I am leaving for Lake Placid in the morning for the fall camp, so summer must be officially over now.  Below are some pictures from my summer:

Paddle night every Wednesday on the Aroostook River

Skiing tracks in Bend

BethAnn trading in her .22 caliber for some heavier artillery

Italy

Bill Green from Channel 6 news in Maine made the drive up to Fort Kent today to take some footage of the Olympic hopefuls in our group.  We rollerskied all morning, did interviews. and the biathletes shot their guns.  We had perfect fall weather for the event, cool and sunny.

One of the objectives for my latest trip to Italy, besides skiing my butt off on the glacier and eating some cannolli,  was to rent a road bike and ride the Stelvio from top to bottom.  I was inspired by an article that a friend gave me before I left.  The article was titled Stelvio, and it was in the english cycling magazine Rouleur, issue #7.  Great article, with great pictures.  The author Richard Moore calls the Alped’Huez with its 21 switchbacks, the fun-sized version of the Stelvio.  He also claims the Stelvio is the highest paved pass in Europe (I had heard the second highest) .  I have always had a fondness for the Giro d’Italia, and most years there is at least one climb from the Bormio area, not always the Stelvio, but sometimes.   I had a great ride up the Stelvio when I did it a few weeks ago.  A few pictures below.

The Italians love this guy.  I sat through a one hour special about his life on italian TV, I didn’t understand a word, all in italian.

The top of the pass

My rental

Wow

I just returned from my trip to Stelvio.  We skied everday on the glacier and did dryland in the afternoon.  The glacier was full of skiers, Spanish national team, Italian national team, Norwegian national team, Italian carabinieri team (police), and a bunch of other clubs.  It made for a high energy place to do a camp.   Video below courtesy of Lanny Barnes and her helmet cam: