The New Snow Toys That Tech Moguls Love
Snow kiting in St. Moritz? Ski biking in Bozeman? Count us in.
In between the Crypto Finance Conference and the World Economic Forum last month, a group of investors and founders enjoyed a busy few days in St. Moritz. They networked, and they enjoyed a fireside chat with venture capitalists Bill Tai and Daniel Gutenberg. For play, rather than ski, snowboard or shvitz in a sauna, they snow kited.
Snow kiting is a mix of kitesurfing, water skiing and snow skiing. Riders wear skis or a snowboard and a harness connected to a massive sail and use the wind to bop between flats and hills or take longer-distance trips. And there’s a reason techies love it.
“This is my favorite hobby, and one of the main reasons is it combines snow sports, mountains, but also aerodynamics. It’s kind of engineer-y,” said Daphne De Jong, CEO and founder of Ven, a data science company, who’s journeyed to Antarctica, Norway and Alaska over the last six or so years to snow kite.