crabnebula wrote:
The Snowkite summit in the Big Horns last year brought up a great point to push the extreme side and create a surge of interest, and show the population of "already excited about risk sports folks" out there what snowkiting can do....
Crabnebula, I appreciated your write-up and data, but this point in particular I'm just not sold on. I think the extreme-sports folks have already discovered kiting. Especially if we are talking water: there used to be a sport called windsurfing that guys used to do until another bigger extreme sport came along.
If we are interested in growing the number of people involved in snowkiting (and frankly, there aren't very many people who are interested in this - most of the current active population would like to see the number stay small), then I'm not convinced that continually pushing the "Extreme" label of the sport is beneficial.
I am painfully aware of many individuals in their 30 or 40 somethings (you know, the ones that actually have enough money for a $1000 kite) who are actually dissuaded from trying the sport after watching what is most of the online kiting videos. They are intrigued, but it looks too dangerous. Or they would love to try, but their wife caught them watching kiting videos, and their wife said it is too dangerous. I think in some ways, our eagerness to apply the extreme label has unfortunately cut off much of the potential customer base.
Kiting certainly can be extreme, but it doesn't have to be. And [gasp] believe it or not, it can still be enjoyed in its un-extreme state. Some of my favorite snowkiting experiences have been in 8-10mph dusk or dawn sessions: cruising along on a blanket of snow enjoying the solitude, serenity and amazing colors that only happen in a winter sunrise or sunset.
I get a little tired of the constant mantra that you have to be boosting 50 ft of air or hill gliding multiple minutes to "really" be kiting. This sentiment was echoed again this year at the snowkite summit where someone made the announcement that the only reason we kite is to fly. Well, frankly, that's not true. I have a paraglider for that. In the past I built and flew an experimental aircraft for that. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy jumping and I'm learning hill gliding and think its amazing- but it is not the end-all of kiting, and I still have fun kiting even when I'm not doing that. To belittle those who don't do it is a little short-sighted and probably detrimental to the sport. Its a little like saying, "Bikers bike for one reason: to go down a mountain trail," as if the entire sports industry of road biking didn't exist (I say that as mountain-biker).
I gotta hand it to the New England crowd who gets after it in some pretty nasty kiting conditions and enjoys the heck out of cruising around and getting some serious speed and miles on their lake network out there. It sounds like a blast and I would love to make it out there some time (my wife has family in Enfield, CT - hmmm....). I will have to agree with others that I am always perplexed at the "It's too cold" argument. I don't recall a session that I haven't come back sweating from. Some of it is just getting out one time and getting over the psychological hump; sadly for many more (aka the majority) it is just too much work.
I will say I've never had the trouble of too many kites blocking my view of the sun-kissed mountains at six in the morning, and that's just fine by me!