Winter 2007-2008
Ride the Wind
Snowkiting gives skiers and boarders a whole new way to have fun
By Peter Bronski, Photographed by Rob Swanson
Snowkiting, in premise, is simple: A rider straps into a large, maneuverable kite and harnesses the power of the wind to cruise across the snow and ice on skis or a snowboard. But above all else, it’s a sport utterly dependent on Mother Nature. Good wind, good ice and good snow equals good snowkiting. Lacking one, all bets are off.
This morning, standing on the shore of Lake Champlain, awaiting the start of Kitestorm, an annual snowkiting festival in Milton, two feet of fresh powder cover another two feet of rough ice. It’s five degrees, but there’s no wind yet; it’s forecasted to come up later.
As outdoor sports go, snowkiting is relatively young. It’s an evolution of the summertime equivalent on open water — kiteboarding. Because it is in its formative years, the community of snowkiting devotees in the Northeast is still small and scattered. Kitestorm began in 2004 as a way to help the sport grow by bringing more people into the fold. In its first year, it pulled in about 250 people; last year, that number had grown to nearly 750.
Rachael Miller, a Burlington woman who caught the kiteboarding bug early on, started Kitestorm the same winter that she opened Stormboarding, one of a handful of shops nationwide to offer snowkiting gear and lessons. With its free mini-clinics designed to offer newbies a fleeting taste of snowkiting, Kitestorm is in part a soft-sell to get people hooked on the sport enough to sign up for full-on lessons, or to buy a kite and harness in the wake of the event.
As Miller chats, her breath condenses into dense clouds of moist air. Undeterred by the lack of even the slightest breeze, she leads the first class of beginners out onto the ice at about 9 a.m. A steady stream of cars, SUVs and campers make their way into the parking lot, their plates reading Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and a lone car from Delaware whose license plate reads “Kitemad.”
The wind gradually begins to pick up, and by 11 a.m. more than 12 kites are flying. The lake is littered with dozens of kiters getting ready, spreading their kites out on the snow as the wind steadily grows in strength, blowing out of the north. A handful of snowkiters are out “whale watching,” snowkite speak for heading far out onto the lake beyond an ice heave that marks the line between rough ice near shore and smooth ice from here to Canada. The clouds begin to break, and a few slivers of blue sky and sunshine peek down.
By 12:30 p.m., more than 30 kites are up, and an hour later 40 kites are in the air simultaneously. It’s now blowing with a good 10 to 12 knot wind, and so many kites are in the air that they have to dance around one another’s lines as they make their way out onto the open ice from the staging area near shore. The better riders are taking advantage of the wind and doing jumps, some getting five to 10 feet of air and traveling 20 feet or more with their hang time.
The hundreds of kiters present are of all ages and backgrounds. Judging from style of dress and manner of speaking, many of the teenagers could have been plucked straight out of a freestyle terrain park or halfpipe. But snowkiting does attract a wider demographic. Gary Kjelleren, a 48-year-old husband and father of two who lives in South Hero, kites 30 to 50 days per winter. He earned legendary status, if one can call it that in such a new sport, when he commuted via snowkite across the Broad Lake, making the 14-mile journey in a scant 18 minutes, an average of 47 miles per hour.
By early afternoon the sun wins out over the clouds, and the snow gleams white. Bright red, green, orange, purple and pink kites cut arcs through the air. The biggest kites dwarf their riders in size, and move through the air seemingly in slow motion, making lethargic turns like a 747 airplane.
“Some people are into speed,” says Kjelleren. “Some like to surf powder. Some go on long-distance journeys touring. And some like to jump,” he says. “But we all love it. If you’re going to live in Vermont, you need to embrace winter.”
View this article as a PDF of the actual magazine pages.
- Kitestorm 2008 takes place Feb. 23 and 24 at Sandbar State Park in Milton.
- First time? Bring your own ski or snowboard gear. Free demos available for short rides. Startup kite and harness available to purchase for about $450.
POWER IN THE POWDER
- Big: A snowkite can be a handful, billowing out as riders prepare for takeoff.
- Fast: Pulled by the wind speeds can reach 50 mph and higher.
- Flying: Rigged up and angled right, snowkiters can soar five to 10 feet in the air.
