VIDEO : https://vimeo.com/111561445
Hi, snowkiting friends around the world.
Here is a short report about the traditional HQ Powerkites week in Norway, which happened last 2014 march.
Usualy, we're staying in Geilo, at the bottom of the Hardangervidaa country, in a super comfortable building an smooth appartments, all is property of HAUGASTOL tourism center.
To get there, you'll have to fly to Oslo (Norway) then taking the train (easy, the railway station is set at the underground floor of the arrival Airport Gardermoen), or you can as well rent a car instead.
The Hardangervidaa area is really huuge, not so steepy, and we often have to go chasing the wind along the road, even on the "windy" days due to the weather forecasts taken on the internet.
Here is a typical view of the Hardangervidaa area, I mean it's possible to go endless snowkiting, that's a little bit boring at the end as it's pretty flat, but we're always so happy to cruise along the snowfields.
Keep careful anyway as the wind which seems to be super stable and announced by the forecasts, can die in one minute and that will be another "endless" run to come back with the touring-skis or snowshoes... Mind it.
During this HQ Powerkites week, we had three days with super snow, perfect wind, but completely cloudy, flat light, no visibility at all. Then three days with great blue sky, perfect snowpack, but no wind at all...
That's snowkiting life, you know it already.
Here we can see Gauthier Alghisi starting the session with the new 2015 MATRIXX II 18m as the wind was blowing about 1 knot, and so it did all along this day.
The best snow/wind/sun conditions we had were on the "first" day, arrival day actualy for us, before all the team mates coming on the day after. I didn't optimize this great luck (I was thinking to have such conditions for the week...) and spent my time cruising around, hill-gliding a lot, and didn't take so many photos or video footage, which will be quite impossible during the rest of the week...
Here is a picture about this first day before the date.
Laurent Sublet and Antoine Vallon, both with the MATRIXX II, are jumping together (one skier + one snowboarder) this super nice windlip. That was an idea coming from Antoine.
Two times, after coming back from the plateau for a no-wind day, we gave a try for a sunset session, right next to the Geilo ski resort, and twice we were lucky as a strange "wind" was blowing only one hour during the sunset, allowing us to live an unforgettable session in the stunning colors of the sky.
That's all.
This super week is every year the choice of our big boss at HQ Powerkites, who really loves this country and doesn't want to hear about any other options. And every spring we are so happy to meet all together for these incredible days in Hardangervidaa.
The aim is to work on the design of the new 2015 models, as well to make a great photoshooting or video footage for the HQ communication in november.
The most important thing is to spend a wonderful snowkiting week and this is a complete success every year.
Here is the video about the week :
https://vimeo.com/111561445
Thank you very much for reading, dudes.
Cheers.
Boulgakow