Painting and Kiting
As the seasons are changing things are warming up here in Montana. Packy and I have already made several treks to Ennis Lake to kite with out kite friends. We even logs a day or two in March, a first ever because of the extremely mild winter and spring we have been experiencing.
I have been using the extra time and warmth to work on some paintings. I started a series of paintings inspired by Ivan Doig’s book “This House of Sky” in the fall. I read “This House of Sky 15 years ago and reread it in September and found myself even more in league with my old literary icon, Ivan. Read more 
2012 Episode 3 by Joe Irons
Here is Joes final instalment of his trilogy of Montana kitning, enjoy.
Where Have we Been Again 3: The Georgetown Lake Open (GTO)
This weekend Frances and I traveled just 2 hours down Interstate 90 to the GTO. Cole Russell put on a wonderful event with course racing, speed and distance trials and a freestyle competition.
There are experiences or events that I experience where the sum is truly greater than the parts and this weekend was one of those happy and great take aways. On Saturday morning I got out of bed and started organizing for the weekend at 5:00 AM. I was hoping that Frances and I could have a 6:30 departure for Georgetown Lake and the Georgetown Open, affectingly called the GTO. This was the final snowkite event for this season, put together by Cole Russell. Cole has worked hard to put this event on for the past six years as he has diligently built his snowkite business, Underground Kitesports, in Phillipsburg, Montana.
Predicting the Future by Packy
I am driving the Toy-ot-ta, not the Vee-dub-youa, the transmission of the Vee-dub-youa made a horrible noise when two very large bolts fell on the ground after an oil change. Packy got to ride in a Bow-wing to Hawaii, he headed there to help his parents start making the transition for a move to San Francisco, or at least that is what he says to his parents, I think he is planning on kiting as much as he can, he took three kites and bought a surfboard. Read more
2012 Episode 2 by Joe Irons
Here is episode 2 of Joe’s 2012 triology. Thanks Joe for another great video! As some of you may have noticed Joe is a semi-regular contributor to this blog and he has given permision to display his work on these blog posts.
Enjoy,
Mel.
2012 Episode 1 by Joe Irons
Joe just sent me this link of the first in a video trilogy he is putting together of the 2012 kite season. Joe has featured some of the Montana Snowkite Crew having a great time in our corner of the world. Joe does an amazing job of editing, and self filming; see if you can spot the clips he filmed of himself or others remotely. Thanks Joe for your contribution!
El Norte 2: Updraft Thursday
Packy penned this post of the great day of kiting Thursday, enjoy!
Updraft Thursday
Winter is finally making an appearance in Southwest Montana, and when the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast the north wind or “El Norte” for the “Montaho” region, it didn’t slip by the local kite crew. Appointments were dropped and new plans were made, this was not a day to be missed. The northwest wind showed up right on time, the clouds broke, the sun came out and we were on it. Wendensday’s warmth had put a crust on the snow, and luckily the snowmobilers hadn’t rutted it up, so it was smooth and fast. Read more
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
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. Read more
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.
flykitesports 