We headed North with Jeanette to meet up with Carl and Mary for a weekend at Crystal Mountain.
We snowboarded all day Saturday. The snow was great! Freshly groomed trails were everywhere. We played games had an amazing dinner and took a late night walk with the puppy.
Sunday we taught Jeanette to fly a kite and then headed back south through the storm of the winter so far.
We have not had the snow that we did last year, as of yet. But, we were lucky this past weekend to have great conditions come together for a few great snowkite sessions. The lake had 4-10″ of ice and the snow was about 4-6″ which was just enough to grip. The winds were great the first day and a little gusty during the second session. We also made a few new kiters too! We all had a great time out there.
Here is a quick clip from Edgar:
We headed up to Crystal for what turned out to be a spectacular day of snowboarding. It was gray and snowing as we arrived. Mel and I took a few runs before the rest of the group showed up. As they arrived, the grey sky cleared and we scored blue skies for the rest of the day. The snow was fantastic and everyone had a blast!
Edgar and I packed up the gear and went for a paddle before the river froze over. It had been a windy and rainy fall, so it has been a while since we had ventured around on the river. The ice was already starting to form on the river. Other than being a little chilly the conditions were great, it was calm and the water was glassy.
The first Atomic Con Conference was a great time. We had two days of talks and in the evenings we enjoyed the rare time we all get together. The talks were informative, some were extremely technical, while others were fun and useful.
We had a great time at the 2014 King of the Great Lakes. This year saw wind and waves. We had riders in from all over the Great Lakes, NC, CA, OR, FL and more. Everyone had a great time riding and checking out all the new 2015 Kiteboarding gear.
Mel ran in the 2014 Run Woodstock in Pinckney, Michigan. It was a really fun scene. We arrived before the sun was up to see the ultra-marathon runners who were still trucking from the day before. They offered races from 100 miles to a 5k. The vibe was great from the runners everyone seemed to have a great time.
Today was pretty much one of the best surf days I’ve had on the Great Lakes. The forecast was calling for SSW winds 20-30. There was a large storm cell brewing over southern Lake Michigan which looked like it would stay just south of Muskegon. Amer, Edgar and I packed up the car and headed West. As we were driving over, the southern buoys were reading 45+ knots. We were getting excited. Fall was here! We drove through part of the storm and it was windy!
We arrived to our location to find about 8 knots of wind and tons of waves. Marc was already out surfing when we arrive with a smile from ear to ear. I ran back to the car to grab my board and bolted back to the break. It was a great day with blue skies to the North and an ominous front brewing in the south. The water was warm so I wore a sleeveless-shorty. By the time I made it out to the end of the pier, the waves had picked up a lot.
The sets coming through were at least over-head and glassy. I missed the wave of the day right off the bat and still kicking myself for it. Then, I took the set of about 5 waves on the head. The lefts were going for 100-200 yards. The wind never really picked up to kite. The waves really died down by mid afternoon. It was a great day and so rare to have a day with that big of waves with no wind. The lack of images is a testament to quality and brevity of the session.
A few of the guys meet up in Charlotte, Michigan for a morning skate. The park was really fun! The layout took a while to get use to. The cement was a lot less smooth than the Ann Arbor park. That made falling a bad idea as your pads wouldn’t slide as well. A few of us found out the hard way…
Mathew one of the locals joined us for a few hours. It was helpful to see some of his lines through the park. It was a great morning! After Charlotte, we ventured down to a Kzoo for a little mini ramp session.