on... It was hot in the Alps, but not very good to fly. My new Mentor M (x-Alps version) will be ready for pick up tomorrow morning. Then I will travel to Salzburg and pick up Frank (supporter) and the count down will be on. In the mean time I met Toni Bender and had a long talk with him about the route to Monaco. The next day I met Walter Holzmueller (x-Alps participant in 2003) for a meeting regarding route and we did a motor-glider flight from Dachstein to the Dolomites. The day after I did a airplane flight with Mike Samel (glider and airplane pilot) to check out the route from Meran to the Eiger. Thanks a lot guys, this was great and gave me a lot of information and confidence.
I do not think that I will be able to update this blog at www.flyhingMax.com. Best is to follow the blog at www.redbullxalps.com

July 12th/07

Wow, it is amazing how fast time can go by when you have fun and lots to do. It is hard to believe that I am sitting right now in my parents house to update this blog. Where did all this time go? Well, here is what happen within the last 3 weeks. Work, kids and training , training, kids and work. Training is coming along very good. I am very pleased with the results. I feel very strong and was working more on my upper strength (in case the flying is very good).

One Friday evening, Jeff called me and was wondering if I would join him and Deryk to Pigeon Spire (3200 peak at the Bagaboos Glacier). I got to bed past midnight and was ready to go again at 4:00 am. We left the house at 5:00 am, hiked through the snow and ice and climbed the peak. We got back at midnight after a plus 15 hour hike/climb and had a fantastic day. The next day I got up at 6:00 am to catch up on some work and played with the kids. The day went on with flying and hiking and it was great to see that I was not suffering any pain from the day before and was able to keep on working out and hiking.

The weather got better and better and we could get out for some great flights. I guess this is also a reason why I had not time to update this blog. In the mean time, Penny organized a video evening (x-alps 2005) with the CopperPoint Golf course. A lot of locals where interested to see what this race will be all about. We had a lot of local business (will be mentioned later) donating prices for a silent auction to help towards our expenses.  I was overwhelmed with the local support and want to thank everyone again here for all the help and good wishes. and thanks again to my best partner Penny and the kids who give me this much support.

In the mean time I also was getting help from Joe Hildes and John regarding energy food and drinks. These 2 fellows have a ton of experience and I like to thank them as well to share all their knowledge with me. I had not idea that there is something else then just steak and beer (just kidding).

The only problem we had during that time is to get the delivery of some equipment. The Canadian Customs where not releasing the Nervures Harness we ordered and Corinne (www.cayooshexpeditions.ca) went through hell with DHL. In the mean time I met Tihi and he told me about the Apco AirChair. Vincene (www.MullerWindSports.com) send me the harness the next day. This harness is amazing. It is light and converts into a backpack within a second. The backpack is very comfortable and the harness is perfect. Thanks again Vincene for the fast response and for sponsoring me the harness for the x-Alps.
I also want to thank Corinne again for all her efforts to help with the harness and the reserve. She arranged now that the Plumb Reserve will be shipped to Innsbruck for pick up.

Now I am the 2nd day in Germany and all is working out very well. My brother Ulli arranged a rental van for an amazing price from Hertz. If you need good service, ask for Mr. Hoelzle in Kempten.
After I got the van I met Harry Pfau for a business meeting in Memming and it turned out that he is a broker for Magnetfield Therapy Matts. He gave me a matt for the race to help with my plantar fasciitis pains i have.
This evening I had a good time with my cousin Silvia and her husband Bruno. They organized me Garmin Maps and other software to plan our race.
Things are coming together very well.

I guess this is enough for now. I promise that I will keep on updating this blog more frequently.

June 19th/07

Time is going by to fast. A lot of things where happening since the last note. Work is coming along very well thanks to the amazing staff I have. The kids are just amazing and a lot of fun. Erik (15 month) grew plus 2 inches in the last 5 weeks and Katia had her 3rd Birthday. Penny is just amazing with her support and making sure I get my training done. Right now I train about 1 to 4 hours a day based on Penny's and Loretto's program. My energy level is just great and I am very pleased how things are going.
Right now we also spend a lot of time studying maps and trying to find a ideal route (weather depending) This looks actually harder then anticipated, Specially the route from the Marmolada to the Eiger. Thanks to the help from Hannes's connections (Aaron pilot from Südtirol). We keep on working on maps and if anyone of you has any suggestions, just drop me an e-mail.
Hannes and I also decided to use a different glider the the RA. We will be using the new Mentor (DHV 1-2). Reason for that is that we feel to have an advantage for landing in higher elevations and flying in very rough conditions for a longer period of time.
Yesterday Frank organized the flight tickets and I will be flying to Munich on July 9th. This will give me some time for some preparations. Frank will be flying to Salzburg on July 19th. To bad he can not come earlier, but at least he makes it work. That is it so far. I will keep you updated.

June 3rd/07

This week went by so fast. It still feels like mid week. I had 3 days of flying in  strong spring conditions and practiced Out & Returns. I do like to train against the main wind direction, this way your skill stays tuned to approach the thermals the right way. The leg (biking hiking) training went very well, but I got kind a wake up call to train more on my upper body and get prepared for longer flights.
In the mean time I was in contact with Hannes Papesh (Nova) and Nova will be sponsoring their new RA  (lightweight) for the race. I am very excited about this as this was my chosen glider based on all the research we have done. Thanks again for all your follow up questions and suggestions you guy's certainly rock.

May 24th/07

The training is going very well. I am not sore at all and do the needed breaks. All in all is good. Not so successful is the search for some sponsors. The once getting back fast are all NO's. Except SUPERfeet, they got back right away and will supply us with all the insoles we need. I am very happy about that I use their product since I see I  Loretto (my physio therapist for the last 7 years).
Thanks to Nick Pol (www.Superfeet.com) for the fast response.

May 22nd/07

This is a rest day and I do have a meeting with Will Gadd at his house in Canmore. Will and Kim placed 7th on the 2005 x-Alps race.  Thanks Will and Kim for all the great tips and the maps and all the best wishes to you guys for your new baby (Due date is June 2nd)

May 18th/07

2 more pilots from Canada where applying for the race. On May 15th we got the green light to be the team for Canada.
Training got even more intense from that day. My programs are biking to Mt. Swansea, hiking up and down with and without gear and biking back.
Penny also put me on a exercise program for core-strength and endurance. This means lots of exercises and running up and down the Lakeview Meadows Beach stairs. I also see Loretto in Fairmont for her mean workout and stretching sessions including acupuncture. Thanks for all the great support to get me going. 

April 27th/07

Frank forwarded me an e-mail from Will Gadd stating that Josh Briggs cannot attend the X-Alps due injuries and that I should apply for it. I thought about it and called up Will to get some more info. I got back to Frank stating that I only can do it with a supporter and if he is in, I would apply for it.
Will Gadd passed us on to Nick Warren and the application process started.
The idea that I might have a chance to get in motivated me to start on my training right away.