Sideshore Snowkite Course for Cameron OnTrack

I am sure most kiters around have. like me, tried to explain to your boss why you just have to leave work early because it is wind, why you absolutely neeeed 3 weeks holiday to Brasil in October and why every Friday throughout the winter you are either staring glassy eyed out at the wind and snow, or not at you desk..Well, I figured it was time to do something about it :) So last weekend me, Emily, our dogs and 12 of my colleagues (including two of my bosses) headed for Haukeliseter and a weekend of good food, fun people, loads and loads of powder and snowkiting course with sideshore.no. We were lucky enough to get two excellent instructors for the course, Lisa and Anne-Sofie!


Friday started off really snowy! The driving conditions were pretty horrible, but we all made it up there. And when it snows... you wake up to 20cm of powder!! The first half of Saturday morning was pretty light wind, we drove to the Haukeliseter tunnel and found some prefect conditions for the guys practicing launching :) You have to struggle a bit when you learn snowkiting! After lunch the wind increased and I have no idea how all the students were doing cause I was out there having a blast in the light light beautiful powder! 3hrs session of cruising, practicing frontrolls/backrolls and a little bit of transition looping.. (had a few faceplants - dragged 5m forward under the snow experiences.. haha). A few of the students really got the hang of the kites. And a few really got the hang of kiting with skies! First day!! Must be great instructors :)

Some wine, hot-tubbing and a lovely 3-course dinner later we were all completely out. I think we were all pretty soar, beaten up and tired Sunday, the snow was packed heavy by the wind, and prove to be incredible heavy to ride in (with my very very soar legs from 3hrs non stop kiting Saturday). It was windy but completely whiteout.. Forced myself to ride for about an hour. At that point both my legs were cramping and there was about 40 newbies out with kites and skies making the area pretty crowded, so I gave up kiting and we packed or gear and headed home. Apparently the wind died an hour later, made me feel a lot better :) The guys all got to ride for a little while and everyone was really happy with the course and the weekend. I hope at least I few of the guys will buy kites and continue riding!

Paul Gundersen took some great pictures throughout the weekend  (below and link): Sideshore Cameron Course

Ready for snowkiting!

The dogs could smell Torstein's lunch

Me and Nani

Learning fast!

Espen showing how it's done

Not sure who this is.. But doing well!

Paul getting the kite ready

Ready for course

KrsKite doing Hovden

Kristiansand Kiteklubb legendary trip to the mountains of Hovden, Aust Agder. Seven eager kiters was sitting on top of Nos Friday afternoon..The forecast did not look good, or actually it looked too good to be true and way too good to be able to kite :) Friday was suppose to be the best day with stunning blue sky and a forecast of 7m/s. This turned out to be more like stunning weather and 0m/s.. but we did some top of the mountain yoga, headstands and Kittil cooked hot-dogs for us all. Friday night is as it should be taco night, followed by Monopol.. And as the leader of KrsKite I hereby forbid the game Monopol from any future KrsKite arrangements... I think I got the record of 8 or 9 direct trips to jail within one round.. 

Saturday didn't look too promising as the weather forecast indicated 22m/s.. full storm.. And full storm it was, it was even said to be hurricane force in some of the gusts on the tops. But nothing stops krskite when we're up for some sailing.. We drove to Bjåen (in a blistering storm and not able to see the car 2m ahead of us..), but suddenly it all just cleared and the sky turned blue, the wind was still hauling, but hey, that's what we are looking for! And with my 5 Wainman Bunny tuned for strong wind this day turned out to be the best! Finishing of the day with Rolf's tasty Surf'nTurf pasta dish, some wine, Indo boarding and good company at Torjus' fabulous cabin.

Sunday was still sunny and blue sky, the forecast looked pretty light, but we took a chance and rigged up the kites on top of Nos again. The beginning of the day turned out to be really light with very hard packed snow, but as the sun turned around the snow became softer, the wind turned up a notch and another awesome day on the board:) Photos are all from Jan Marius Egenes. Link to the complete album: KrsKite Hovdentur 2013

Double Wainman Bunny. Tallak and Karianne

Waiting for wind at Nos

Torjus at Bjåen

Torjus and Stian practicing handstands

Karianne looking ready for a arctic expedition

Karianne trying to jump or somethin

Tallak showing how to do a nice Railey

Jan Marius out flying

Our airforce pilot Stian 

Soooo tired after an awesome day

Torjus' lovely cabin in the nighttime

The crew chillin after a long day

Karianne and the Wainman Punch in stunning location

Torjus showing of some tricks

Rolf taking in the scenery

Wainman Punch, a blue teletubby (me) and the mountains

Tallak and Wainman Boss at sunset

A Snowkiters Dream

This is why we kiters love what we do.. This is why we never give up, keep chasing the wind, travelling all over the world to get those special moments of heaven :) Sometimes we don't even have to travel that far to have a magical moment. Last weekend we spent at Torjus' beautiful cabin at Hovden, 3hrs away from home. The weather turned out fantastic, we had powder on the ground and starting the day with 22 blues warming up to -5 during the day. A bit of wind and suddenly we had a perfect snowkiting day.

Wainman Hawaii Punch in Afternoon Sun

Tallak and his Wainman Boss

Me and Nani playing catch the snowball

Snowkiting at Haukeliseter

Friday afternoon I was still at work, eager for the weekend and as every dedicated kiter in the world I was checking the wind forecast just about every hour.. suddenly I discover, change in wind forecast for Haukeli!! 2 hrs later the car (my mom's car actually) was packed to the roof with me, Emily, the dogs (Nani, Heidi and Akita), 5 kites, 2 boards, goggles, helmets, parkas etc etc and on the road to Haukeliseter for the first snowkiting weekend of the season :)

Emily og Nani

The wind was nice, the weather was fantastic, the snow a bit wet, but hey, 2 out of 3, can't have it all! And not to forget, at Haukeliseter you are welcomed as an old friend, no matter who you are.  So we kited, played with the dogs in the snow, had a few beers in the lavvo, ate an amazing 3 course dinner and just enjoyed life! 
More pictures at Haukeliseter January

Ute og lufter Wainman Punch :)