Friday, November 28, 2008

Taking to the slopes and the skies

Snow kiting takes off in Fairfield


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Snowkiting has taken off in Fairfield, as evidenced by the second annual Snowkite Soldiers event that will take place Feb. 20-22. Using skis or a snowboard, snowkiters use a large kite to propel themselves along the Camas Prairie tundra and up the nearby mountains. Courtesy photo by Aaron Beck

Monty Goldman has a solution for backcountry skiers who don't feel like spending hours skinning uphill for precious minutes of powder turns—strap on a kite.

According to Goldman, whose instructional business Snowkite Soldier is on its fourth year this winter, getting into the backcountry is just one of the many aspects of the increasingly popular and relatively new sport of snowkiting.

Using either a pair of skis or a snowboard and a harness attached to a specially designed kite resembling a small parachute, riders harness the wind, rather than gravity, to power them over open fields, up the sides of mountains and, for the more adventurous, straight up into the air.

"It caters to a lot of different disciplines," said Goldman, who was born in Sun Valley and grew up in Boise. "If you like riding in the park and halfpipe, it's easy to find natural terrain features. If you like getting air and freeskiing, you can sail off 50-foot cliffs and not have to worry about your knees."

Goldman said he falls into the latter category, having taken up the more extreme side of skiing after racing for years.

However, it was on the water, rather than in the mountains, that he learned his passion for snowkiting. Goldman said that's how many of the earlier snowkiting pioneers found their way into the sport.

"It's really a crossover from kitesurfing," said Goldman, who taught the water sport for six years at Hood River in Oregon. "There's probably around 500,000 snowkiters since the sport was introduced about a decade ago."

While catching wind on the water in Oregon, Goldman began hearing about Fairfield as a destination for snowkiting, which came as a surprise given that he had spent plenty of time close to the small town on the Camas Prairie, just over 30 miles southwest of Bellevue.

"I originally heard about it from a bunch of guys from France," Goldman said. "I was actually pretty embarrassed that it took guys from another country to find out about a place that was in my own backyard."

It didn't take him long, however, to figure out what the fuss was about.

Surrounded by snowy plains stretching to the west, Fairfield and its population of just over 400 are also bordered by the Soldier Mountains, and the ski resort of the same name, to the north.

"The high desert means there are no trees and the wind that gets funneled through there is consistent and steady," said Goldman, explaining that these are perfect conditions for snowkiting. "This means you can get 70 to 80 days of kiting during the season."

Goldman is helping to bring even more attention to Fairfield with his second annual Kite Soldiers celebration. Taking place from Feb. 20-22, the event will feature the inaugural Kite Poker Run, in which competitors navigate through checkpoints, drawing playing cards at each station until they reach the end of the course. The snowkiters with the best poker hand at the end will win prizes, including skis, snowboards, kites and harnesses.

"The Poker Run is more about freedom and fun rather than competition," Goldman said. "It's also going to be great to see people coming from all over the country and the world to visit Fairfield."

Goldman said that the difficulty of the course will be split between two categories—beginner and intermediate/advanced, and that the latter category will climb approximately 2,300 to 2,500 vertical feet. Other events include the introduction of Idaho's first backcountry terrain park and professional snowkiters jumping over a bus.

For those not able to make it to Fairfield on those dates, Goldman offers beginner programs to get athletes safely and comfortably flying the kite, as well as advanced training and guided backcountry trips that take advantage of over 9,000 acres of open land. All that is needed for these programs are skis or a snowboard, as Snowkite Soldier provides the kite and harness equipment.

And while Goldman is not yet teaching in Sun Valley, he said he can often be found at the base of Phantom Hill, just north of Ketchum. That's another popular site for snowkiting because of the predictable winds that begin every afternoon, Goldman said.

Though nothing is organized there, Goldman said he often will help with what he calls a "free, grassroots educational experience" in snowkiting.

For more information on Goldman's Kite Soldier programs or to register for the February event, check out www.snowkitesoldier.com.




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