When the terrain is flat and the breeze is blowing, sometimes the best way to cover ground is to go fly a kite. Outfitted with large, specially crafted kites and harnesses, earthbound adventurers have started to use wind power to reach some of the most remote spots on the planet.

Some credit goes to the relatively new water sport known as kiteboarding. A mix of paragliding, wakeboarding, and windsurfing, kiteboarding has grown explosively since it was featured in the first ESPN X-Games in 1995.

With feet strapped to floating boards, kiteboarders use special kites and harnesses to skim across the water. Experts can reach speeds up to 40 miles an hour (64 kilometers an hour) and launch 30 feet (9 meters) or more into the air off ramplike waves.

It didn't take long before someone realized that the kites' pulling power could also come in handy on land. Trip Forman, co-founder of Real Kiteboarding, an outfitter with branches along the United States eastern seaboard, Colorado, and Mexico, calls the winter of 2000-2001 a turning point.

"Europeans were the first, especially in France," he says. "There were a few guys in the U.S. and Canada, too, doing it on flat land and frozen lakes." Forman describes the two main types of kites: ram-air, which expand in the wind, and more powerful inflatable kites, which are designed to float on water.

On land and water, riders grasp a handle attached to the kite by 90-foot (30-meter) lines. A harness connects kite rigging to the body; a quick release mechanism allows riders to detach the kite in case of emergency.

Land kites, such as those made by Flexifoil and Slingshot, are typically 8 to 18 feet (2.4 to 5.5 meters) wide. A basic outfit runs U.S. $300 to 900, says Forman, whose company's half-day snow kiteboarding course in Colorado costs U.S. $200.

Risks and Rewards

Kiting on land has a few advantages. A breeze of only four to five miles an hour (six to eight kilometers an hour)—half the wind speed required on water—is enough to get you moving.

In winter riders usually mount snowboards and skis; in summer, wheeled buggies or mountain boards (imagine a snowboard on wheels). Andrew McLean of Park City, Utah, has used kites on expeditions to Antarctica and Baffin Island. He says it is important to choose a kite that's not so big it overpowers you.

"It's a really fine line between going as fast as you can and all of a sudden being 30 feet [9.1 meters] in the air," he said, citing the kites' surprising power as the hardest part of the learning curve. "It's like being pulled behind a water skiing boat."

Many riders wear helmets and other protective gear to avoid being hurt in unforeseen "kitemares," which could mean being pulled into a crevasse or power line, or simply dragged along the ground at 30 miles an hour (50 kilometers an hour).

LATEST NEWS VIDEOS First Reverse Vasectomy for Rare Horse Species Rare Albino Whale Spotted Deadly Cable Crossing Is Only Way Out More Videos in the News

SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES Real Kiteboarding U.S. Snowkite Flexifoil Kitesports Kitesnowboard.com