Adrenaline Pumping Minnesota Style Sport

Photo By: Tomi.T

I've been living in the Midwest for about 5 years and there are few things worse then a Minnesota winter. The lack of fresh air and adrenaline staying inside during winter has caused me to look for new “Midwest” type sports. I’m not talking about hockey or cross country skiing, albeit fun don’t offer the same risk taking, pee-my-pants feeling that snowboarding and skydiving do. Since it’s too cold to go skydiving in the winter and mountains don’t exist in the Midwest I had to find something new. So after a little research I discovered winter Snowkiting. The premise is that you have a large parachute like “kite” and a board depending on the surface you’re riding on. If you haven’t heard of Kite-boarding before it’s most commonly found on windy beaches in Texas. In the Midwest you can use your snowboard and take it out on any of the thousands of lakes and fields that fill the entire northern region. Snowkiting is the perfect sport for the Midwest because the best riding is done on flat surfaces and in windy conditions. The sport has everything an extreme sport needs including lots of airtime to complete tricks and is pretty easy to pick up. The best part about learning this awesome sport is that it's so similar to all the other kite sports that you won't lose that skill in the off season. Instructors are popping up all over the Midwest and I’ve been slowly seeing more and more people on my lake giving it a try. It’s a sweet mix between wakeboarding and snowboarding and I suggest giving it a try especially if you live in the Midwest.