- We got a kite, skis, and a frozen lake.

That can only mean one thing.

Woo hoo.

You're not gonna wanna miss this, cause we're going snow kiting.

- [Chance] This is so much power.

- Watch the kite.

- Just let go.

Let go.

(upbeat music) - Here in the land of 10,000 lakes, there's no shortage of outdoor activities for Minnesotans to partake in year round.

We're here in White Bear Lake, a suburban lake town with a long rich history.

First it was named after a native American legend, then became a popular hang out for gangsters during the prohibition era.

The lake has also been one of the locations used to harvest ice blocks to build our famous ice castles.

We're gonna be using that same ice today.

Only not for building ice castles.

Instead we're going snow kiting.

The history of snow kiting dates back about 60 years as a recreational activity.

However, it's helped pushed the limits of wind powered expeditions across places like Antarctica and Greenland.

The technology has advanced, the equipment has changed, but the concept remains the same.

Harness the wind's energy to travel across land, water, and air.

Today we're meeting up with Chad Dobson, owner of Dynamic Kite Boarding, to see if his experience snow kiting can translate into me quenching my need for speed.

I'm excited.

Let's go.

Woo.

All right.

We're here with Chad.

Super excited.

Thanks for meeting me out here.

Why don't you tell me a little bit about this sport and your background in it?

- I grew up skiing and absolutely loved it.

Lived in Montana for a few years.

I moved back here 22 years ago and I can't ski back here cause the hill's too small.

And that very first winter, I actually saw somebody on a kite on this lake, on White Bear and instantly knew I had to do it.

- What do you love about this?

What's like unique about it or you know, what stands apart?

- Probably just freedom.

There's no lift lines.

And usually there's a few more kiters than this but there's always places to go.

If you want to be jumping, you can.

If you just want to be going fast across the lake, you can do that.

It doesn't matter where your skill level is, as long as you're having fun.

We're all out here just to enjoy the day.

- So how are we getting started?

- We're gonna grab a couple of trainer kites off the truck here.

We'll go out, we'll set 'em up.

Do a quick little run through on how to control the kite.

Once we get comfortable with that smaller kite, we'll step up to a little bit bigger and work our way up, bigger and bigger as your ability level progresses.

And we'll get you on a pair of skis and you'll be hopefully riding back and forth across the lake.

- Let's get it.

(upbeat music) - Right off the bat, what's important to understand is what we refer to as the wind window.

So assuming the window is at my back.

If I put my arms out perpendicular to the wind and draw 'em up in an arc over my head, that's the edge of the window, usually referred to as the neutral zone or the safety zone.

From that arc, everything down wind of that is the wind window or the power zone.

- Before we put on skis or anything I should probably work on getting that kite into the power zone.

- Yep.

We're gonna start off with a much smaller kite than you'd use when you're riding and that'll allow you to learn how to fly the kite without getting overpowered, not falling over.

- Gettin just whisked away.

- Yep.

- Mary Poppins.

- It's not quite that bad, it won't take you up, up and away.

So you can feel you're doing kind of the normal thing.

You're just moving the bar up.

- Yep.

- So it's in and out on the ends of the bar.

Okay.

You good?

- Yep.

- [Chad] Pull your right hand in, push out on the left.

Now pull the left hand in, push out on the right.

You're just kind of holding the bar steady.

- Here we go.

Holy crap.

- [Chad] That's it just hold the bar like that, let the wind catch it.

That's it.

Now back left, as that kite comes across the window, turn it back the other way before it gets all the way to the edge of the window.

Anybody can do this sport.

I've taught people as young as 10 or 11 and as old as 76.

How's that feeling?

- Much easier.

Still feels like I'm taming a wild animal.

How fast am I gonna get going?

- [Chad] It all depends on the wind speed and how quickly you start understanding the sport.

We'll step up in kite sizes.

We may jump up as high as an eight or a ten by the end of the day - This is so much power, it feels so sweet.

- If you get in trouble, bring it to a 12, get control of it again.

How's it feeling?

- So good.

- So what we're gonna do, is we're gonna put this kite down and we're gonna step up to a slightly bigger kite.

So the last kite you were on was a two and a half meter kite, this one is three meters.

If you double the size of a kite, its power is increased roughly by a factor of four.

It's going to feel more powerful than the last one.

- Level two, more power.

- [Chad] Little more power, huh?

- [Chance] It's like a bigger animal.

- [Chad] How's that feeling?

- [Chance] Feels powerful.

- [Chad] Try to keep those shoulders back into the wind.

You okay?

- Oh yeah.

- Whoop, watch the kite.

Just let go.

Let go.

- It was incredibly feasible, actually.

I liked that.

- If we let go of the bar, that'll kill the kite and you'll stop.

- Oh, it's so strong.

It's like powerful - And this is a very small kite, so.

- It's powerful And we're still going bigger.

- Oh yeah.

- All right.

I'm feeling confident.

My heart's racing.

My upper body's warmed up.

What do you think?

Should we put some skis on and see what's going on next?

- That's the plan.

And from here on out, you're gonna be riding bud.

- The wide open here we come.

Woo Hoo.

- Way to go, Chance.

I can't believe he hasn't crashed yet.

- Similar to flying any normal kind of kite, you need the wind to cooperate.

This is awesome.

A lot of things to pay attention to but once everything aligns it's a pretty awesome feeling of freedom.

Bliss.

(upbeat music) Woo.

I did that.

This is so much power.

It feels so sweet.

Woo.

Got Chad taking care of untangling some mess I made.

Took a pretty righteous spill.

The winds getting strong enough that it just pulled me right off the ground.

It was sweet.

And then I crashed, but I feel great.

Winds are definitely picking up.

There's people flying through the air like crazy over here.

It's amazing.

Just catching flight.

I think we're gonna be wrapping it up here.

It got a little wild as you see, Chad's loving it.

Not exactly for a beginner like myself but I've been having a great time.

All right, Chad, we did the thing, man.

This was a sweet experience.

Got some good wipe outs.

Got some good air.

And I learned a real cool lesson about riding the wind, man.

Thank you so much.

- Awesome.

Great first day.

I'm glad you got riding.

- Oh man.

I'm gonna be back out here, this is amazing.

- Hope to see ya.

- Yes, sir.

- I'm gonna go and get myself a little session before the sun goes down.

- Yeah, get it.

- Have a good day, Chance.

- You too, thanks.

Here we are, back on solid ground.

My face is frozen but my heart is warm.

I'm appreciative for Chad, for Minnesota's beautiful resources.

And I have a new appreciation for the power of wind, for the sake of a good time.

Until next time, Chance, signing off.