Bagley Icefield Snowkite Expedition 2008

There were many inspirations for this expedition, but first and foremost was a trip up to the Wrangell-St.Elias Mountains the year before which redefined my idea of mountains. As a skier visiting this area for the first time, it is like a sailor going from his local lake to the Pacific Ocean-the scale is too vast to comprehend and it makes other mountain ranges almost seem irrelevant. Once you have skied there, you have to go back.

Another inspiration is that aside from endless mountains, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (WSE NPP) also has some of the largest icefields in North America, which make for great kiteskiing. Unlike glaciers which are steeper and thus more crevassed, an icefield is more like a frozen reservoir of ice. There are a few cracks here and there, but for the most part, icefields can be safely navigated at high speed using a kite or in poor visibility, which is a huge safety factor.

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Snowkiten Chasta news

so I’m in the USA at the moment, around Utah for the past 3 weeks now. What a beautiful and vast (wide) country for snowkiting, it will take me many many years to discover all the best spots. This winter had the best conditions since many years, so many local kiters discovered loads of new spots all around Montana, Idaho, Wyoming.

We finally see there’s a good interest in snowkiting, people understand they don’t have to always use their snowmobiles to go backcountry skiing, yessss!!!

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