This summer two developers of the Skywalk GmbH company, Tobi and Maxi and their flat-mates went on a trip in the US, mainly to go to the wedding of their friend and ex-flat-mate Jochen. Six people, more than 3000 miles within 3 weeks and a 9 meter RV packed with kites, paragliders, climbing harnesses and an amazing spirit!
They traveled through nine states in the western USA. Their first stop was the Montana Glacier National Park. This nature reserve has breathtaking scenery and Tobi and Maxi had the chance to kite on the private lake of a farmer. He was so thrilled that he offered them his pedal boat to get better shots of their action. After a nice evening at a camp fire, a huge full moon invited Tobi to go back out and have a legit night session with the Speed5 21.0.
A couple days later after a wonderful, cute country wedding they drove down to Wyoming to the Yellowstone National Park. They enjoyed the beauty of nature to the fullest and took a nice warm bath in the hot springs. They passed several lonely lakes, which were perfect for a decent kite session! Mirror flat water, soft and muddy soil in a unique landscape in between volcanic rocks and dried up trees.
Next stop was the Grand Tetons and Jackson Lake & Jackson Hole. Because of the diverse landscape they decided to stay a couple days longer and go for some climbs on granite on the island of Jennylake. There were lots of bouldering possibilities with all levels of difficulty. The Jackson Lake has a scenery similar to Lake Reschen in Italy, but ten times more stunning. Further to the south in Utah they reached for climbing the Mecca Moab. They started their trip to the „Castleton Towers“. The canyon landscape was stunning especially with three skyscraper-like stone-towers. Lilly and Simon couldn’t resist the temptation to climb the highest tower. So they did. Around noon thermal started. Right away Tobi unpacked his paraglider and wanted to take off but it wasn´t that easy, since there were only rocks and trees. One break line ripped because of a rock. He was able to launch the paraglider. The thermal climb was huge, and it pulled him up a couple of meters per second.
Because of the heat around Las Vegas they were searching for a large lake to cool down. They visited the Holylake (Utah Sandhollow Statepark). There were lots of jet ski drivers and wakeboarders on the lake. Exemplary the guys asked at the information desk where to launch the kites, but to their surprise kiteboarding was forbidden. Anna, Maxi and Tobi couldn’t but go out onto the water for a session. It took only a few minutes until most of the jet ski drivers and wakeboarders were impressed by the colorful kites and came closer. But also the ranger saw the kites in the air. Because of the kite Tobi extended his session to find the ideal escape route. At some point he had to leave the water and the ranger was there in no time. To everyone’s surprise the ranger was happy and congratulated the crew because he was so fascinated.
“Kiteboarding seems like a magnet in the US. Everybody was very friendly and wanted to know what kiteboarding is and how it works. If you are interested in it, then you should rent a RV and travel around the country. Talk to locals and take advantage of their knowledge for secret spots.
It was the best vacation of our lifes and we will certainly come back to travel the eastern parts of the US!”
