Now that the road is closed at the Bighorn Mountains we stayed in Lovell, Wyoming for the first time. We pulled out the Alpine start from Jackson leaving at 430am with the standard Jackson crew of Wayne, Pascal, Chaz,Jamie, Pascal’s friends Christophe and Myself.
3 trucks, 5 sleds, and the 6 of us hit the road. We posted “Bighorns!” on the Jackson Hole Kiters, Facebook page and drove into the sunrise.
There was a bit of culture shock that first night in Lovell. Knowing that Christophe is a famous French Chef made me think that any funny stereotypes he must have about North American food are probably confirmed if not exaggerated. Not speaking French there was no way to make any excuses. Pascal probably just told him to get used to it, since we tend to drag Pascal to all these funny places. However, at the 4 Corner’s Grill the folks were super friendly, and the waitress cooked our food, served our drinks and helped everyone else in the bar. Her mom was sitting at the bar and helped her carry out the food on the second day. Todd from Meeteetse, Wy was originally from Lovell got it right...the Burger is quality.
The Horse Shoe Bend Motel was our place. Joe and Joe the married couple running the place were as nice as they come. I guess Dave stayed there Saturday night and we didn’t even know it. Dave by the way skinned in with his dogs to Mt Baldy before we even got up there…extra credit since sleds compromise my environmental morals.
Before we left we knew we would have some NW wind conditions which drastically decrease the area of the terrain, however still have some great features. There’s tons of long half pipe features that we really need to dedicate more time too. They’re vertical walled trenches formed from runoff with snow on top. I’m sure with a foot + of fresh snow the bottom could be a deadly terrain trap, but this trip it was like a groomed and shaped pipe at a resort. Not only that, you can climb up Mt Baldy on the NW side and fly from the very top to the flats which probably takes 50 seconds+ on direct flight. Don’t land in the trenches! A Kite down with lines over the sides of those trenches and you in the bottom would be insane. You’d probably have to let your kite go and walk out the bottom of the trench just to get out.
Anyway, the first day was light NW with some great top to bottom glides. The second day was full North and strong with a great local crew. We got a little ridge soaring above these trees near the top. It was simply too dangerous to spend the day playing there, but the halfpipe and flats were good times until dark. The third day gave way to some sitting around in the morning to finally the West wind we wanted soooooooo bad. The big bowl gave us ridge soaring we could nearly stay up in. We were gliding across the hill pulling big turns and long passes landing about where we were starting. 5mph more and we wouldn’t have even landed. Chaz pulled off a massive glide to the flats that landed him a half mile+ away. It probably took him 20 min to get back. We now know that if you take off at the top and land at the top you get to spend more time in the air!
I got to fly big on the 2012 Ozone Frenzy for the first time and it felt easy and stable. I was surprised how nice of a pull the loops have. Christophe was pulling really powerful loops right in the lift ban on the Frenzy all the time. The launch and landing are just as easy as they say. I needed depower crossing the icy top and the wingtips weekend a bit. The convenience and quickness of access do make it a snow specific kite no doubt. For flying my friends, the Ozone Edge was the favorite kite of the day. Pascal peeled my hands off the bar to get mine. “Just one try” he said, but yea right! The Edge has that dang efficiency! Not only does it go upwind for racers, it glides ultra efficiently to help you stay up. It was frustrating to give my kite up, but lead to taking some pics so I hope you enjoy them because I was clicking not flying!
Thanks to the Bighorn regulars for their beta and meeting us up there. These guys are great to kite with, and with imperfect wind and snow conditions…friends make it Epic! – Will