Killer Mountain Challenge Winner 2009

Hello all! Warm greetings to you from the sunny and windy South Caribbean Sea! Hope everyone is well, not working too hard, and not stressing too much about the fact that there are only some 20 shopping days left before Christmas....!

This blog, as the title suggests, is about our 2009 Killer Mountain Challenge (mountain biking) Winner, but before I get to that, I just want to say......

There seems to be a great deal of uncertainty out there these days. For example: for folks living in Calgary with -24 degree temps - will my car start this morning with these frigid temperatures?

For folks living in cold and snowy Norway - do these snowmobile boots match my snowsuit for the commute to work this morning?

And for the rest of the world: will Tiger Woods' wife really leave him? And if so, for how much? Will this affect Tiger's golf game?

Amidst all of this uncertainty, one thing, however is very clear. The winds here in El Yaque have NOT stopped blowing all year. We are having a phenomenal wind season this year!

The viento has been howling throughout September and October, meaning that we will have a super windy season! So, leave all your worries behind, jump on a plane and come on down to windy El Yaque for the best windsurf/kitesurf vacation of your life!

For you Europeans, Condor offers a direct flight from Frankfurt to the island, and at times offers major seat sales. (Please monitor the Condor website to take advantage of the seat sales.) There are direct charter flights from Paris to the island for the Christmas season, as well as flights from the UK to Grenada and Trinidad - just a puddle-jumper flight away from our island. And of course, thanks to El Grand Papa Chavez, all of you Russians now have direct flights from Moscow to Caracas.

Ok - on to the biking.

Well, actually, before I get to that, a little about our season so far. Our season here at Casa Nora began alot earlier this year, and we have had some lovely lovely guests stay with us. For example: Peter and Antra, both from Jelgava, Latvia.

Antra is the chief accountant for an agricultural firm, and Peter, originally from Holland, is an organ tuner.

What a lovely couple! These two were the busiest guests that we've ever had here. These two were on the go every day, what with the hiking,

.....the early morning, guided kayak tours offered by Vela Windsurf Resorts,

....the touring of the island....




.....and yes, the contemplation of gas prices here.....

(No, the pump is not broken. Gas really does only cost peanuts . We pay US $2.00 to fill up our pick-up truck....and that includes a tip to the attendant! Love it!

One evening Antra and Peter offered to cook dinner for all of us - a traditional Dutch meal, with beef stewed in mulled red wine, and marinated pears. Just lovely!

The after dinner discussion was quite intellectual - about the Catholic Church no less.......

All of which makes this final picture, a little difficult to explain.

Aw well, we all have a little devil inside of us, eh?

Okey dokey - biking. But before I announce last season's Killer Mountain Challenge Winner, I just want to comment on the State of the Union, here in El Yaque. Our surf village is undergoing some kind of a real estate and construction boom! World economic crisis be damned! In the last 2 months, 4 properties adjacent to Casa Nora have been sold, with 2 already under construction. Prior to that, another 2 properties were snapped up, with one currently under construction. Un-be-lievable! Seems to me that lots of folks want to own their personal piece of paradise! Can't says I blame them.... :0) One such lucky person is our friend, Nils.

Here he is signing his title documents at the Land Registry Office.

Yes, here in South America (or at least in Venezuela) all official documents require one's thumbprint. Odd? For sure. Effective? Who's to say?

For super happy Nils, and to welcome him to the neighbourhood, we hosted a well......a 'Welcome to the Neighbourhood Party', with champagne and 4 different types of home-made pizzas........Yum.....pizza....

Kathy, Lii and I prepared the pies......

.....while guests like Tommy (proprietor of Vela Windsurf Resorts) and Hector (owner of Mormaii surf shop) and.....

.....newlywed Pele and his family......

....and Diego (manager of La Chiva Loca), Artis - in the awesome flowered shirt (owner of the new beach restaurant "La Chiva Loca").....

.....and old friends Emile and Stefan.....

...all enjoyed the champagne and pizza.

Meanwhile, Wim - owner of his own kite school and awesome kite instructor, as usual, is hangin' with the beautiful ladies - Lii and Maryluz.....!

Congratulations Nils! We're looking forward to having you as a neighbour!


Alrighty! On to the main event - the Killer Mountain Challenge 2009 Winner is...

Ai caramba - before I forget, I should really mention a phenomenal new event that has occurred in the windsurfing world. Anyone that is remotely interested in windsurfing needs to know about this. There is a new windsurfing movie out called "Four Dimensions". (An Andre Paskowski Production.)

This movie is to the windsurfing community what Warren Miller's movies are to the skiing/extreme sports community. This movie is phenomenal! I am not really going to tell you what is in the movie,

Marcilio Browne of Brazil

......suffice it to say that the four riders featured in the movie are awesome,

Victor Fernandez Lopez

the footage is breath-taking,

Victor Fernandez Lopez

the production value is slick,

Gollito Estredo - Current World Champion in Freestyle

and the sound track is groovy.

Of particular interest to those of us from El Yaque, is Jose `Gollito`Estredo, as the current World Champion in Freestyle is a native of this beach.

This guy is so good, that watching him sail takes my breath away. He is so much better than the rest of the field, that when the others do a trick with 2 hands, he does it one-handed. When the rest try it one handed, Gollito does it no-handed.....seriously....no-handed..... completely defying the laws of gravity...

If you travel here for no other reason than to watch Gollito train, I guarantee you that your trip will have been worth it.


And Gollito's segment in the movie is awesome!

Congratulations to all 4 riders, and a special congrats to Andre, the guy with the idea for this movie!

To get a copy of this movie, in time for Christmas, please go to http://www.fourdimensionsmovie.com/ and ENJOY! For those of you coming to visit us here, I still have a few copies left for sale.

Without any further ado, The 'Killer Mountain Challenge Winner' for 2009 is........ from the USA - an emergency medicine resident at the UMass Medical Centre.... Jose Dundee!

Felicitaciones Jose!

For those not in the know, my husband, Big Al, offers guided mountain bike tours throughout the local countryside. He has developed three different tours, all of which offer spectacular vistas, single-track trails, riding through salt-flats or salinas, coastal riding etc. One such tour is called the "Killer Mountain Challenge". It is quite odd really, as the mountain isn't really a mountain at all - it is a 300 meter trail/old road, which at times is washed out by rain. The 'incline' is no more than 35 degrees, which I would say hardly qualifies it as a mountain. However, the length combined with the tricky terrain make technical ability necessary. Many many many have tried to summit......

....these Canadians have tried....

....as have these Swiss.....


.....as has this Latvian...


.....but to no avail.

Only 4 in the world, over 5 years of running this challenge, have summitted. We've had some unbelievable athletes attempt the Mountain, from German ski instructors, to French Iron-Men, to folks who train for triathlons. We've even had a few super heroes attempt the Killer Mountain Challenge. Which is why, with his single attempt summit, Jose has joined an exclusive club, indeed!

Here is Super Dave after one such attempt.

He appears possibly ......well.....deflated.....but by no means defeated. Super Dave will be back twice this year to launch another summit attempt.

Also returning this year, the man to beat himself, John from Norway! Or as we call him 'Superman'.

John not only summited the Killer Mountain, he went on to ascend 3 more mountain tops in an effort to be the first to successfully climb the "Six Summits of Superman".

At the moment, Big Al is training with a large group of hopefuls - Diego - a local cutie patootie with whom Al is having a bromance, Davis - a restauranteur from Riga whose new restaurant, La Chiva Loca is opening in a few days, Stefan - a local posada owner and dear friend, and Ralfins - a free spirit/kite punk with super hero potential, from Riga, and of course, Big Al - transplated Canuck y mi amour. I have high hopes that perhaps Davis and/or Ralfins will summit this year!

So there it is - the challenge has been set, the gauntlet has been thrown, the line has been drawn in the sand. All of you mountain bike dudes like you Pedro from Canada, and you Ricardo (that's right Ricardo Hallman - I'm callin' you out dude! Get your kiting, surfing, skiing, biking, photgraphing, smilin' self out here!), and you Freddie from Switzerland, and you Arvil (my brother from Toronto), and you Thomas from Germany (and bring Roman, if you can), and you Markus from Swissyland, and you guys Christophe, Patrick and Frederic from France, and you Ice-cream Dave - your date with destiny has been set for the end of March, early April. Let's for once and for all determine who will be the "King of the Killer Mountain Challenge for 2010".

Competitions, kiting, cameras, 'copters and other assorted craziness...

Hola. Happy belated summer solstice to one and all! I sincerely hope that summer has finally arrived in Europe and North America.

Lots and lots going on here in El Yaque. Let's start at 'other assorted craziness' and let's work our way backward to 'competitions, kiting, cameras and 'copters.' Well, the 'other assorted craziness' is actually the world's best kept secret, that I will now share with you guys, in spite of considerable risk to my well-being. I am sure there are more than a few folks that would rather this info stayed private. However........

I am sitting on my terrace writing to you on June 30th - and the cups and saucers are tinkling in my kitchen cabinets. Why, you ask? Because the wind is howling. And has been howling, every single day since the end of March. That is 3 months of solid wind. Not every other day, or once a week. I mean, every single solitary day - for 3 months straight - with no end in sight. Al and I are anticipating at least 3 more weeks of wind, before we head off on our vacation. And by wind, I don't mean 12 knots. I mean, the kind of wind where Al is perfectly powered on a 4.7 meter sail, and the kiters are out on small kites by the end of the day. So, reason Number 1 for coming here in April, May and June is:

A lot of this.....

And the good news continues. Not long after the Easter holidays, most airline companies begin to offer discounted fares to tropical destinations. They figure that with the onset of spring, travel to tropical destinations lessens, as people begin to enjoy warm and sunny weather in their home countries. But, let's be realistic. According to my sources, summer has not yet arrived in Northern and Eastern Europe, it just arrived in Canada about a week ago, and I shudder to think what is going on in the Scandinavian countries. I have photographic evidence of friends sitting around a bonfire by the Baltic Sea last week, wearing ski jackets. My point is, real summer only starts in July, so there is plenty of opportunity, 3 months in fact, to travel here very inexpensively, to enjoy great wind in a sea that does not require the sailor to wear a 5 mm thick wetsuit. So, reasons 2, 3 and 4 for coming to El Yaque in the spring are:

This......

......instead of this....

This.....
.....and this.....

....probably with a little of this.......

.....instead of this.......

To top it all off, the hotels and posadas here ALSO drop their prices during what they call 'low season', making the cost of accommodations much lower. The windsurf and kitesurf centres also offer reduced prices for rentals during this time. So, the best reason to come to El Yaque in the spring, aside from alot of this:

....is not having to part with alot of this.......

.....resulting in alot of this......

Another great reason to come to El Yaque at the end of May, is this:

.....the Margarita Wild Winds Pro-Am. Resurrected this year, after a short 5 or 6 year hiatus, this event was a huge success. The Wild Winds showcased both windsurfing and kitesurfing this year, and attracted both major international talent, as well as our local former, present and future champions.

As this is a pro-am, one of my favourite amateur disciplines to watch are the kids races. These kids, many of whom are already awesome windsurfers, have so much fun racing each other, while learning the ropes of a bona fide competition. Check this out.....

Look at this little guy, winning this heat of the kids slalom...... I mean, this is priceless. I think he weighs about 20 pounds soaking wet, with his harness on! He may be all of 6 years old (they start them off young here.....), but look at his form. Excellent! Not to mention the sail number on his sail - V -1. Venezuela #1! This kid has ambition!

And here's his little baby brother - in training.......with his sail caddy!



And here are all the kids - on the podium.

Mark my words - the future world champion is among these children..... Love it!

Colette Guadagnino, (former world champion free-styler, and competitor at this competition)..........

........one of the main organizers of this event, asked if we wanted to host a professional photographer at Casa Nora during the Wild Winds. We said no problemo. So, please meet Richard Hallman, a.k.a Ricardo - photographer extraordinaire, all round extreme athlete, and resident of Hood River, Oregon.

Ricardo's assignment was to photograph the event, to photograph the competitors, to photograph El Yaque, and to write an article about his trip for Kiteboarding magazine. Happily - even though he worked really hard, he also had some time for kiting, windsurfing, mountain biking with Al, and even a little partying. Ricardo - love your job, dude! Our guests at Casa Nora during this time were some pals of ours:

Arti and Lii:

....and Davis and Aija....

While the primary reason for their visit to El Yaque was to research a location to start a new restaurant, they also couldn't resist the allure of the wind, and ended up learning to kitesurf. In fact, Al and Davis became kitesurf-learning buddies. Check out the smiles on these two, after a kite lesson with Wim.

So, while Ricardo was working hard organizing early morning photo shoots, that yielded photos like this.....

......and this......

.....and organizing sunset photo shoots that yielded photos like this......


.....this......

......and this......

..... the restauranteurs at Casa Nora were busy experimenting with and perfecting their culinary delights, like this......


.....and this......


.....resulting in some pretty well-fed and happy people like this......


During his first day here, Ricardo met with Colette to get an understanding of the itinerary, and the schedule of the competition. And he already managed to get some pretty cool photos, like this.....

......this.......

....this......

.... this.....


....and this.

Ricardo and I were walking on the beach, when he said to me, 'Listen, I can get some great photos of the event, of El Yaque, of the competitors, but what would really put this assignment over the top for all of us, would be if you guys could arrange for me ...... a helicopter. The aerial shots of the beach, of the slalom events etc, would be the killer photos for this event.' Slightly stunned, I looked at him to see if he was joking, and I was met by a poker face, but with a slight challenging twinkle in the eyes. I thought about it and said, 'Y'know what, we might not have paved roads here in this village, nor a proper home address, but I betcha we can indeed, procure you a helicopter.' Ricardo grinned and said, 'If you get me a helicopter, I will try to arrange it that you and Lii join me for the ride'. And so, when you find yourself in an outrageous situation such as this, you gotta call in the big guns. So, I went to find Colette. And Colette found this.....

.....resulting in Ricardo being able to get photos like this.....


.....this.....



.....and this.


Pretty cool, and a job well done by Ricardo.

The Wild Winds event offered many other distractions apart from the actual competitions. There were giant fiestas every night on the beach, there was a windsurf free-style exhibition one night. In the following photo, Gollito, Kiri and Taty wait for the night surf to begin.

There were performances by local Venezuelan bands and dance groups, adding some lively local music and culture to the event.

And of course, there were the closing ceremonies that included the handing out of the trophies to the competitors. Congratulations to everyone who participated, but especially to the winners!


And a big thank you to the organizing committee!



So, if you guys ever needed an extra reason to come to this windsurfing or kitesurfing paradise in the spring, aside from the great wind, warm water, sunny weather, low off-season prices, remember to consider the Margarita Wild Winds Pro-Am - usually held at the end of May. Come and be blown away, not just by the wind, but by the spectacular talent of the competitors!

Ricardo - many thanks for the awesome photos, and we will see you and Natalie in Brasil!!!!Richard Hallman can be reached via his website at http://www.freelanceimaging.com/ for his professional photography services.

Next blog: 'Killer Mountain Challenge' 2009