Snowkiting  is the newest snow sport for the extreme athlete. It takes the need for a mountain out of the equation for the hard core skier, and allows people to have the thrill of skiing across the country.

Some on skis, others on snowboards - all 100 or so devotees who had come here to Sanpete County, Utah - were propelled by giant multicolored kites. And none of them were about to let a little weather get in the way of winter’s newest extreme sport.
“It’s an addiction,” said Salvador Jeronimo of Salt Lake City. “I’ll be out here till it’s dark.”
Snowkiters, they call themselves. They can cross plains and ascend and descend steep hills. They can plod at a jogger’s pace or accelerate to 50 miles an hour or better, depending on the kite’s size and the wind. They can go upwind or downwind, jump almost 100 feet in the air, slip in a spread eagle, land with a pirouette and then carry on.
The sport has dispensed with the need for gravity - and the ski-lift ticket for that matter - creating what may be winter’s ultimate free ride.
To promote snowkiting, several organizations are holding free clinics this winter throughout snow country. The sessions include instruction, the use of small training kites and demonstrations by some of the veterans - as much as anyone can be called a veteran of something just a half-dozen years old. New York Times.

Snowkiting at Wikipedia