King of the Wing 2006: Exploring Lapland in search of the best rider

» Návrat

The Kitewing professionals, headed by team riders Patrick Blom, Andreas Laurent and Patrik Pollak, will head up to Lapland in April 2006. On an 8-day quest for best riding spots, the group of guys will travel through the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian Lapland. During the trip, the riders will keep a close eye on each other, as the best rider of the week - King of the Wing - shall be crowned on the final day of the road trip. Judging will be done by the riders themselves.

 

 

 

On their journey, the Kitewing team will move with mobile homes, snow scooters and naturally, their kitewings. They will explore riding territory in all the three countries. Lapland’s mountains, or fjell, as they’re also called, are ideal for riding kitewing. Their round shape and treeless tops form ideal snow and wind conditions for this rather new sport. The sparsely inhabited (less than 1 inhabitant / sq km) Lapland can with good reason be called Europe’s last true wilderness. On an area geographically as big as Switzerland and Austria combined, there are more reindeer than men. Plenty of riding space guaranteed on this trip!

“For me, the road trip is a true voyage of discovery. There are a few spots where we have been before, but for the most part it will all be brand new to us, in terms of riding”, says Patrick Blom. Naturally, the weather will also have its impact on the journey. “We are looking for the best conditions. A perfect mountain won’t do, unless we also get good snow conditions. Early April is generally a good time to be up there, as the snow should still be great and there is already a plenty of daylight available, explains Patrick Blom.

What is a kitewing?

The kitewing is an ultra-light hand–held wing shaped kite that can be used in sailing on ice, snow and land with a pair of skis, skates or a snowboard in winter and roller blades or skateboard in summer. The wing is a Finnish invention, developed by Sami Tuurna and Carl-Magnus Fogelholm in Helsinki in the late 1980’s. The first Kitewing was launched in Finnish market in 1988. The new action sport called Kitewing riding was born. The sport itself and the kitewing were developed to their present form at the end of 1990’s when a group of young snowboarders and extreme skiers tested the wing. They found out the wing was perfectly suited also for making incredible jumps and tricks. The sport is currently rising fast in popularity worldwide.

Diskusia

K správe neboli pridané zatiaľ žiadne diskusné príspevky.

Facebook diskusia