Milton, Vermont - February 12, 2009
Just another winter day on Lake Champlain.
Ice fishermen are busy claiming their spots.
But a spectacle just a couple hundred feet away is turning heads.
Skiers are zipping across the ice while being pulled by kites.
"We've had people ride over 100 miles in a day. You can go up around the islands, cruise around, cruise back, down wind," Rachael Miller said.
It's called snowkiting.
"What I love about snowkiting is it combines my favorite sports-- skiing and sailing," explained Miller, a snowkiting instructor.
And supposedly anyone can do it.
"If you look on the web you'll find all sorts of stories from a guy in Pennsylvania inventing it, to the Norwegians inventing it," Miller said. "A lot of people have claimed to be the first to snowkite."
"I'm going to land right on my face for sure," student Dolan Patrick said.
"You may not turn it like a car, think motorcycle," Miller advised.
After a quick lesson on how to fly a stunt kite, fellow learner Dolan Patrick and I were ready to put theory into practice.
Something easier said than done.
"It's a lot of movements to coordinate," Dolan said.
"Today is not ideal, mostly because the wind is quite light," Miller said. "The sport is all about the kite. It's 85 percent kite skills."
And once the art of kite flying is finally mastered-- comes the fun part.
Strapping on a harness and a pair of skis and taking the sport to a whole new level.
Our instructor made it look easy, weaving back and forth across the ice while hollering out instructions.
"I'm moving the kite as much as I need to," Miller said.
Rachel Miller has skied more than 40 miles an hour while being pulled by a kite. The record is 70 miles an hour.
But by the end of day we finally got it too.
Far from being pros-- but definitely a step or glide in the right direction.
And if you want to check out snowkiting for yourself just head to Sandbar State Park the weekend of February 21 and 22. That's when the annual kitestorm festival is taking place featuring snowkite enthusiasts from across the country.
Click here for more information on snowkiting.
Keagan Harsha - WCAX News
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