Water in Winter - Kitesurf Session 110

With the thermometers going up again for a few days and a great windy forecast for the south of France, I took Julien's invitation to go down to Almanarre for this Monday and Tuesday. I had never been on the water this late in the season! But with the clear sky and warm sun, it didn't even fell like Winter...
Monday's session was heavy duty! I got my 9m kite out first, but didn't even take it to the water, after quickly realising the 5,5m would be the wisest choice (seeing how Julien was boosted on his 6m)...

At the end of the day, our bodies really felt the fatigue and we crashed heavily on the sofa, with a big smile and a little sunburn on the tip of the nose...
The next day, the menu was the same: sun, warm temperatures (for the season, around 13/14º Celsius) and strong wind. Fortunately, it was a little less powerful, so the 9m kite was the choice of the day, going from the flat spots for big jumps to the middle of the bay, to play in the waves created buy the winds.

Two great and unexpected sessions, with the added bonus of trying out the new twintip board I got myself for Christmas...

Sunny Supeyres - Snowkite Session 37

This Wednesday was one of those times when I'm grateful I can have the day off in the middle of the week to enjoy perfect conditions... Already driving up to Col des Supeyres with Fred and Pejee, we could see that it had been snowing heavily in the previous days.

The temperature was quite low, so the quality of the snow was superb. The sun was shinning with no menacing clouds anywhere around and, as soon as we stopped the car, we saw the windmill turning fast, which meant the wind was in place too!
It didn't take much time to get into full gear and be riding up the hills...

With the winds changing direction (to a full 180º turn!) during the day and playing tricks with the shape of the terrain, it was technical at some points, but great fun all day long. I managed to pass through some places I hadn't explored before and, amidst all the fooling around, ended up doing the rest of the photos of the day in the "black & white" setting in my camera!

Béal and Supeyres - Snowkite Sessions 35 & 36

There have been big snowfalls this last week, so I took a couple of days to check our usual spots of Béal and Supeyres. Tuesday, the wind was quite strong and allowed for some nice runs, but with the low visibility we decided not to stray very far from the parking space at Col du Béal. The photos from this session where really lousy, so I just post here a couple of the shots from the "bonus run", at the end of the day, when we decided to snowboard down the road to the first village, since there was more than enough snow paving the way!

On Thursday, with much better weather on the forecast after another night snowing heavily, I headed with a couple of friends to Col des Supeyres, to taste the fresh powder...

Unfortunately, even if we where offered some sun and great snow, the wind never really picked up and remained quite light all day long, so it kind of felt we where kiting in slow motion...

Still, it was a fun day between friends and it sure beated being at work! And with more snowfall to come in the next few days, we'll soon go again for more!