Pedro's first time - Snowkite Session 40

The surprise visit of a very good friend of mine from Portugal was a perfect excuse to show him what I like to do with my free time... As he has already started kitesurfing back home and learned how to ski in his vacations, I thought it wouldn't be very difficult to get him into snowkiting. With just a little bit of explaining he was up and running in less than half an hour, going upwind and smiling on the way back!

It was great to kite side by side with someone carving his first lines and Pedro's smile at the end of the day was priceless. I didn't ride as much as I normally do, but it was great "playing" teacher for once...

I crossed a lot of friends, but didn't take the time to take more pictures, so I leave you here with a couple of nice ones by Banjoo.

And a very cool video edit by Mrik (great slowmotion effect with the new GoPro at 120fps).

Exploring in the powder! - Snowkite Session 39

Wow, what a difference from the previous session to this one! A lot of snow has been falling in our homespot, at the Col des Supeyres, and last friday it was time for me to have a taste of the fresh powder!

This time there wasn't a blue sky, but the sea of clouds was quite high and visibility was good all day long and the spot was again fully covered in white. When we arrived, we had to wait a little for the wind to start blowing but, as always when me and Cyril are together, pretty soon the conditions were ideal for a great day! And Flippo, grumpy at the beginning of the session, soon realised the powerful "voodoo" we two manage to conjure and benefited from the "magic"...

The snow was incredibly fresh and the southwest wind allowed us to explore some places we don't normally go, so we were like kids at a playstore! Some of the best moments of the day where drawing fresh lines in the snow at full speed, climbing on a rooftop with Cyril and kiting around the Richardière church. For sure, a day we won't forget so soon...

(some photos from Cyril)

Spring in Winter - Snowkite Session 38

Some sessions are truly great, even if not all conditions are ideal. This last one was such a case. With the unusual warm temperatures for the beginning of January, the snow has been melting away at a frightening pace and it has taken a toll at our "homespot" at the Col des Supeyres.
But, with the forecast pointing at a clear blue sky and nice winds, we didn't hesitate to head there for a session that almost looked like one of those you get in the Spring: a hard snow in the morning, slowly going softer through the day with the sun, lots of patches of grass and herbs and a general feeling of warmth during the day.

(can you find Fred in the horizon?)

 (playing with the natural halfpipe near the Chalmazel sky resort)

 (a well deserved lunch break!)

(near the military station on top of Chalmazel, known as "The Antennas")

I spent all day long kiting around with the crazy Cyril and crossing a bunch of other friends on the spot, exploring a lot of places I hadn't taken the time to pass through before (including some "alternative routes" to go to the antennas and back). One of the best moments of the day: the race back to the car with Cyril, finishing with a hill crossing through high grass (who says you can't slide a snowboard on the "green"?!?)!

(Cyril, wishing everybody a nice day...)

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!

Powder in October - Snowkite Session 34

It's not often we can say that the snow season has started, when we're still in October! But a huge depression, accompanied by very low temperatures and a lot of precipitation, had as result a huge snowfall in some parts of the Alps, last weekend.
The winds were also very strong, so higher and more exposed spots didn't benefit from this, but some protected areas of the Vercors mountains got as much as 60 cm of fresh powder, something rare, not only for this time of the year, but also for some of the spots in question!
So, seeing a forecast of sun and some wind for monday, I had to go with some friends to get the dust of the Winter gear and officially kick off the snow season for 2012-2013...

We chose to go to Lans en Vercors, a small spot, but with a nice hill to go up and down and particularly well oriented to accumulate the heavy snow falling on the previous days. And the choice was a winner, with so much snow that I didn't even scratch my snowboard (which is very common on those first sessions of each Winter) and could even enjoy some refreshing powder slashes while speeding downhill!

While most of the guys around were kiting, one decided to fly over our heads, but at the end everybody was wearing the same big smile over their faces (as you can guess from my Instagram picture below). Welcome back Winter!