Anchorage Daily News

For years snowboarder Jason Smith carved turns on the flanks of Mount Alyeska.

But this winter the 27-year-old UAA student began tiring of long lift lines, familiar runs and how much lighter his wallet felt after a day on the slopes.

"It was getting boring," said Smith, who works summers at Dowl Engineers. "The whole point in Alaska is to get out and not be crammed in like a sardine."

So Smith began casting about for something new. While on vacation, he'd seen wake boarders in Fiji, and upon his return to Alaska he saw some plying Turnagain Arm. While researching wake boarding online, he happened across snow kiting and Tom Fredericks, owner of Alaska Kite Adventures.

Research led to a trainer kite, which led to lessons, which led to scooting across Portage Lake behind a snow kite on a recent beautiful Saturday, propelled by the wind blowing down Turnagain Arm.

"It's amazing," Smith said. "I'm hooked.

"I really like the wind aspect of it. I like backcountry snowboarding, but there's something about hiking uphill for three hours that kind of takes the fun out of it. The idea of using the power of the wind is the fun part of this. It opens up so many possibilities."

Smith is not alone. A tiny but growing group of snow kiters is showing up on lakes and other open snowscapes in Southcentral.

Extreme sports fans began snow kiting about a decade ago, though its roots stretch back some 30 years to when pioneers stepped into skis attached to parachutes that lifted them off barren fields and frozen bays from Switzerland to Lake Erie.

These days, snow kiting -- an offshoot of kite boarding on water -- has gone mainstream. Equipment improvements, capable instructors and festivals around the country have made the sport accessible to a demographic far beyond the adrenaline fringe.

Snow kiters use large inflatable kites -- some use foil kites that are easier to power down -- to pull them along.

Businesses such as Alaska Kite Adventures and snow kiting clinics like those organized by Ronn Randall of the municipal parks and recreation department have sprung up as interest has blossomed.

For a cost of $25 prospective snow kiters can learn about gear, terminology, controlling a kite in the wind and safety indoors. Then the small classes head outdoors for a classroom session.

And experienced snow kiters strongly recommend lessons.

"Put it in the wrong peoples' hands, and (a snow kite) can be dangerous -- particularly near railroad tracks or highway," said Fredericks. "What I'm trying to do is to get everybody on the same page so that it's not just a big free-for-all out there. When people try to teach themselves, it's a little scary, a little dangerous."

Instructors typically start with small foil kites, fabric canopies with stitched cells made to inflate when flying. A harness hooks the kiter to lines tethered to the half-moon wing, which surges skyward with the wind.

But a powerful wind can drag a 200-pound man down a lake in short order. When it's time to turn around and head back, the value of leaning proper technique becomes especially clear.

"If you don't have the skills," Fredericks said, "you're going to have to walk through two feet of powder all the way back, and that's not going to be fun."

Just like a sailboat, snow kiters are pushed by a tailwind or tack back and forth in a zig-zag pattern against the wind.

"It just takes a little bit of time," Fredericks said. "The first six hours of a kite lesson is the hardest. By the end of that, we hope that students are up and able to ride around. But you have to be able to put a lot of things together and ride aggressively enough to capture the wind."

An ideal day includes steady 10- to 25-mph winds, without gusts. Kiters use metal-edged skis or snowboards, and even though Fredericks personally enjoys snowboards, he prefers skis for beginners.

"You need to be able to dig an edge in to make it back upwind," he said. And if you're having trouble progressing into a headwind, it's easier to ski into it than walk back carrying a snowboard.

Fredericks estimated that about 30 people snow kite locally -- not a large number but twice as many as when he moved here three years ago from the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, a wind surfing mecca.

"It's growing exponentially," Fredericks said.

But it can be a pricey pastime.

"Because kites aren't very cheap, the initial investment can be up to $1,000," Smith said. "But I do think it's starting to take off. A little clique is a forming, and that aspect of it is fun."

But beware: Snow kiting can be addictive. Smith's girlfriend soon bought a kite and now her parents are interested too.

Reporter Mike Campbell can be reached at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

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