Brad Dupee - In My Element

Don't be unattractive - a Tom Brady S N L classic

Messin' with others at the gym (quite funny)

Audi R8 V10..."Ferrari No Likey"

It's their lucky day...

Did you know???

This type of video has been circulated over the Internet for the past decade, attempting to show how fast things are now moving hen compared historically to even recent past. If all true, some of the comparisons are staggering. Entertaining at a minimum.  Enjoy.

10 snowmobilers lost in two North American avalanches.

Grand Lake 

As I was snowmobiling myself in Grand Lake, Colorado in the days after Christmas, an avalanche killed two in our very own riding area...Gravel Mountain.  (Excellent report with details and photos here)  This is an area that we (the guys I normally ride with and I) avoided that day as the CAIC site indicated that the avalanche danger was extreme.  The Web site for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center is updated twice a day.  I visit this site each morning on the days that I ride.  That day...the danger was considered extreme due to high winds and new snow loading on an already weak snowpack.  

What makes this particular avalanche notable is the lack of preparation...or readiness...or sensibility relative to the potential and the conditions of the snow.  No avalanche beacons.  No way for survivors to unbury them.  A beacon costs $150-$500 new...they all work regardless of price.  Sympathy slips a bit when I hear these stories...as you can tell.  Locals tell me that these riders had been coming to Grand lake for years to ride together.  Complacency???  Who knows.  It certainly  makes me angry.  

The story goes that a father essentially killed his son and another young man attempting to help when one was stuck on the slope by riding above them on the slope, triggering the avalanche.  The following day I saw the hole that both men were recovered from...just a few feet under.  The presence of beacons wold have surely led to better results given the amount of people present with the ability to search with their equipment.   $200 bucks people...

I want to thank everyone that reached out to Amy and I that day when the news hit.  Thank you all for caring to do so. 

British Columbia

In a similar story, 3 of 11 survive a series of avalanches while snowmobiling in Fernie, B.C.  Here is an interview with one of the survivors.  Gut-wrenching.  A must see.

What makes this story very different is that those involved were prepared...extremely prepared and considerably knowledgeable about the risks and yet it still produced 8 fatalities.  Beacons, probes, shovels, SPOT devices, ABS airbags...avalanche training...yet eight still died.

As described in the interview above, this unique avalanche was actually a series of avalanches over a short span o time that made it impossible to rescue everyone.  As a result, difficult decisions were made leaving scars for all.  A real sad story.  I feel for those involved and affected by this extreme tragedy.  Please click the link and listen to one survivors account.  

Lessons?  Well, it is clear that preparedness and technology does not guarantee survival.  It does however increase the potential to survive.  In a normal slide, the use of beacons, shovels and probes increase survival rats substantially.  Add other technical tools like airbags or avalungs and the suvival rate may increase further.  The only real solution is avoidance or abstinence.   Avoidance did not work in this case...and abstinence was not in the cards with these guys.   

Vail Pass

Yet another snowmobile- triggered avalanche broke that week in Vail Pass.  No one was buried.

Car Porn - Pikes Peak Race to the Clouds (PPIHC)

I would dare say this is one of the craziest car races on the planet...right in our backyard.

 

Climb Dance - filmed in 1990, one of the best videos I have seen of this race

Rhys Millen Drift

Highlights from 2008 PPIHC

good footage

Free Conferencing Services from Copper for Twin Cities businesses during the RNC too!

So as not to portray any political bias @ Copper...

Copper Conferencing Extends Free Web and Phone Conferencing to Businesses in the Twin Cities During the Republican National Convention

Bentley Named One of the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Programs

I was pleased to read last week that my undergraduate alma mater has been consistently listed as a top undergraduate program for business by U.S. News and World Report.

Bentley Named One of the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Programs

That and Bentley actually sent its first football player to the NFL this week!

Go Bentley!

Climbing a fourteener - Mount Bierstadt

Copper Conferencing sponsored a Climbing For Kids event last week.  It was organized with one of our business partners, IP5280 to raise money for Children's Hospital.  

Maddy, Laine, 6 or 7 other Copper employees and a total of over 100 people ascended upon Guanella Pass in Colorado by 6 AM to start the climb.  There are 54 mtns in CO over 14,000 feet in elevation, Mount Bierstadt is just one of them.

Some details about the mountain:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bierstadt (some great pics of the mtn found at that site)

I was super proud of everyone at Copper, especially my  girls.  About 7 miles round trip total...and over 2,300 feet in elevation change.  Quite a feat for the girls...even Dad.

here are a few pictures.