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SuperFly Saturday Presentations-Pittarak, Andrew McLean

PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:34 am
by lesvierra
SuperFly Report

Things are lining up well for the SuperFly Open scheduled for next weekend, February 8th, 9th, and 10th. It seems like it started snowing at Christmas and hasn’t stopped. Powder Mountain is reporting to have received over 24 feet of snow this season, a 10’ base, and 64” in the last week and it’s still dumping. This is the best snow year we’ve seen in years. The 10 day forecast shows another round of snow the next couple of days and a break in the weather for the event.

The presentations scheduled for Saturday evening February 9th at Pineview Lodge are from World Class athletes and they deserve some additional hype.
Andrew Mclean will be offering a fascinating presentation covering kite assisted expeditions and first ski descents in remote places like Baffin Island. Watch as he designs and manufactures his own kites based on a NASA parachute design and uses them to cross large glaciers enabling him to bag multiple first ski descents in one day.

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Andrew is a product designer, writer, and photographer specializing in the outdoors. He has accumulated over 100 first ski descents on all seven continents. His ski mountaineering pursuits have led him to remote areas where motorized access is forbidden or impractical. His passion for this sport has led to him being voted as one of the “Greatest Skiers of Our Time” by Powder Magazine, voted one of “North America’s Top 25 Best Skiers” by Ski Magazine, voted one of the “25 Best Outdoor Athletes in the World” by Outside Magazine, and a featured segment in the Sony Classic Pictures 2007 film entitled “Steep”.

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Join us as we view a film presentation of the Pittarak Expedition, an expedition set on inspiring youth to persue their dreams. In the summer of 2007 the team, Sarah McNair-Laundry (21), Eric McNair-Landry (22), and Curtis Jones (29), three competent adventures embarked on an unsupported South to North crossing of the Greenland ice cap, a 2300 km journey using only skis and kites. Their successful journey includes covering 400 km in a single day and winning a National Geographic honorable mention for “Expedition of the Year.”

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During the winter of 2007 Eric and Sarah won the Youth Outdoor Idols award, recognizing their amazing achievements in the field of youth adventure, including a 2000 km expedition to the South Pole, world record crossing of the Greenland Icecap, and a successful 100 day expedition to the North Pole.

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Save $5 by preregistering at http://www.superflyopen.com. Last day to register online is February 6th. Hope to see you there.

Re: SuperFly Saturday Presentations-Pittarak, Andrew McLean

PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:51 am
by windzup
No matter what your plans are this weekend, you should reschedule your Saturday to come check out these presentations... put together by amazing Kite-Athletes. These folks have endured more intense days and epic snowkiting conditions than most other kiters. Plus they have accomplished amazing feats, showing us all that the potential of Snowkiting is still limitless.

Sarah and Eric, along with Andrew, are on a small list of special people that I consider my Heroes. I hope you can make it up to share this evening with them, I'm sure it will be inspirational.

Andrew was just featured on the Colbert report, telling about getting caught in an avalanche during his latest big mountain ski film, Steep: http://blog.mountainhardwear.com/2008/0 ... colbe.html
Along with sewing up his own custom light weight gear for Snowkite Expeditions, Andrew has taken them around the globe on crazy expeds. My favorite story is him hauling ass in Patagonia on a 4m Access, all while towing a 100 pound sled and clicking away the miles. Crossing the Patagonia Ice Cap in hours instead of days.

Sarah and Eric have been at it a while as well, growing up as kids on arctic expeditions with their parents. Living in an open winter environment brought snowkiting into their lives early on. At age 20, when not teaching Kitesurfing in the Gorge, Sarah can be found Snowkiting at her home in Baffin Island Canada or on expedition crossing some country with kites. Her and Eric hold records for crossing Greenland both side to side and up and down with Snowkites.

See Ya'll up there.
Windzup,
Brian