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Powder Mountain Superfly Event, February 8th-10th
By Roving Field Correspondent Richard Frosted
Posted 02/13/08
The Inaugural Superfly Powder Mountain Open event organized by Les from Utah Kite Addiction has come and gone with a huge turnout from local, national, international riders during the weekend of February 8th - 10th. Great conditions greeted the riders throughout the three days with several disciplines going on over the contest period as well as demos for those interested in learning the excitement that snow kiting allows.
Jake Bularoo
A huge winter storm hampered the set up of the event area the day before competition began with 50mhp winds+ and whiteout conditions slowed down the set up of the rails and tents. After several hours the rails were dragged, lifted and dug out of the snow to be relocated to the top of the mountain for the first day of riding early the next morning.
Bryan
Chalet Best #3
Snow Cat
Blue skies and steady west winds arrived for the first day of competition. All the organizers and volunteers chipped in to have the competition set up within hours. Jim and Cori from New Wind Kiteboarding Shop in the Gorge and Daryl from Ocean Extreme Sports from St Augustine all put in the extra miles to help out and get the event on the road. Without the help of all the organizers and volunteers these great events would be difficult to get of the ground! Thank you to everyone that made it happen!
Jake
Les
Leaderboard Lia
After an early morning free ride session the freestyle competition kicked off. The snowboarders went out first with a bunch of standout riders including Jake Buzianis, Remi Mium and Petter Johnson. The skiers went next with Bjorn Kaupang and Kevin Steen as the standouts. All the riders rode well mixing it up between wake style, rail and big air tricks. Just as the ladies prepared to go out another front came through with more whiteout conditions which forced everyone of the mountain to end the day.
Jake Grab
Jim from New Wind
Later that night the Best Bikini competition went wild with a bevy of beauties. Three rounds of competition let the girls strut their stuff before the crowd of riders, locals and photographers. After some careful tattoo placements for promotional purpose only, the girls got the crowd cheering in there ski gear covered beachwear.
Lori Tattoo
Girls
Eight
Crew
It wasn't long until the final rounds finished up with several standout performers doing their best along the way. Everyone got festive to the live band and partied on until the bar closed after a long day. These are always good nights!
Wonder Woman
Bikini Comp
Five
Best Party
Day two of the competition saw light wind eventuate. Most riders were on 15m + kites and the kite racers started in the trying conditions with course racing and distance racing events contested. There was a huge turnout from many interested new kiters wanting to take lessons on the trainer kites and see what all the fun is about. A light breeze filled in later in the late afternoon for the riders to play around on the rails. It was a great day even if the wind was on the light side.
Jake Rail
Jake Raley
Sunset
Later that night there was a rider's party at Wolf Creek Resort. Some of the Best Crew was a little late arriving after getting a flat tire along the way. Getting a night time flat in the mountains of Utah is not an enjoyable experience and with four sometimes-intelligent people attempting to fix the problem only created even bigger problems. A flat battery! Eventually the AAA arrived and the crew rolled up to the party just in time to see the prize giving. The Norwegian contingent of Bjorn Kaupang and Remi Mium taking out the skiing and snowboarding divisions respectively. Congratulations.
Kian Flat
Best Crew
Baldy
The third day of competition was a little more laid back with everyone having fun free riding the amazing terrain on Powder Mountain or testing the latest gear. It was great to see everyone turn out for such a fun event especially with the interest from the skiing and snowboarding public who dropped by to test the trainer kites and see for themselves the sport of snowkiting.
Jake Cruise
The Boys
Thanks to everyone involved who helped out the event. Les from Utah Kite Addition. The Powder Mountain resort for taking the big first steps into allowing snow kiting to become a feature of their resort. Big thanks to Jim and Cori from New wind and Daryl from Ocean Extreme Sports.
Hope to see everyone out there next year to help make the event bigger and better!!
~ Richard Frosted