To promote the wind energy potential of North Dakota, team YogaSlackers.com are running the 2008 To Cross the Moon Expedition (2XtM). Over 21 days, 3 extreme athletes are snowkiting more than 390 miles across North Dakota’s moon-like landscape.

The expedition kicked off at the Canadian border near Crosby, N.D. on Feb. 11 and ends with community celebrations in Fargo and Grand Forks Feb. 29 &#8211 March 3.

The expedition will be completely self-supported with three athletes hauling all food, equipment and supplies needed to survive the extreme weather conditions where temperatures can reach 40 degrees above zero and wind-chills as low as 60 degrees below zero.

“It will be an extreme challenge,” says expedition leader Sam Salwei, “but our goal is to make North Dakota the ’state of extremes’ by demonstrating the state’s wind energy potential in a tangible way.”

North Dakota has been called the “Saudi Arabia of Wind.” The U.S. Department of Energy ranks North Dakota the number one state in wind energy potential. Theoretically speaking, North Dakota alone is capable of producing enough wind-generated power to meet more than one-fourth of the U.S. electricity demand, according to DOE estimates!

But despite this potential, North Dakota fell from 13th place in wind energy production in 2004 to 15th place in 2007. Currently, the state only has 344 megawatts of power online, which correlates to only 3/10th of 1 percent of its potential.

“Landowners benefit through leasing of wind rights and schools benefit from increased tax revenues,” said 2XtM’s education coordinator Jason Schaefer. “It’s a win-win all around and we need to show that to the world.”

Accompanying the athletes on the traverse, the 2XtM community outreach crew will roughly follow the expedition route and give educational presentations to increase awareness of wind energy and climate change in local schools and at community forums. The crew will also hold free snowkiting demonstration clinics where participants will be able to “hold the wind in their hands.” For a complete list of educational presentations and free demo clinics visit www.2XtM.com.

Although 2XtM’s main goal is to raise awareness for the potential of wind power in North Dakota. The athletes — Sam Salwei and Jason Magness, both from Grand Forks, N.D. along with Paul Cassedy from San Diego, Calif. — also hope to bring positive national attention to North Dakota’s assets, including its wide open spaces and opportunities for recreation.

“The trek across North Dakota that Sam and Jason have put together is an example of the exciting recreational opportunities our state offers,” said U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan. “But even more importantly, it’s bringing attention to an important issue &#8211 the development of our wind energy resource.”

More information can be found at www.2XtM.com. When the expedition commences, the website will provide global positioning system (GPS) tracking of the athletes’ progress as well as educational resources including a feature called, “ask an expert,” where visitors can submit questions to experts in the fields of snowkiting, wind energy and climate change.

(Photo by Mike Mohaupt)