Oil Free Fun: Max's additions to the Internet RE: Geoengineering, New Energy/Medicine/Science, Banksterism, Humanity's Awakening, Skiing, Surfing, Sailing, No-Impact Living, and Free Speech.
Gold is booming even more than before cuz' the FED's QE2s in the works. The dollar is tanking.
International conflicts are escalating, and the greedy rich are planning to profit from the most costly industry of all: WAR.
American kids are being enlisted to to patrol their neighborhoods spying with camera phones to "Keep America Safe" from suspicious activity. I think we should all join! Get old lady Sue on tape hangin' her laundry. "She's kinda suspicious and she speaks with a Russian accent... better get someone down here."
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I've been wrestling with this article off and on for a few months. I kept putting it off as I contemplated the wisdom of publishing it.
It's finally finished and has been published by the friendly folks over at CleanSnipe. Anyone sssssshmlurking to do a little tramping about may want to give it a look.
If you're in the market for any outdoor gear, consider searching for it through CleanSnipe. They offer a great service and give me carte blanch to spew crucial knowledge like this...
Wayne Phillips kiting high above Togwotee Pass. Photo courtesy Will Taggart.
The kite community in Jackson Hole grows every year and they're putting out some impressive videos documenting the progression of the sport and the perfect terrain throughout Wydaho.
Locals like Will Taggart, Wayne Philips, Andrew McGarry, and Chaz Symons have been pushing themselves (and the boundaries of the sport in North America) for the last several years.
Pascal Joubert is a French pioneer in the world of snowkiting and speedflying. We're lucky to have him in Jackson Hole this winter. These first few videos are of his adventures this winter. I'm pretty sure he's in his 40s... and killing it.
Pascal Snowkiting up and Speedriding down at Craters of the Moon. That's a 3500 foot peak he's on. It looks like a good place to learn to Speedride... not too steep and a consistent pitch. No trees either.
Wayne, Will, and Pascal at Craters of the Moon. Photo courtesy Will Taggart.
This next video is from Sublette Peak above Togwotee Pass.. I was kiting below Pascal when he flew next to the cliff. I'd never seen anything like that and was pretty sure he was going to die.
Check out the funky Patagonian Trees and Terrain in this video... they're not Wyomingites, but we're all dying to kite Patagonia. Been there, done that, but it looks like these guys had a better trip.
Skiing GTNP has been so fun lately that I've been neglecting to kite. There's been perfect, untouched snow consistently despite the skinny winter. Powder days? Every day.
Now that we're entering the spring melt/freeze cycle, the powder days will be fewer and farther between but the wind will keep blowing. Kiting corn snow is about as good as it gets. These movies, all made by local kiters, are getting me stoked up to go exploring with my kite this spring.
Last week it dumped hard and then high pressure rolled in setting up a powerful inversion. In the valley life stopped as temps dropped to -30F, meanwhile at 10,000 feet folks skinned and hiked shirtless through a perfectly-still, +30F, crystal blue sky.
All that bitter cold air in the valley is heavy so it flows like water down the path of least resistance. This provides strong steady wind in the rolling terrain near Ririe, Idaho. It blew 30+ across fields of powder, and thanks to the previous reconnaissance of the Jackson Hole Kite Mafia (notably Wayne and Will), I was there.
Now -30F is cold and 30+ mph winds doesn't make it feel any warmer. As this video starts, Wayne's driving through a foggy river bottom at -30F. Surreal conditions.
