By Jay Stephenson
Valley City Times-Record

    If you don’t know what snowkiting is, there’s a chance to find out this weekend.
    This Saturday, a group of adventurous wind power enthusiasts from Grand Forks will offer free lessons on the new sport of snowkiting at the High-line Park Baseball field.
    Aside from offering free snowkiting lessons, 2xtM (stands for To Cross the Moon) is going the extra mile to show the importance of wind energy in North Dakota.
    Going the extra mile for 2xtM is actually going hundreds of miles. With just the packs on their backs, three 2xtM members will start at the North Dakota/Canadian border and snowkite the length of  the entire state down to the South Dakota border from Feb. 11 to March. 3.
    For the other members of 2xtM, life won’t be so difficult. That’s what brings them to Valley City to teach snowkiting.
    “This is a pre-tour to the expedition,” said Chelsea Hummon, community outreach coordinator with 2xtM. “The expedition is where we drop three crazy dudes off near Fortuna, and they’ll be snowkiting all the way to the South Dakota border, while Jason and I get to go to the nice warm schools across the state giving presentations while they’re on the expedition.”
    Today, Hummon and other members of 2xtM will give a presentation at Valley City State University prior to the free snowkiting lessons on Saturday.
    Hummon says snowkiting newcomers have nothing to fear: she’s brand new to the recreational sport herself.
    “I just started when I moved out here, and it is so much fun, and it also shows you can learn it pretty quickly,” said Hummon, who moved to North Dakota in December.
    Hummon describes snowkiting as “snowboarding on flatland” and says anyone who learns the sport will realize it’s easy and fun.
    “What you have to do before you get on the board is learn how to control the kite, and once you got that down, if you just understand that you sit back when you’re on the board, it’s all downhill from there,” she said.
    2xtM’s snowkiting/wind energy  presention is this evening in the Foss Hall auditorium at VCSU at 7:30 p.m. The snowkiting lessons will be Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Hi-Line Park Baseball field from noon to approximately 5 p.m.