INSIDE: SNOWKITE DICTIONARY • SELF-LAUNCHING BOW KITES • SNOWKITE MASTERS Winter 2009 Lessonsfrom ‘‘ ’’ the Masta NEW ZEALAND SNOWKITE GUIDE SNOWKITE BOARD BATTLE PETTER JOHNSEN 2 www.driftsnowkitemag.com www.driftsnowkitemag.com 3 CON TENTS FEATURES 28 New Zealand Snowkite Guide 50 The Original Snowkite Extend your snowkite season this Masters summer in the Southern Hemisphere France’s SKM event still leads 42 Lessons from the “Masta” the way Getting schooled by Guillaume 84 Interview: Kari Schibevaag “Chasta” Chastagnol Bringing style and fun to 72 Interview: Petter Johnsen snowkiting The Norwegian phenomenon makes 94 Racers Ready! his mark The future of snowkite racing DEPARTMENTS News 54 Pioneering the first ski resort snowkiting program in the USA Safety 70 The Fast Track to Fun 90 Safety Meeting 108 The Importance of Trainer Kites Media 8 Freeze Frame [Photo Gallery] 56 Videos Review & Top Pick 58 Snowkite Dictionary 62 The Brigade [Reader Photos] COVER: Ken Lucas knee deep in the fresh at Coalsville Reservoir. Gear Utah, USA. 80 New Products PHOTO: Lance Koudele 102 Snowkite Board Battle Instruction CONTENTS: Sebastian Bubman. 64 Self-launching Bow Kites beating gravity at the Col du 66 Carving Transition—Heelside to toeside Lautaret, France. 68 Raley to Blind PHOTO: Ramon Schoenmaker 4 www.driftsnowkitemag.com A newcomer on the scene, Taylor Tate has set up shop in Salt Lake City and is making things happen. As the host of the 2009 Superfly Open Taylor has harnessed his youthful enthusiasm tempered with an air about him that feels much older than his red-tinged mohawk and boyish looks. With an impressive ability to make important connections and some interesting marketing ideas, Utah Urban Surf might be the first of the next wave of kite shops. Taylor has a relationship with Liquid Force kites and is ramping up operations to offer retail, lessons and rentals. If you are eager to get into snowkiting make it up to Powder Mountain Ski Resort for the Superfly Open, March 13th-15th, 2009 and get to know Utah Urban Surf. Driftin’Dave Watching Dimensions Utah Urban Surf Shirts Kites Chilin’ www.driftsnowkitemag.com 5 A Bright Future for Snowkiting Looking back, when we first started Drift, I thought I had a solid idea of how many people were snowkiting across the globe. Over the last year my eyes have been opened to so many more people and places to snowkite. I recently discovered that in Quebec, Canada, there is a large and quickly growing community with people like Benoit Tremblay of Concept Air that has been quietly developing gear for twenty years. It was a great pleasure to meet him and his friends at the Snowkite Summit in December. Through Drift we want to introduce you to amazing people just like him. Looking forward, I am excited to be a part of helping bring snowkiters across the globe together so we can all learn from each other. We will inevitably improve our skills, find new locations and help guide snowkiting into a bright future. We’d like to thank everyone who believed in Drift from the beginning and helped to make the first issue a reality. Readers from 87 different countries downloaded it and the response was amazing! -James Brown [email protected] Nick de Bruijn Glacier 3000, Switzerland PHOTO: 6 www.driftsnowkitemag.com E TREMPER UC BR 1 Know Before You Go UtahAvalancheCenter.org 888-999-4019 www.driftsnowkitemag.com 7 UAC_driftsnowkite_ad.indd 1 2/24/09 4:16:05 PM PHOTO GALLERY 8 www.driftsnowkitemag.com PHOTO: Alex Boyce www.driftsnowkitemag.com 9 10 www.driftsnowkitemag.com John Robichaud at Miscou Island New Brunswick, Canada. PHOTO: Eric Girard www.driftsnowkitemag.com 11 Oliver “Otte” Cammann gets personal with a park bench in Italy. PHOTO: Ramon Schoenmaker 12 www.driftsnowkitemag.com The road less traveled. PHOTO: Bertrand Boone www.driftsnowkitemag.com 13 14 www.driftsnowkitemag.com Kevin Noel at Chiasson Office New Brunswick, Canada. PHOTO: Eric Girard www.driftsnowkitemag.com 15 Patrick Koller. Switzerland. PHOTO: Mark Weiler 16 www.driftsnowkitemag.com www.driftsnowkitemag.com 17 18 www.driftsnowkitemag.com Peter Mueller at Glacier 3000, Switzerland PHOTO: Nick de Bruijn www.driftsnowkitemag.com 19 20 www.driftsnowkitemag.com Adam Savoy at Shippagan New Brunswick, Canada PHOTO: Eric Girard www.driftsnowkitemag.com 21 22 www.driftsnowkitemag.com Peter Mueller and a friend laying tracks. Bozi Dar, Czech Republic PHOTO: Frank Suess www.driftsnowkitemag.com 23 24 www.driftsnowkitemag.com Jerome Josserand at Col du Lautaret, France PHOTO: Seb Coutant www.driftsnowkitemag.com 25 DRIFT has the world’s most exciting photos, stories, instruction, interviews and news for FREE! Plus, each subscriber can automatically EDITOR win gear and instant discounts. JAMES BROWN [email protected] Don’t forget to tell your friends. ASSISTANT EDITOR (email a friend) DAVE GROSSMAN DESIGN JAMES BROWN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS OBADIAH JENKINS, JON IMHOOF, BRIAN SCHENCK, DAVE GROSSMAN, JAMES BROWN, RYAN WAITE, JOEL BEATTY, KEN LUCAS, CHIP WASSON, ANTON RAINOLD CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS GUSTAV SCHMIEGE, ALEX BOYCE, ERIC GIRARD, BERTRAND BOONE, NICK DE BRUIJN, SEB COUTANT, ERIC GIRARD, OBADIAH JENKINS, JON IMHOOF, CHASTA, CHRIS NESTER, MORTEN GJERSTAD, KITE YUKON, GREGG GNECCO, JACOB BUZIANIS, ERIC BADER, RAMON SCHOENMAKER, IDAHO KITESPORTS, DANIEL BOROMISA, KRISTJAN SIGUDARSON, KIM KERN, OYSTEIN KRISTIANSEN, JAN BRABANT, MARIUS ARNESON, ANDREW MCGARRY, DAVE GROSSMAN PUBLISHER DAVE GROSSMAN [email protected] INTERNET WWW.DRIFTSNOWKITEMAG.COM WWW.STRATUSMEDIASOLUTIONS.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS SIGN UP AT DRIFTSNOWKITEMAG.COM ADVERTISING/SALES [email protected] ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES 575 SUNNY MEADOW LANE GRAND JUNCTION, CO 81503 EDITORIAL OFFICE 1775 XENIA STREET Guillaume Chastagnol, New Zealand. DENVER, CO 80220 26PHOTO: Jon Imhoofwww.driftsnowkitemag.com From sunshine to sea comes her divine birth, TheAnd from birth toHand bitter end, sheof rules thisVayu earth, From smooth and steady, and ever present, To a swirling, raging, storm of resent, She doesn’t care what you have to say, She will simply take your words away, As she whispers through the grass and trees, From screams of rage to a gentle breeze, She tells you everything you need to know, Through sleet and rain, and driving snow, All you have to do is look and listen, Feel your tears form, fall, and glisten, She can bring life, death, and the best of the rest, It’s your mind, your heart, and your soul she tests, Don’t debate, don’t hesitate, just listen and feel, When she blows, its time to play for real! - Obadigadiah The North Face of Mount Hunter, Alaska Range, Alaska. Winds above 100 mph ravaging the summit. PHOTO: Obadiah Jenkins www.driftsnowkitemag.com 27 New Zealand Snowkite Guide By Jon Imhoof t only takes a quick glance at the globe to see Ithat the Southern hemisphere has far less land than the northern hemisphere and therefore far fewer places to snowkite. A look at our earth from the poles is even more revealing. The land masses of the Northern Hemisphere extend much further north while in the southern hemisphere there is the Antarctic in the polar region but the temperate zone is covered mostly by the oceans. Your choices are South America, Australia or New Zealand. — continued 28 www.driftsnowkitemag.com There’s a reason the world champion chooses to return year after year. Chasta feeling at home in 30 knots on a 6m at Cardrona. PHOTO: Jon Imhoof www.driftsnowkitemag.com 29 NewZealandSnowkite Guide I guess it is human nature to believe that things must be better somewhere else. The grass is always greener or in this case the snow and wind is always better-on the other side of the fence. So I started the winter thinking Australia was the place, or even Chile or somewhere else in South America. Here in little ol’ New Zealand the mountains are too steep and surely the first few waves of snowkiting pioneers had already discovered the only really good spot in the country was Snowfarm on the Waiorau range. A few months later and I realize I couldn’t have been more wrong, after a season of missions that revealed New Zealand is a snowkiting paradise. If you are after easily accessible park and ride conditions it is true that the choices are limited. But if you love a mission and the rewards of backcountry exploration, there could be few places on earth that could match the Southern Alps. There’s a reason the world champion chooses to return year after year. Chasta could be in Tahiti enjoying kitesurfing in his own backyard in conditions most of us would kill for. Instead, he chooses to spend a good deal of time in New Zealand because he loves it. Now I understand why. General Information about Snowkiting in New Zealand New Zealand consists of two main islands lying between 34 and 46 degrees south latitude. Mountains on the north island are volcanic cones rising to 9,176 feet (2797 m) while the southern alps are formed by the collision of the Pacific and Australian techtonic plates and forms a range which rises to 12,316 feet (3754 m). Conditions New Zealand’s weather is an interplay between some key influences. Understanding the weather will vastly improve your chances of scoring the best snowkiting conditions on the day and will prove invaluable in striking up a conversation with locals. The two hottest topics of conversation on any day are the weather and rugby. — continued 30 www.driftsnowkitemag.com Hugh Pinfold and Matt Taggart from Ozone at Centennial Hut, perched above a sea of ice and snow with the Tasman Sea in the distance. PHOTO: Jon Imhoof www.driftsnowkitemag.com 31 NewZealandSnowkite Guide Andre Pieterson enjoying the rewards after a gruelling 4WD journey to the Old Woman Range.