Chris Hrkac

Chris Hrkac
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Photo by: Chris Hrkac

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Chris Hrkac
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Chris Hrkac

Chris Hrkac relaxes in his skis and looks up at his kite, a red arc against the deep blue sky.The kite captures the 5-mile-per-hour breeze like a wing, powering him across the frozen white tundra at 20 miles an hour.He sails along, picking up speed, feeling the changes in the wind.

Popping over a hill, the endless remote horizon is interrupted by an immense herd of three to four thousand Barren Ground Caribou.With a fluid adjustment, Hrkac sets his course directly into the center of the herd.Within minutes, the curious animals are stepping back, parting as the silent kite skier whispers through the herd.

To explorers, this is what kite skiing brings - an almost effortless, lightweight, quiet method of traveling swiftly across extreme frozen landscapes.As far back as the 1700s, expeditions have recorded successful methods of harnessing the power of the wind to reach remote Arctic and Antarctic regions.

In the past few years, kite skiing has taken on a new twist - skiers and snowboarders have been latching on to kites to power high sailing spins and jumps.These kiters defy gravity, gliding 20 feet above a frozen lake for hundreds of feet, speeding across snow covered fields up to 70 miles per hour - speeds that would make downhill skiers envious!