Where Have we Been?

It has been a little bit since my last post but Frances and I packed up and headed for Jackson Hole, the first stop on the North American Snow Kite Tour.  The following was posted by Stuart Penny (look for the shout outs for Frances and Adrenajen) of Black Owl Media:

North American Snowkite Tour takes to the air!

The wind gave the NAST snowkiters  a taste of  the Jackson Hole powder  on Wednesday keeping the stoke high as the next storm rolls in to clean up the tracks and set the stage for what looks to be a possible sickbird day on Friday.

The first stop on the North American Snowkite Tour in Jackson Hole, Wyoming has provided a great spring-board for what hopes to be a rocking season of snowkiting and exploration in the back country.   Pro riders continued to roll in day by day from all over the country, reconnecting with their friends and sharing the stoke of the sessions and season to come.

Electric Kite Pumps – Pump Envy and the no Stroke Stoke

OK, if you are offended by puns of a pumping nature please do not read this post.  I make many irreverent puns in this post and you may not like it or you may laugh, it all depends. *

So for the past two years I have had this major fantasy about kite inflation.  As immature as it sounds every time one of  our rinky-dink black plastic, stock pumps gets fussy I want  to shove it up someone’s dark and scary place.  I realize this can’t be done as the pump is way too large to fit there and  I really have no idea who this someone is, it’s an abstract concept that, never-the-less, helps deflate my pump frustrations.

Island Paradise by Jason Frounfelker

Here is a great video that Jason Frounfelker put together of some of the Montana crew kiting a few of the spots around “Man-tana”.  Thanks Jason for letting me post this and putting together such a great short film.

“Just another weekend of wind and little snow. Thanks for all the good vibes and I hope to follow up with many more vids.” -Frouny

F.U.N Time by Pascal Joubert

Pascal put together this beautiful video of his kite adventures this past weekend.  I always love checking out what Pascal, Wayne and the other Jackson Hole Kiters are up to they put a capital “A’ on adventure.  Thank you Pascal for giving me permission to post this!

http://vimeo.com/35177877

Young Girl, Big Air!

I think there comes a day, in most parents lives, when the inevitable happens, their child does something so amazing it both scares and thrills them beyond belief.  This was yesterday at Mount Haggin, MT for Packy and me.  The day started with the kids amped to kite, they got out of bed early and packed their own gear, it was amazing.  We rolled down US I-90, toward Butte, enjoying a friendly discussion on ethics, morality and politic, yes we are a bit geeky and after Rocker Packy declared we could only talk about kiting until we pulled into Haggin so the conversation went kitey, it was fun.

Another day in Paradise

It was another beautiful day in paradise.  Raynold’s Pass was blue bird, the wind was blowing and the people happy.  Here are some pictures I took of Joe and Packy, I am really enjoying my camera.  Packy took the shots of me.  I hope all of you flies have a very windy weekend. –Mel.

El Norte -Snowkiting Powder at Raynolds Pass 1/11/12

I’m feeling pretty luck today. After a super early start and a long drive to Raynold’s Pass it looked like I was in for a skunking.   There was no wind to be found, it had quit with the dawn and I had made the long trip based on what looked like solid information on the National Weather Service website. Not to be put off so easily, Joe Irons and I honed in on a north flow coming down the hill. It was not so much a wind but cold air spilling over the Continental Divide at the top of the pass. 

Adrenajen’s KITE POW- Things we Learn Along the Way.

KITE POW 2:  LINE LENGTH

Lets talk about Line Length!

Over the years I’ve been kiting, bars have come with anywhere between 20 & 30 meter lines and I was taught to use what I’ve got.  But my latest Best performance bar comes with 20m lines and 3m extensions giving the option of flying with different length lines.  My question was what length to use and when?

Ole’s Story – A Video Documentary

This video was posted today on the Southwest Montana Avalanche Report.  It is an amazing story that has transpired over the past 6 days.  Worth the view for sure, it tells the story of an amazing dog.

http://vimeo.com/34650296

Speak to the Kite –Kite Whispering vs. Verbal Abuse

This past week something funny happened, the wind died.  Ordinarily that isn’t funny because it means an epic swim a very long waddle across the tundra with your kite under your arm.  This weekend was the tundra walk.  After our family regrouped at the Vee- dub-you-a (Volkswagen van) I walked up to my daughter who was still stubbornly trying to re-launch her kite.  As I approached her I realized she was saying some very colorful things to the kite as sweat fogged her goggles.

Ka’au

In 1988 I went to Hawaii for the first time with my then boyfriend and now husband, Packy.  Packy had some wild concept that I was indestructible so our first ocean swim was at Pupu kea (up current from Pipeline) in monster huge surf.  After extracting myself from the scariest 45 minutes of my young life I declared I need something a little less life threatening to make my first Hawaiian Holiday memorable. The following day my husband’s dear friend, Ka’au  picked us up for an ”epic” surf session at Ku’aloa, near Chinaman’s Hat on Oahu.

A Glide Guide with Billy Bordy

Here is a great video from kitesites featuring many of the cool and wonderful snowkiters at the Snowkite Masters last season.  Billy gives some excellent advice.

Teaching Kids to Kite, Part 2 –We are here to Pump you up!

Back in the late eighties and early nineties Saturday Night Live had a regular comedy skit featuring two overly pumped Austrian brothers named Hans and Franz. This was around the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was gaining big man notoriety so almost anything Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealson did in the guise of Hans and Franz was incredibly funny.  Each skit was punctuated with Hans and Franz proclaiming in unison:  “We are here to pump you up!”