Winter sports fans using technology to get their kicks in the snows of Latvia

Skirted on all sides by snow-clad pine forests, Latvia’s remote Lake Ninieris would be the perfect picture of winter tranquillity — were it not for the huge drone buzzing like a swarm of angry bees as it zooms above the solid ice surface.

The powerful three-meterlong drone, sporting 16 spinning propellers, is fitted with long tow ropes with handles, the kind used in water-skiing.

Two snowboarders gripping them glide across the ice, pulled along by the drone before performing a series of high-speed turns and slides.

As snow sprays up from beneath their snowboards, a small audience of cross-country skiers and ice fishermen look on in amazement at what might be the next extreme sports craze: droneboarding.

The drone prototype is the work of Latvian specialists Aerones and they are putting their invention through its paces, with up to four snowboarders being dragged across the ice at a time.

“It seems to be a successful test,” says Janis Putrams, 35, wearing a broad grin, not least because as Aerones CEO he is in charge of the enormous remote control unit used to steer the drone’s flight.

“We started thinking about it two years ago. It was a sort of Friday afternoon idea and we just wondered if it would be possible,” Putrams said.

They first built a small fourpropeller drone before using it to test out droneboarding about a year ago.

“But the idea was always to

It’s very cool. But the ultimate would be to control your own drone while you were snowboarding.” Anita Leina, fashion designer

build something big, to see how much power it could have. Luckily in Latvia we have both great engineers and great winters, so it’s ideal for droneboarding,” Putrams said.

In theory the top speed is around 150 km/h, but piloting becomes difficult at that velocity, so today droneboarders have to make do with speeds of around 60 km/h.

Having cost 35,000 euros