“They’re doing what?” was my first reaction when hearing about To Cross the Moon (2XtM) expedition that took three extreme athletes across North Dakota by way of snowkite. On Friday 2XtM successfully finished their 390 mile snowkiting trek across one of the coldest states in the country, making them some of the coolest and intense travelers in my book.
Snowkiting is basically snowboarding with the help of the wind; optimal when you want to cross flat distances on your board. An offshoot of its cousin kiteboarding, snowkiting allows a snowboarder harnessed to the long reins of a power kite to launch upwards of 40 feet while riding on horizontal terrain. 2XtM team Sam Salwei, Jason Magness and Paul Cassedy spent three weeks in Ferburary snowkiting across the desolate, and incredibly cold, landscape of North Dakota to promote wind energy. Not only did they deal with below freezing temperatures, but they also carried all of their own gear.
Seems to be a pretty intense way to travel, but like any good trip it’s always a little hard to return back to home and to everyday life. An excerpt from their blog:
“What do we do now?” asked Magness. “We’ve spent the last nineteen days trying to eat enough, and worrying about freezing to death or blowing away.”
“Yeah,” agreed Salwei, “We spent the last three weeks worrying about not dying, and now as we go back into society, we have to worry about not living.”
Although it might not be on the top of my list for winter activities, it’s still pretty amazing.