Hard december conditions.

Here is a short message about the snowkiting conditions here in the south-eastern Alpes.
After a very cool snowfall end of november we were so happy with so many cool spots around for huge sessions.
But a super warm south wind was blowing for one week.
All the snow disappeared under 2.000m.
Now, for one month the only one spot remains the Lautaret Pass.
It is 2h30 driving from my home...
That means 5h00 hours driving every session I plan to do up-there.
It's already hard but came harder when I drive so long road and meet wrong conditions so no kiting session.
What a pitty.
The forecast was quite every day wrong.
So I went for no kiting at least 8 times...
I missed some pretty good sessions when the very bad weather was announced and the conditions were OK though.
Anyway, here are some facts :
-We never get to the mythical spot Les 3 Evêchés since end of october, when the snow came here in our mountains. This is near incredible, we need the south-east wind and we can say that it never blows this direction for two monthes and half.
-Chasta came from Tahiti on the 6th december, and since this date, I made a short movie, but no photo at all. Because we never got any session for at least a basic picture. So many super stormy days, foggy, or sometimes blue sky with no wind at all for the whole day.
-We didn't go kiting the usual spot called "Le grand virage" for more than one month, I mean for all december month. This is as well really incredible as this good spot is normaly the main area for snowkiting here at Lautaret Pass.
-We are loosing now the Combeynod area, very good spot and the only one when the north-west wind is blowing. The rangers from the Natural Park came and told that they won't allow us to go kiting this area any more. They were pretty cool during the end of last season but now they will fine us if we go kiting there.

So, even when we are free to go snowkiting every day, it's not sure we'll get the perfect conditions for cool videos and photos promoting our sport.
That's wat it is.
:-(


I made this picture yesterday, we were waiting all the day long without any breeze, speaking around near the car park, then we could feel the air starting to move very very very very slow. We set up our gear and I could have a 20meters run for this pic. Then the wind stopped.

Vosges Snowkiting Cup. Open distance.

My friends from the event in the northern country of France set up a snowkiting race Open distance in the mountains of Vosges.
I was asked for a painting due to illustrate the tee-shirt of the event.
Here is the painting, watercolors, from a picture of the real spot, photo from J.B. Foliguet :




And then, here is the tee-shirt picture :



:)

Autrans

A super warm wind was blowing for one week, all the snow was melting under 2.000m elevation.
It was such a pitty as we got huge snowpack around there, enough for snowkiting near 1.000m which allows us for lot of super cool spots about only one hour driving from home.
Then the cold north wind came, bringing -20°c temperature and a very small amount of fresh powder due to the special icy fog.
So, no more snowkiting here, as all the spots had grass ground and stones everywhere.
Very surprising was the plateau near Autrans, a little ski-resort in the Vercors Natural Park.
It seems that the warm wind didn't reach this area, and a good snowpack was still covering the fields.
Autrans remains for few weeks the only one spot near Grenoble, avoiding the 2h30 driving to the Lautaret Pass.
Here is a short movie below about the session and you will see a part introducing how to fly softly with a kite.


The AUTRANS video


:)

KITESURF mag France.

Chasta crossing a river in Thompson Pass, Valdez.


Cool december issue of the magazine KITESURF France.
A complet subject about how to start snowkiting, text & photos from my friend Bertrand Boone.
And as well a 10 pages report about the ALASKA session during 2010 april with Chasta.
If you can check it out while coming to France, don't miss it :


This is a self-shot on the Sargent Glacier, Chughachs Mountains. I use the remote control on my EOS Canon camera and a tripod.



I can't explane my feeling when I made this picture of Chasta kiting up with the unforgettable background of huge alaskan glaciers.

:)

Kailea snow towing.

What a great day when you can go snowkiting with your children.
Not old enough for kiting, they can go for a skiing session.
Just bring them to the top of the hill while towing with a rope and a custom bar.
Then, let your child skiing downhill.
You can do it again, and again.
It seems this is a perfect way to spend super session with the family.
Here is a short movie showing our friend Chasta and daughter Kailea :

KAILEA SNOW TOWING VIDEO

:)

Pascal

Mister W

It was a super cloudy session at Lautaret Pass.
Very cold, about -18°c but super light fresh powder snow.
We went to a special spot called Les Clochettes, with my friends Wareck and Régis from Snowkitemasters event.
The first session of the season for Wareck.
Check out the video I made about one of his run really funny :

VIDEO MISTER WARECK

The session was cool, but the best thing was to be with super good friends.

:)

Pasal

Kiteloop session.

Well, two days ago, I had a session at Lautaret Pass with the snowkiting guide Johann Civel.
The wind was super gusty, near to be dangerous.
The snow really hard, icy.
Johann went for a kiteloop session, I was only making snapshots, no movie unfortunately.
Here is a pic from the session, Johann is going to the right (his left hand) while the kite make a loop like the clock.
It seems I pushed the button a little bit too late, the kite was more down 1/50 second earlier.
Anyway, I like this pic, not so usual to see the kiteloops from the top.
I wasn't flying above Johann, no, I just went hiking to the top of the hill and the view from upthere was perfect.
A few other moves were more extreme but this one is my favourite as we can see other guys on the ground and that angle gives the power to the picture.
During this session I made probably the best kiteloop picture I ever done, so I keep it for worldwide mags and try to not spread it on the internet.
As soon as the printing is ready with the mags, I will add it here on the blog pages.
:)

Chasta first 2011 Session.

Just back from Tahiti two days ago, Guillaume went to the Lautaret Pass for his first 2011 snowkiting session.
Although the great blue sky, the wind was crazy gusty, the snow really hard and icy.
Anyway, Chasta was happy to meet the new 2011 FRENZY and the 3 dimensional kiting way.
You can check out the session on the video below.
A smooth session, no extreme freestyle, but we really like kiting cool and relax you know.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MOVIE

:)
Cheers, Pascal.

Alaska 2010.

Good memories from a session on the Sargent Glacier, Anchorage, Alaska, 2010 april.




Now, it's time to go for the same runs, here in France.


:)

The Boolgyloop

Here is the link to a video explaning how to go uphill with a kite on the snow.
You will see three ways about the kite to go uphill.
The third one, called the Boolgyloop is a special loop with three good points.
1-no twisted lines, 2-as many loops as you want in the same direction, 3-you can pull the frontlines to help the kite flying in really light wind.
I call it the Boolgyloop because I find this way by my own on 2005, I never see anybody doing it before.
But may be someone, in his corner, decided to make the same move, it is not impossible.
Anyway, now we call it Boolgyloop and so that will remain in our snowkiting sport :)

Well, let's see the movie here :

THE BOOLGYLOOP


Have great time.
Cheers, Pascal.