When Hurricane Ophelia tore through North Carolina in September of 2005, mandatory evacuations were ordered, tens of thousands of homes lost power, portions of the affected area were devastated, but Matt Domanowski, a Buffalo native, packed up his kite and board to catch the 85-mile-an-hour winds. “I drove down and rode that for a few days,” he said. “You had to [jump] eight feet out of the water just to get out because the water had eroded so much of the beach…it was awesome.”

Domanowski is a builder and seller of computer solutions whose day job is a far cry from his true passion: snowkiting. Snowkiting is a winter-month variation of the popular sport known as kiteboarding, or kitesurfing, where boarders use both the wind and the waves to propel themselves into the air, while completing tricks, twists, and other feats.

Snowkiting, like its summertime cousin, uses a snowboard instead of the wooden kiteboard, and a large kite. According to kitelife.com, a man named George Pocock first experimented with kites and their pulling power in the early nineteenth century. Another site, snowkiting.com, adds that the origin of the actual sport cannot be attributed to one person, but they say a man named Steve Shapson tried kite-skiing in the early 1980s, and developed special delta kites for this new purpose.

Domanowski’s house is littered with snowkiting and kiteboarding magazines. From his walls hang photos documenting his more impressive endeavors. His passion for the sport radiates through him as he describes the endless thrills kiteboarding has provided him and many others.

He turns on the television and a shoves a snowkiting video in the VCR. Daredevils soar 50 to 100 feet in the air with nothing but a kite to sustain them. “I could tell you how cool it is all day but when I throw a video in, you’re immediately hooked,” says Domanowski. He’s right. Look it up on YouTube—it looks totally rad.

Snowkiting is very similar to kiteboarding. It requires you to strap your body into a harness, which is attached to a kite. The standard model is a four-line kite, which gives you the most control. These kites can be smaller than a square meter, or span out to over 20 square meters. Evolving from two-line kites, these four-line kites are safer than previous models. “Pull left, the kite goes left. Pull right, the kite goes right,” Domanowski explains. These kites require a lot of practice to control, but when mastered, you can propel yourself across nearly any landscape. In Buffalo, snowkiters can often be seen cruising on Lake Erie near the grain elevators. The snowboard is the most commonly used when snowkiters glide across the terrain on windy days.

Although snowkiting is pricey, the cost to benefit ratio is seen as a good investment by many. A kite specifically designed for snowkiting can range anywhere from $60 to $300, according to snowkiting.com. And, of course, you need a snowboard. Most snowboarding equipment can range from $200 to $600, putting the snowkiting supplies fee almost up towards $1000. The ability to ride anywhere at any time, however, gives this sport an exceptional advantage over other traditional winter sports. There are no lift tickets or lines, just the wide-open terrain and nearly endless possibilities for tricks and variation.

Domanowski is sponsored by XLKites for kiteboarding, and they provide him opportunities to travel and promote, doing what he loves. Getting sponsored for snowkiting, on the other hand, was a more difficult task. “Being sponsored for snowkiting is like being sponsored for tiddly-winking. It’s just still a really super small sport.”

Domanowski has been snowkiting since 2002, but he’s always had a passion for board sports. Although he is relatively new to this sport, he is still making his mark by regularly riding the winds, and offering lessons to beginners. He cautions that, when compared to kiteboarding, “This isn’t the sport that gets you chicks, so I’m going to warn you about that. Every event we go to is a sausage fest,” Domanowski jokes. “Kiteboarding,” (a popular beach sport,) “is a different story.”

“Once you have the kite skills down you can go anywhere—land, snow and water,” Domanowski explains. “There are some guys who go on ice… crazy guys who want to go fast.” He demonstrates how kite techniques can translate into all kite sports, providing your means of getting speed and air. “In the air, what’s going to hurt you?” He answers his own question, “The ground…the ground is what gets you!”

Domanowski’s passion for kiteboarding has provided him an outlet to pursue this sport everywhere he goes. “I’ve been all over the country doing this. In South Padre Island… I was jumping over drunk people who were on spring break to create excitement for the sport.”

Although most extreme sports have famous faces, like Shaun White for snowboarding and Tony Hawk for skateboarding, snowkiting does not because of its small following. Domanowski asserts the sport isn’t about fame. He mentioned how one of his fellow snowkiters flew with Andre Phillip (kiteboarding’s standout athlete) on a promotion trip. “He didn’t even know who Andre Phillip was. He didn’t need to know, which was cool… just another guy to ride with on the beach.”

Snowkiters and kiteboarders alike take their passion into all aspects of their lives. “The big thing is that it’s lifestyle. There’s no winners or losers. Nobody gives a shit about points or rankings. All you care about is who you’re riding with,” said Domanowski. People become obsessed with this sport. You’ll have guys “calling in sick to work and blowing off families just to ride,” as Domanowski puts it. “It becomes your life.”

Domanowski rides with a group of guys from around the Buffalo area, “They don’t even call each other,” he says, “They all know where everyone will be riding based on the wind direction.”