A voyage of wind and ice (From Gazette Series)

A voyage of wind and ice

THE snow-covered plains of sub-zero Norway saw a Dursley man's sense of adventure challenged by the virtually unknown sport of ski-kiting. Canadian-born Chad Staddon skied about 100 miles pulled by a kite to retrace a route taken by Norwegian partisans during the Second World War. KIRSTY RAMSDEN met the university professor to find out about this trip - and his plans for a second trek.

PHYSICALLY demanding outdoor sports have been a passion for Chad Staddon throughout his life.

He began climbing as a child in Vancouver inspired by his father.

He now also skies, ice-climbs, hill walks, mountaineers and mountain bikes.

Last year he ice-climbed the highest peak in Norway.

Several years ago he got together with a group of like-minded people who wanted to experience sports which would take them the "extra distance".

One such activity was to test the use of kites to pull skiers along.

This, explained Mr Staddon, was a particularly new sport as suitably controllable and manoeuvrable kites had only been available for a short length of time.

In January 39-year-old Mr Staddon and fellow kite skier, Mark Way, of Guildford, travelled north to test the kites on a plateau in southern Norway.

Their previous attempts at ski-kiting had been in a snow-free environment.

They were soon to discover, explained Mr Staddon, ski-kiting in snow was easier than without snow.

The duo, who met while ice-climbing in Scotland, picked the Norwegian destination to be sure of enough snow and because they wanted an open space thus avoiding potential hazards.

Mr Staddon added he intended to recreate historical trips.

The route they took in Norway followed the path of a group of Norwegian partisans who destroyed a Nazi heavy water plant during the Second World War.

Their epic trip was featured in the 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark, which starred Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris and Michael Redgrave.

The route was about 100 miles and took the kite-skiers about 10 days in temperatures of about minus 10 degrees - wind conditions made it feel colder.

Mr Staddon said: "I like going places no one else goes. The only people we saw on this trip were Norwegian military.

"I'm also much more of a cold climate person."

The trek gave Mr Staddon such a buzz he is now planning a second trip.

This time he intends to recreate a 19th century expedition across Greenland.

This glacier voyage, he anticipates, will be much harder than the Norwegian journey.

The kite-skiers will face danger from polar bears and walruses as well as temperatures as low as -50 degrees.

"Any exposed flesh will freeze in a minute or two," explained Mr Staddon.

The expedition is likely to take months of planning so he envisages it taking place at the beginning of 2005.

The team will need permission from the Danish Polar Research Centre to do the 500km kite-ski trek across Greenland.

They carried supplies on their backs for the Norwegian journey but this will not be possible with the three weeks' of supplies needed for the Greenland adventure.

Mr Staddon also intends to find sponsorship to support the trek.

The kites they use cost up to £800 and each skier needs two to cover the various wind speeds.

The kites inflate internally and the ones used on the Norwegian adventure were five to six square metres but can be up to 14.

The kites for the Norwegian trip were supplied by Alan Greenhill of Dursley firm Kite n' Sk8.

Mr Staddon also used the Norwegian trip to test particular radio equipment for its range and cold weather reliability.

Because of the speeds the kite-skiers travel - up to 25mph - they can be very easily separated and need to keep radio contact.

Kite-ski-ing does take place in some resorts in the Alps but in this situation tends to be similar to water ski-ing on snow.

Mr Staddon knows of only one other party - it trekked in Antarctica - which has used kite-ski-ing as a means of travelling any distance.

Mr Staddon, who lectures in environmental management and science at the University of the West of England, came to the UK from Canada seven years ago.

After living in Bristol for a year he moved to Dursley, partly because of its accessibility to some of his adored sports such as mountain biking and hill walking.