kiting

It's always windy somewhere in wyoming, usually within 45 mins of jackson i think.  I did a little research yesterday (Sunday), checked the winds, and headed out to Bondurant, a very small town 30 miles south of jackson on 191.

if you're curious theres kiting info on this site.

I got to zone 3 of bondurant (due to low winds) only to find myself surrounded by barbed wire, and no other kiters.  So I waited for a while and the winds started to pick up, so I checked out zone 1.  I ran into Bill (a local kiting instructor) and his student whose name I forget.  We chatted (the wind was dead at zone 1), and waited for some other dude to try speed kiting for the first time.  Learn what speed kiting is here...I'll probably learn eventually (haha joking).

Then we split for zone 3, where I learned that you just hop that barbed wire fence.  Zone three is enormous.  The kiting extends miles away from the road, but I kept to the "small" field near the road, between the barbed wire and those hills in the picture below.

It took me forever to get my kite setup (its been a year), I had to inflate twice, then tangled my lines and tried not to step on them with my snowshoes...basically it was a mess, but I finally got the kite flying, albeit with a couple of lines crossed.  Kited for an hour and change, conditions were tough with a lot of wind crust (hasnt snowed in a few days), and occasionally the nose of my board would get buried and I'd cartwheel...fortunately the kite goes straight to the low power zones and is easy to depower (love this kite).

Got a few small jumps, I'm starting to get a feel for jumping, but I was getting my legs back and wasnt powered enough for anything substantial.  

Bill and his student split, and I had some trouble self landing my kite.  If the winds were stronger I'm not sure I could do it...gotta get some pointers.  But I got it eventually and bill left his card on my truck (good because he offered half price lift tickets at the village).  I'm not ready to kite alone yet, I need a few more sessions under my belt.

Cooked some dinner at the pulloff.  I was pleased to find that the camper top has an equally good beer opening device as does the toolbox (see below).

Split back to jackson after dinner, here are some pictures from the drive back.  Jackson is an incredibly beautiful place, I need to learn a little more about the geography, but it's amazing.  dunno why this is underlined...oh well.

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