The Dirty South - Teaser from BENWILSONVISION on Vimeo.

Footage from an afternoon of surfing powder out in western Maryland the day after one of many storms they have received this winter. John welcomed us to his homestead and we drove to a few fields where he has received permission to kite. It was epic!

John, Dean and Steve were ripping it up! Jessie killed it on his second session ever, Deb snowkited with a trainer, and I got to hit long downhills with a kite for the first time. I had a ton of fun learning to park the kite, cruise down a run with nothing but gravity, then power back up the hill with the kite to do it again. It wasn’t easy, but it was addictive and probably the most fun I’ve ever had kiting. Still stoked just thinking about it!!!

Surfing The Snow from Kiter Todd on Vimeo.

A big thanks to John for the guide services and we all look forward to kiting with him again soon!

The POV footage is shot with my GoProHD, the alternate perspective is Dean’s Vado, and the stills were by everyone. Good times. Good friends. Great spot!

Holy crap….

…am I in Maryland?

That was hands-down the best day of snowkiting I’ve ever had.

I have to put things in perspective and say that I’ve only had 6 good days of snowkiting in my life and 4 of them were in the past two weeks.

I’ve been through my whole quiver snowkiting now…rode my 7M the Wednesday of the blizzard, my 11M 2 days last weekend, and my 15M today. All performed great and I’m blown away at how easy all these LEIs relaunch on the snow, absorb gusts, and depower to handle a wider wind range than I seem to get on the water.

I got on the snow at around 1:30 today and rode w/ SteveW and others until sunset. It was only daylight and hardening snow that brought us in. Also out were Stas, Geof, Drew, Neil, Sabia, Megan, Emo, Vali, Audra, Cujo, and one other.

There’s a video of all this once I have a chance to put something together. Snow quality was fine. Corn snow, but the field seems to be absorbing the melt so it wasn’t wet slush. Worth rigging bigger than usual, though, as the wet snow is a bit slower.

A Snowkiting Afternoon @ Bloomfield Farm from Kiter Todd on Vimeo.

And, for folks going tomorrow…in the SW corner of the field is a kicker. It’s not a big kicker…you might miss it if you blink, but it proved to be a very fun thing to ramp off and go for board grabs and such. And I also learned that just like on the water, once you find a fun kiting feature (slick, camera, kicker) a peruvian cockblocker will park himself right in your path like a moth to a light!

And a BIG THANKS to Sabia for supplying the post-session beer!!!

-aargh

Some shots:

tow in snowboarding

post session at Annie’s with some unknown SKIKA members

After a few days of snowkiting on my old Burton Seven I decided that I want a new board for snowkiting. I felt that the board was too soft for snowkiting also the tail on turns was all over.
So I ordered an 157 board for me.

The board out of the box looked good but it felt also softer. The edges were straight and right in the middle they had this weird shape more like a snake. I was…what?! I already got a defect on my board?!

I went on line and check out and I found out more about Nobile/Contract snake technology.
http://www.contractsnowboards.com/snake-transition.html

I was a little skeptical about it but I said. What the hell, they make snowboards for snowkiting for more than 4 years so they must know what they are doing.

I set up the board with my old bindings ( I need 4 holes base plates to use it all the time) and I took it at Bloomfield farm.

When I went out the wind was good so I could have fun. It was a major difference between this and my old board. And it is funny but it felt more like you ride like a kiteboard than a snowboard. If it makes any sense. The board was going straight upwind. was holding the edge very well and had a really good grip on the icy snow. I towed in Audra that day, and I could hold my ground and go upwind even with one person snowboarding behind me.

Next day I tried it again. The wind was like but again the board helped me to go upwind and go back at the landing place. It has a lot of pop so I could jump a little even if the kite had almost no pull.

I think, if you ride it on pow it might have the same feeling like your snowboard, but on icy snow it is a different beast.

It grips and gets you where you wanna be.

Short story I really liked it. And Taisa liked it too

from Spleeft

Clips from my PR trip , January 2010. I used a new custom grip, designed by Jim Cancil at wetstuff.com , worked great! Waves were not huge but lots of sunshine and Sea Life!!
I have lots of ideas for new ways to use this grip, and edit the footage, but for now, here is my first effort using the “kite cam’.

Sea Life ( PR Kite Surfing ) from Marshall Movies on Vimeo.

Red Bull Ragnarok will select up to 200 riders from all over the world to race for 3 hours; 6 rounds of approximately 30 minutes each, stretching from 10-20km. After each round, if not already given up voluntarily, a number of snow-kite heroes will be eliminated.

The name “Ragnarok” stems from an incident in Norse mythology, describing the last battle between the good and evil Gods, where only the heroes of the battlefield survive.

Red Bull Ragnarok imitates this myth in the respect that only a mere few snow-kite heroes will succeed. Endurance is paramount, and only the toughest riders will make it to the finish line. Freestylers will be favored by having the possibility to overcome some obstacles in order to shorten the track.

The event will be carried out on one race day during the period April 15th – 18th on the great plateau by Haugastøl, Norway. The base for this one-of-a-kind endurance race, Haugastol Turistsenter, lies between Oslo and Bergen, and is the entrance gate to the El dorado of all snow-kiting locations, Hardangervidda in Norway.

More info here: www.redbullragnarok.no

Another sick  video from ACL Productions filmed at Jaws. Highlights from Jan 17th, 2010

Jaws Highlights - Jan 17th, 2010 from ACL Productions on Vimeo.

The run down from the whole week at the core slider jam. Shot and cut by William Milne

I had a chance to ride a 10 m for 2 days in Islamorada.

And here is my feedback:

Out of the bag the kite looks great, high quality work on the product and cool graphics.

I didn’t play with any settings on the bar. Just inflate (one pump works great), connect the bar and go out and play. The wind was between 15 to 22 and it seams that it was a really the sweet spot for this size.
If you think that the Dos was a fast kite, this will really blow your mind. I think a huge factor is the fact that the bar pressure is a lot less than the 09 version. I am not a good freestyler so I cannot say too much about the properties of the kite for this aspect, but I can tell you that this kite can jump.

If you send it really hard it will rip you out of the water and will take you to the stratosphere. And …it will give you enough time while you are up there to look at the landscape. Due the light bar pressure you have to be very careful not to over send the kite

Looping it is awesome. While the Dos was turning more around the tips and the horizontal pull was brutal, The Tres loops much much smoother and with a more constant loop, more like a ckite.

Relaunching the kite - same technique as on any delta kite.
Pull one of the back lines and wait for the kite to migrate towards one side. If you keep pulling, the kite will relaunch from the water. In lite wind conditions it helps if you swim towards the kite while you pull the back line. The wingtip will catch air faster and the kite will go up.

Overall I love the tres. Much smoother, faster and user friendly kite.

3^rd Annual 2010 BEST SUPERFLY OPEN

SNOWKITING COMPETITION AT POWDER MOUNTAIN

(Eden, UT) (February 16, 2010)  – Get ready for the 3rd annual BEST SuperFly Open that will bring some of the world’s best snowkiters to Powder Mountain, March 11 -14, 2010. The action will take place in an area known as “The Towers” in the Hidden Lake area of Powder Mountain (just south of the top of the Sunrise Poma lift.)  The elevation of that area is approximately 9,000 ft. Last year the event attracted more than 50 of the world’s best snowkiters with competitors traveling as far as Norway. With the success of last year’s event, organizers anticipate a substantial growth in competitors and spectators this year.

“The SuperFly Open is great as anyone can enjoy and get something out of the event.” says Lia Feriancek of Best Kiteboarding, “Whether you aim to win the races, participate in free trainer clinics or simply watch the athlete’s race across the mountain, everyone has a blast!” The viewing area is wide and open, so folks can cruise on over and take a break from skiing or riding to watch all the action, grab a burger and enjoy the incredible backdrop of the entire Wasatch Mountain Range and the Great Salt Lake.

Three categories of competition will be on display – Freestyle, Kite Races and Big Air. Slide rails and boxes are being generously provided by event sponsors. There will also be timed challenges hosted by Shadowbox, which will integrate personal “3D” recorders into each of the athlete’s runs. Additionally, free clinics will take place each day and are open to the public at the Hidden Lake Parking lot.

The celebration of snowkiting doesn’t end when the lifts stop running! The Red Moose Lodge will be the place to be to mingle with snowkiters worldwide! The organizers have put together “all inclusive” packages for lodging, food, registrations, snowkite tickets and parties! After riding all day, come hang out and listen to DJ Dallas Casey spinning tunes on the Zu Audio Essence loud speakers in the lobby of Red Moose Lodge. Meals will be catered throughout the event to make this the easiest laid back snowkite trip available! Just check out the meal package options on the website. Each evening, we will head over to Double Diamond Bar & Grill in Eden, UT for live music, karaoke, fun and games! There will be a raffle with lots of prizes to be won ranging from a new 2010 Bularoo V2 kite from BEST kiteboarding to the Essence loudspeakers by Zu Audio valued at over $3500!

The event is presented by Best Kiteboarding, Powder Mountain, and Shadowbox. Contributing sponsors include Ocean Extreme Sports, Ogden Valley Magazine, Drift Snowkite Magazine, Red Moose Lodge, Lakeside Resort Properties, G4G, Ground Industries, HQ Power Kites, Zu Audio, Dakine, Mountain Hardware and Rooster’s Brewing Company.

For additional information and up-to-the-date details visit www.superflyopen.com