Re: How far do you drive?
Ahh... Yes, the 'Subaru Effect' always makes the trip seem shorter.
It's cool to hear that you can snowkite closer to your home than you can downhill, even in Southern Oregon. Do you find yourself snowkiting more than you ride downhill because the drive is shorter, or does the fact that gravity is constant (and wind isn't) make riding chairlift a more frequent activity?
Eastern North Dakota is so flat that you could balance a carpenter's level on any land within a 60 mile radius. Since gravity + flat ground doesn't = movement , snowkiting is more than an alternative... it's the only way to snowboard / ski out here.
I'm wonder if snowkiting carries a different appeal in different parts of the country; For example, people living near great ski resorts in the Rockies might view snowkiting as a more extreme 'fringe' sport... Because only the most devoted adventurer would climb above the timberline and wait for wind when there's a chairlift nearby. Far from the ski resorts, in the Upper Midwest, snowkiting may make more sense to the 'average' citizen; there aren't nearby resorts for skiers / snowboarders, and the wind isn't obstructed by terrain features.