56th Birthday Wind Wing Skiing

There was a nice wind predicted for the morning of my 56th birthday. In fact there was so much wind overnight that I woke up at 3am and fearing slushy conditions developing, I went outside and moved some of our furniture and the skidoo off the ice. I got some wood too and stoked the fire places as it was -16c.

By the time I rolled out of bed in the morning, the wind had dropped quite a bit. Max in the gusts was 15 knots, even though that looks like a lot when the wind whips up the snow.

The old guy is ready!

Checking the 15 knot North wind

I got the wing set up and headed down from the point on my skis. With the 10 cm deep snow it was pretty much impossible to get going. The harness was pretty easy to use though.

 

A little video of the session

I paused and got on the skidoo and created a packed down trail. That was better, but the gusty wind left me standing still fairly often. I got a workout “skating” my downhill skis to get going and my heart rate got up to 151!

My east west path in the north wind

My speed chart - one nice 250m run

I did 3 kms in 35 minutes. Max speed 24 km/h. Much higher speeds will be possible with hard packed snow conditions. I’m looking forward to going from the Launch Pad where the wind will be less gusty. Overall a fun way to start my 56 birthday! Thanks Jen for the photos and nice breakfast...

My birthday breakfast!