SCSU Kite Clinic

January 30-31, 2010

This weekend we (mostly Mike) helped out with St. Cloud State's Outdoor Endeavors kite clinic, which was sponsored by MN Adventure and Velocity Kiting. Mike, Aaron, Jeremy, and Seth volunteered their time to instruct the 8 SCSU students and Outdoor Endeavors staff. Saturday winds were low, so trainer kites were flown most of the day by the first-time kiters.

The instructors must have heard the wind calling their names Sunday morning because they were out there before 8 a.m. The students rolled out to the ice around 9 a.m., so it was time for the instructors to go to work (except for those who were hungry and went to breakfast!). Everyone was able to get up on larger depowerable kites today, and they sure made their instructors look good. Impressive, guys and girls! I even saw some jumps and some ice road crossings. Despite the cold temps (5~10 above), the students showed their persistance and put in some long days. They left with some good skills and big smiles. The clinic continues at the end of February.

Your dad will have you kiting soon, Caleb!

ND Kite Session @ Pirate's Runway

January 23-24, 2010
It all started with an "Alert5" that went south with the weather. Seth and I were supposed to meet up with Bryce for a winter camping kite trip, but the plans changed as the perfect winter kiting trip went out the window with the weather report. Conditions were supposed to be 30F and nice winds at 13-18 mph. Well, as it turned out, most of Minnesota was 35F and raining. Seeing the weather report starting to change, Seth and I changed plans and decided to check out some kiting terrain that I had found while working in North Dakota.

ND has a lot to offer to kiters- consistent wind, good snow pack, and lots of terrain. But beware of barbed wire and Bison!

We started Saturday off with a hot breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon, provided by our gracious hosts Dave and Sally Ahonen, who put us up for the weekend.
ND had gotten a little rain on Friday night but it didn't destroy the 2 feet of snow pack, though it did make the snow a little sticky. Winds were steady at 20 for most of the day, dying off in the late afternoon.

The best part of ND is the rolling terrain! Plenty of hills to kite up and glide off. Seth had many lofty long glides off of "Little MT Hagen", and I my first real take of hang time.

The wind died at 3:30 as the weather report predicted, and Seth and I both concurred that it was going to be hard to kite on lakes again. We retired to the Ahonen home for delicious venison pot roast and Dave's "Skunk Piss" homebrew! It was a fine day!

Sunday the 24th, 2010

Well, the weather forecast didn't quite hit the mark and the new snow and wind definitely didn't arrive on time. Seth and I decided to check out some terrain in eastern MN that looked like it had good terrain potential. We got up and had another great breakfast put on by the Ahonen's and headed out to scout before the wind came up. That was a bust, with the humidity being 100% the fog was thick and we couldn't see 100 ft in front of us, let alone scout out new terrain. We then opted for a smaller lake that was nearby and set up in light wind and fog. The lake was slushy under 6" of snow, and riding was fair. After the fog cleared and the terrain was visible the area was deemed to have great kiting potential.

Sorry Seth, I have to post the second worst landing of the day!

It was an awesome kiting weekend - can't wait to get out to ND again!

Mt. Bohemia, Days 5-6

Friday, Jan. 1, 2010

We were up at 7 a.m. after a few hours of sleep in order to be on the hill when it opened. We got a few inches of fresh powder over night, so we wanted to take advantage of that.

Melissa had some solo runs while Mike napped in the afternoon, then she tried sledding with Piton.

Friends we met last night, Chris & Georgia, invited us to their cabin for dinner. Another couple Rob & Jennifer also joined us. Card games and conversation made for a fun night.

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010

To celebrate 8 years of knowing each other (we met on 1-2-02), we spent the day snowboarding on fresh powder ~ it was awesome! We found some new tree runs and gave Mt. Bohemia's triple black diamond "Extreme Backcountry" a try. The bus picks you up at the bottom of this section and brings you back to the main lift.

We tore down camp at the end of the day and headed to Houghton for dinner. We found a great Chinese restaurant, then made it as far as Lake Gogobec where we stayed in a motel. Piton was happy to have heat throughout the night for the first time all week.

Mt. Bohemia, days 3-4

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009

Omlets in a bag make a great breakfast while winter camping. We went in search of wind today, but had no luck. Instead we found some really nice XC ski trails in Copper Harbor. We spent the afternoon as tourists - lunch at Mariner North and shopping at the Laughing Loon. Tonight we tried making pizza in the tent on the wood stove for dinner. Unfortunately our pizza bread crust was a bit past expiration (by a few years), so it wasn't the best pizza we've ever had.

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009

Pancakes & bacon (finally bacon!) for breakfast, followed by an inquiry about the local lakes. We noticed there are no tracks and no fish houses on the lakes around here, and found out it is because the ice is not thick enough yet. There goes snow kiting. So, we decided to hike up a ridge in Copper Harbor (Brockway Trail) ~ Mike in his tele skis and Melissa in snowshoes ~ with our snowboards strapped to our backs. We made it to the summit (1386 feet) in about an hour and a half, strapped into our boards and got back down in a matter of minutes. Good times! We stopped at Zik's for a drink, then headed back to the tent for chili. To bring in the new year, we went to Bear Belly Bar in Lac La Belle for a drink or two, then drove to Copper Harbor - back to Zik's to listen to a sweet bluegrass band called Chasin' Steel.

Fireworks in town at midnight marked the new year. The band kept playing until 2 a.m. Mike "siezed the moment" and couldn't resist $1.50 cans of Pabst.