The Snowkite Experience: Fernando Fernandes

Fernando Fernandes knows how to achieve goals. The adaptive Cabrinha team rider from Brazil shows us that quite a few things are possible with hard work, dedication and passion for what you do. "A year ago, Fernando told me that he wants to kite. He can not move his legs at all and I thought, this would be the challenge of my life," says Gustavo Foerster, Fernando's friend and manager, "But his commitment and focus convinced me and at that afternoon we started to work some kite controlling."

Fast forward to this September, Fernando is snow kiting on top of the Andes mountains. 

Fernando and his friends developed a seat for him to use with the board. "Our goal was to find the best way so Fernando could kite. We don´t have many references for that around the world so we then had continue to try some gears and developing our own way to figure it out this. The 160' Stylus was perfect for us." Fernando also uses the Fireball, a huge improvement to his setup as he uses his abs to edge the board.

A helicopter flew the team to the top of San Martin de Los Andes, 200km south of Bariloche. Perfect conditions, however, snow kiting isn't the easiest discipline.

"Snowkiting is technically very difficult. The wind is gusty, thermal, and you can fly forever if you don´t have a good control. Also the direction changes a lot, making you to be able to read that and adjust your self."

"It was a insane experience. On the begining wind was very light, so we have the opportunity to try some downloops and he could kite going up the mountain. And then the wind got better and we did some insane rides."

"Our local guides were Diego and Chomp, two incredibles adventures man who had discovered this spot close do Cerro Chapelco, south of Argentina. By the end of the day a barbecue on the jungle and a big feeling of one of the best days in our lives!" 

PHOTOS BY DIEGO COSTANTINI

Follow @fernandolife on Instagram to see more adventures of Fernando and his crew.