Kiter.com:
Where are you from? Alex Peterson:
I live about a mile from Lake Minnetonka. I am a student at the University of Minneapolis so that gives me the flexibility to get out kiting about 5 days per week.
How many seasons have you been snow kiting?
This is my fourth full season.
How much kiting do you do on the water?
I spent the summer in Hood River and also on the Oregon Coast. I probably got about 50 day in last summer.
What do you ride on the water?
I rode a Slingshot Drake 147 and Slingshot Zeppelin for most of the season. Now I am looking at a North Jamiy. We tend to ride mostly twin-tips with footstraps in Minnesota in the summers since we don’t have huge beaches to launch from.
What is the kiteboarding like here in the summer?
It can be hilarious. 10-30 miles per hour, gusty, huge rogue storms, swirly wind. Really any thing that can happen does happen.
On the snow do you ride snowboards or skis mostly?
This year I have been riding mostly skis since we did not get that much snow yet. I have a couple days my snowboard early in the season when we got about a foot of fresh snow. I would say I am on my skis 75% or more.
What did you think your chances were going into this contest?
I really had no idea. People had talked about out for so long and that date had been moved a couple times. I figured with people come all the way from Europe that they must be serious and that I would not have a chance. I had lots of encouragement from my local crew.
How did the conditions play to your strengths?
It was good for me. I was fortunate to have a big enough kite for the final heat when the wind dropped (North 20M inflatable). I have seen so many different conditions here that I had a pretty good idea on how to stay powered in the light wind, plus I am a light guy so that helped.
What skis were you on when you won the contest?
I was on my brother Nick’s skis from when he was in a kiddie school called Ski-jammers. They are about 12 years old, Elan 140cm with light weight bindings. It is really just a combination of things that I had in the attic and my hiking gear.
You mean you wore hiking boots, not ski boots?
Yeah, I wear my hiking boots and just stomp them right into the bindings, although they do come off a little bit easier than real ski boots. I just didn’t have any money for fancy gear. I figured I could spend more time working and then go buy good gear or I could use what I had and go out and practice a lot.
So what kite companies are you sponsored by?
A local shop in town has sponsored my and hooked my up with North Kites. I have the 2003 Rhino II in 10, 12, 16 and 20 Meters. We probably use the 12 and 16 the most here.
What is your plan for the next few years. Do you plan to go pro full-time.
I sure would like to. I have invitations to go to Europe and to learn from those guys. There are just some many areas to improve upon. I think there will be lots of branching out of the various styles and the real growth will happen in places like right here in Minnesota where the skiing is pretty limited but there are tons of frozen lakes.
What’s your worst kitemare in the snow?
Oh man, I was on ice skates in some really swirly wind, I got picked up about 40 feet over bare ice, landed on shore and got dragged over a fence, over a tree and slammed into the side of the ice cream building in Lake Calhoun. Lying there I unshackled the kite, which then flew about 5 blocks away. Meanwhile, the paramedics arrived as well as the fire department and an ambulance and a police car and the park service. I was fine, no injuries, maybe a little sore.
Any contests coming up? I wanted to try to get over
for the March 8 contest in France and then maybe the
contest in Mammoth in a couple weeks. And for sure the
2004 Red Bull Kitefreeze.
