Well, in a weak moment during the midwinter I decided to run a hike and fly comp in Åre. I also got a dog… Who is trying to tell me he wants to fly with me… Fred! it’s time…

Together with Lasse Nilsson we took it to the Workshop of Åre Paragliding club and the wheels started rolling. After a few short sessions we had things sorted, we thought… 

The closer we got to the dates we realized that there was more to running a contest than meets the eye. Anyway, we were to deep into to it to abort mission and soo many pilots wanted to do the race. Around 30 pilots. Changing abit from day to day. It was already a succes numberwise.

Staff. We got some good help from Micke, John, Fredrik, Lina, Jonna, Brett, Kristoffer and it felt welcome in the community. We had flow.

I managed to get some realy nice prices for the contest. From CROSSCOUNTRY MAGAZINE, MALOJA, ACLIMA, SKYSPORT/OZONE, OUTDOOR RESEARCH, LIFESYSTEM, ÅRE ÄVENTYRSBUTIK. Thank U very much.

Our briefings were held at STF HOTEL ÅRE TORG. Thanks for having us… . Good place to stay when in Åre.

Thanks to the staff at DESTINATION ÅRE for the space on Åre Torg.  Also thanks to JÄMTKRAFT for the startingarc.

Ronny at KOMPISREKLAM helped printing the posters…

And all of a sudden the compday was getting close. We had an early briefing on saturday but decided that sunday looked abit more for every pilot. Saturday looked good but with extreme unstability it could mean alot of CB’s and snow… We were right. It rained/snowed in the afternoon and even though many flew nice flights we sure made the right decision.

Sunday morning and i could scream of happiness, wind was dropping, it was cold, and forecast looked rather fine. I was wrong. It got perfect!!! Hikingconditions were as good as gets this time a year:-) Some hiked to Hummeln and some to Thousendmeter takeoff, and one went to the top… Lasse Nilsson.

 Some of the girls in the contest.

During the next 10 hours we has some nice hiking up Åreskutan followed by epic flying conditions. Highpressurethermals up to 1900 and no OD’s. Just plain good xc flying. In every direction. Motha’ nature put up so we played hard.   At cloudbase it was cold… Åreskutan from 20k away…

 Martin Annsberg at goal.

The top three pilots at the end of the day. Martin Annsberg won, I got second and Lars Gjelten from Norway got third. 

Personally i want to say thanks to Tom at Little Cloud for letting me fly the Mario23, Heikki and Juhani at Aclima for the best merinowoolclothing there is, Uhrweder for very comfy merinowool hikingsocks from Point6 and for the Power Monkey explorer, Lars at Skysport for the Supair Delight harness and backpack, Johan at Outdoor research for Transcendent sweater and Altimitts, Micke at Åre Äventyrsbutik for Patagonia kit…

BIG UPS FOR ALL OF U!

Now we have to sit down and look at what we can do better next year…

 Thims playground, not Åreskutan yet, but the area where i took this photo from.

  This was a test in the slope at home, to see if Thim would follow me snowboarding in powpow, He did…

Soo we went splitboarding and he ran some and rode some with me! Happy Fred and super happy Thim!    Happy boys…

One sunny sunday me and Jonna took Thim to Edsåsdalen for some skitouring. With some help from the skilifts we got up on the fjell easy and from there we had a lovely time over to Vita Renen where we met up with Armgard for coffe and a rest. Thim enjoyed it alot. All of it…  

But, I have been strong. I have suffered . From no flying. Now I’m good again. Felt nice to get in the air and feel some bumps. Thermals, havent seen them since India in october, november. To boost it even more i have a new glider to try, the Little Cloud Mario23. High aspect ratio big minigllider  :-)                            The Mario23 weighs in at 4,2 kilos. Sweet

 So far it feels great. Super easy to launch, very pitch stable and good handling. Thermals have been too weak so not much to say about thermaling with it. But it turns very nicely, flat or sharp. I like it very much and hope to fly it in real conditions soon.

I got a pair of seriously warm gloves. No batteries needed. Outdoor research Alti mitts are the warmest i have tried yet! I dont need warmer mitts. I took the innerglove out cause it was to warm. Good to know when it gets realy cold…  Good quality and finish. Materials are topnotch and it has goretex to keep the elements out. 

.  The Supair Delight harness has made me sell all my other harnesses…

 My snowmobile, 160hp. Polaris. Sweet machine but i never have time for it…

But hey, lots have happened since last blogg. I have started training hard, during february i have spent 3 times a week in the gym, running 5k’s and excercising my crappy shoulder. Starting to feel stronger and flexier.

Now it’s march and the goal is to run 7,5 k’s 3 times a week… Already messed it up abit by walking from home to Åre, 13,4k’s with my paraglidingkit on my back. 2 hours 24 minutes. Tired legs now the last 2 days. Calfs are sore. But tonight i hope to go back indoors and run my 7,5k’s…

  The Supair Delight backpack is fantastic!!!

 Hike and fly. The best way. Seriously. I realy like it!

 Got back home at sunset, by bus though…

Getting ready for Åre Out and Return. The first hike and fly contest in Sweden! 

What about Thim U might ask! Well Thim rocks and we are having good and bad days… He’s growing! That is good so that his paraglidingharness will fit him soon

Mainly good though, so far we have done splitboarding and snowboarding powder, crosscountryskiing, touring and some paragliding at our little slope behind the house. Thim runs along nicely. He likes to play in the snow! Me too

 Thim took this photo of me flying my Little Cloud Kagoo…

Northernlights, yes they have been around here alot lately. Lovely rich colourfull lights in the sky. I cant have enough of them. I stay out and watch them and take photos of them. It’s solving for the soul.

Little Cloud has released there Spiruline3 in three sizes. and now they let it out of it’s box. The pink spiruline!!!

To be delivered in april…

I on the other hand are selling my acroglider that I’ve never flown acro with… My bad shoulder has put an end to my acroflying and I see no reason to keep this lovely wing. U-turn Thriller24 2k11. Only about 20 flights. No real acro. Price: 15.000 swedish kronor. 

The Tandemflying has kicked off to, Emil Selin the Swedish acrocrack flies my Little Cloud Bidule as much as he can! It’s good to see the Aclima glider in the air. It’s realy good looking from the side…

 Time to land.

Some of my friends have been complaining that i start to look skinny. Well I eat good food, dont worry. Just look at this lovely burger hidden under a fat layer of chunky guacomole deluxe and fried swedish turnips along with some sallad and tomatos. A typical LCHF dinner… Yeah I had a beer to drink

Today the sun sprayed it’s rays on Jämtland. The snowcristals sparked in the sunshine and me and Thim was out in the surroundings of Trostebacken.

I could not resist a photosession in such scenery…

Just pure magic. Soo beautiful. And fuckin’ cold.

Åre OutandReturn, the first hike and fly contest in Sweden, now has 29 listed racers. It’s starting to look like a succes on that part at least. Now all we need is a day of good weather…

Racers so far:

• 1. Gustav Råberg 
• 2. Kristoffer Stenbeck
• 3. Mats Andersson
• 4. Magnus Eriksson
• 5. Lars Gjelten
• 6. Stefan Rolen
• 7. Fredrik Lindholm
• 8. John Lindström
• 9. Rolf Arne Borgen
• 10. Johanna Hamne
• 11. Torbjörn Hed
• 12. Kristoffer Toivanen
• 13. Fredrik Gustafsson
• 14. Lasse Nilsson
• 15. Lars Hedström
• 16. Andreas Spak
• 17. Lisa Jönsson
• 18. Martin Annsberg
• 19. Einar Hestmann
• 20. Brett Simpson
• 21. Cecilia Granrot
• 22. Henning Westgård
• 23. Ronny Selin
• 24. Pernilla Cederlund
• 25. Tor Jansson
• 26. Andreas Floren
• 27. Fredrik Ahl
• 28. Ulrik Rydstedt
• 29. Magnus Stenberg

Åre OAR.

In the footsteps of contests such as the the Bordairline hike and fly contest in the alps, now this season in Åre, Sweden the local club runs the Åre Out and Return.

The first run is during the last days of the skiseason in the local skiarea. 28 of april until the first of maj, and the race will be during the day with best meteo. The other days will be easy to fill with whatever U like to do in a skiarea…

During a 9 hour race the contestants must walk up fly away as far as possible and get back to start.

The second comp will take place during 17th of may until the 20th of may. Best day will be used… The site might be Snasahögarna, a wild and beautiful range 60 k away from Åre.

Organizers:

Main race jeffe: Fredrik Gustafsson and assisting race Jeffe: Lasse Nilsson. Responsible Jeffe: Åre Skärm o drakflyg klubb.

Yeah abit… Thim is a full on machine

 Me and Thim chillin in the kitchen…

But life is good. I have started training on the Golds gym in Åre. Odd for me as I never realy liked indoor excercise. But here I am. Doing my best to get my crappy shoulder back in business. I wanne be skateboarding pools in summer 2012.

Also stamina will be on top by end of april. The Åre Out and Return is about to surface as the skiseason hits it’s final days in Åre. Lots of people in the village and of we go on the first ever hike and fly contest in Sweden. After 10 days on the web we have 27 participants! Happy Fred

Wanne join?

Åre OAR.

In the footsteps of contests such as the the Bordairline hike and fly contest in the alps, now this season in Åre, Sweden the local club runs the Åre Out and Return. The first run is during the last days of the skiseason in the local skiarea. 28 of april until the first of maj, and the race will be during the day with best meteo. The other days will be easy to fill with whatever U like to do in a skiarea… During a 9 hour race the contestants must walk up fly away as far as possible and get back to start.

The second comp will take place during 17th of may until the 20th of may. Best day will be used… The site might be Snasahögarna, a wild and beautiful range 60 k away from Åre.

More info(mainly in Swedish) on www.flygare.nu

 ”snow”making…

But back to now. I have finally managed to have a day on the mountain. And above…

Today the winds were low and temperature as well… -27 in the morning. Heavy inversion made it rather nice on the top of the mountain. I hiked with my light kit and flew the new Little Cloud Spiruline 3 XL together with my Supair Delight harness. What a nice combo. Light and comfortable in every way.

Landing in the valley with a nice long swoop i enjoyed the frostbite from the cold… not.

Took my other new glider, Little Cloud Spiruline 3 Large. Flew with Supair Escape airbag. My favorite minigliderharness. Soo playfull and easy to use. This flight my horns grew out fast and playing low in Gästrappet among skiers was fun with a glider soo precise and direct. No probs what so ever.

Now I’m back home, smiling, cooking some yummie food and playing with with our superdog Thim.

Jonna have wanted a dog for a long time. I have been saying no.

I was saying it’s too comiting, it will stop me from traveling, flying and soo on. I was selfish. I changed my mind. About time, I know…

Jonna found him on smartahundar.se. He was one of six little boarder collies. I could see that Jonna wanted one asap. I told her that we should buy one. During one of the tuesday evening touringsession in Åre, we decided that Thim was going to move to trostebacken. Said and done.

 Thim the bandit…

Last wednesday we drove 800km to Vänersborg, stayed at my moms place and the day after we picked up little Thim. Since then we have not left his side.

 Happy Jonna

 Important eyecontact.

 Mom and Thim checking for food…

Well i have to say I am happy about our new family member. I dont know realy what will come out of it but me and Jonna realy love our little Thim. He’s a superdog!

He is fantastic, clever and just everything a little dog could possibly be:-) He surprises us every day, for example traveling for 12 hours in a car and being very calm. Not getting carsick, not whining at all, just being lovely.

 First steps on snow.

 Still happy and sweet after a 12 hour carride…

Then when arriving in his new home in Trostebacken, being full of energy of course , mind it then we where knocked out… Soo he did his thang and then fell asleep with us He kind of figures things out fast.

 Silence I’m sleeping.

He has already gotten found of us, even though we’ve only had him for four days.

I think we will have a good life together here in Trostebacken Jämtland Sweden.