Road Trip To Vierli Norway With The Peter Lynn Team

https://vimeo.com/140051976

Dreams of winter are creeping into the minds of most. Colder temperatures and longer days mean it’s time to either head south with the birds, or embrace seasonal changes and prepare your winter gear. The team at Peter Lynn have been doing the hard work of testing and perfecting their 2016 line, including the high-performance Leopard. The Leopard was designed as a snowkite specific kite that provides a reliable platform and massive hang time. Read the story by Rein Rijke that follows, about a dream weekend on the snow in Norway. For details about the Leopard, head to the Peter Lynn website.

Norway has nearly unlimited snowkiting potential.

It must have been around October, the moment the outside temperature drops just a little, enough to realize summer is really over. There are two options; plan a trip to the tropics or a trip to the snowy slopes. Plans have to be made before the conditions at my home spot get worse so we have something to look forward to. Surviving the Dutch rainy winter is a lot easier when you know that a nice trip is waiting ahead.

Norway always had something magical for me, the vast land of unlimited rideable slopes and lakes. So I set my mind to Norway. I must have seen nearly all the videos about kiting in Norway. Nights I spent studying the region. Only, I found out I already spent all my free time for the year on kiting trips in the sun. Shit, I had to wait for the new year to get some time off from the company. I called my kite buddies to see who was in for a new snow adventure and within the hour the vacant spots in the car were reserved for a snowkite weekend in Norway.

Since it was already the end of March, we opted for the Hardangervidda, a wonderful national park in Norway. It’s a perfect snowkite destination because of its plateaus, wind and its guaranteed pack of snow. The wide open space, the friendly people and its rolling countryside make it an excellent place for snowkiting.

The Norwegian sky.

After a day of driving, we arrived in the picturesque village of Rauland. We arrived during the night so we had no idea what the place would look like with daylight. Waking up the next morning, we found out that our accommodation, Camp Vierli, was located close to a big frozen lake and next to a hill packed with deer and trees.

To reach the kite spot, snow scooters were arranged by Vierli Ski Center, which delivered us on the spot in the morning and picked up again in the evening.

Adventure awaits.

The first day we had clear blue skies and a light breeze which dropped just before lunch. We had to hike back to the centre and decided to save our soup for later. After the lunch, the wind picked up and we kited along the big frozen lakes just in the north of the Vierli Ski center. We had to launch smaller kites and decided to return to base since some serious weather was predicted.

We were lucky enough to bring big sizes because the next day we needed them. The wind forecast predicted a light breeze in the morning that would pick up just after lunch. Our local guide Steinar Lundgren was sure it would pick up around 12:00. We didn’t notice the light breeze, so the waiting game started. We decided to take a hike up the hill and to eat some soup, just to be ready before the wind would pick up.

Finding hidden stashes in Norway’s backcountry.

Like clockwork, 12:01, Rein shouted: “There is wind, wuuhuuhuu!” there was just enough of a breeze to have a go with the 13.5m Leopard and the 11m Lynx. Two of our friends who are great German kite talents Max Lux and Joey Oldenburger, showed their skills with a board with the all new Peter Lynn Leopard kites. They threw in their most radical moves, leaving groups of cross country skiers to watch the spectacular show. The tricks, the area, the beautiful sight and the sun, we could not resist capturing our trip, taking turns taking photos and videos- resulting in some nice footage and a nice reminder of this trip.

The incredible feeling of plowing through fresh snow, making your own lines, going uphill, riding down, or soaring from peaks to valleys… I was amazed by the endless space. Basically, Norway is one incredibly big snowkite spot, but still the sport remains quite unknown by the masses. I was smart enough to save some free time for another trip to the frozen north.

http://www.peterlynn.com/

Fri 30th Oct, 2015 @ 9:00 pm