Bio
Sam Salwei, 26, YogaSlacker/Eco-adventurer, Grew up in-between South Miami, Florida and Crystal, North Dakota. Drawing from this diverse world view he has a unique understanding of the issues facing the youth in the Midwest. He has always had a talent for instilling passion in others with his ideas, creating an incredible network that encompasses talent from coast to coast. He has studied Recreation and Leisure Services at the University of North Dakota as well as Adventure Tourism on the South Island of New Zealand. He just completed a degree in Social Entrepreneurship. This combined with his passion for the environment and the outdoors has lead him to this hybrid form of grass roots activism. Sam has snowkited over 500miles in the past 3 years. He inspires by example - living an extreme life with awareness.

Explain your lifestyle: In a word--non traditional.   My inspired value system is expressed through my way of life.  I believe in the potential of committed individuals and spend much of my time exploring human capabilities.  I attach meaning not to material possessions and financial success, but to intention of action, creativity, and well-defined purpose.  I live simply, but am extremely active.  Three months after I discovered climbing I stopped paying rent and moved literally onto the floor at the local climbing gym.  I continued to be enrolled at the University of North Dakota but spent little time there.  Despite my lack of attendance I convinced a select few instructors to help me utilize my life experiences to achieve a major of my own design: Social Entrepreneurship, which I recently achieved.  I accomplished this not despite my 100,000+ miles of car travel per year, but because of it.  The experiences I gained while traveling allowed my to apply the theory I was exposed to in school, making my education highly practical.  These experiences also helped in the development of an extensive social network that has allowed me to exist, trading tales of adventure and exploration for food and lodging.  In essence I feel just as at home in New York as I do in California.  This lifestyle has helped me to develop a unique view of the vast amount of social problems as well as providing me with the passion and motivation to apply my knowledge and skills to positively affect these problems.  These underlying values have led to the development of tangible forms expression.  Such as, the creation of slackline yoga which expedites mindfulness and focus, leading to a greater understanding of living with intention.    This intention leads to environmental awareness; without the environment my lifestyle would cease to exist along with everything else.  I enjoy exploring human potential through rock climbing, eco-expeditions, adventure racing, etc. connecting the physical/mental discipline of endurance activities to sustainable messages.   All of this has culminated in the development of the mantra extreme living with awareness.

To Cross the Moon (2XtM) is an eco-friendly snowkiting expedition across North Dakota to raise awareness for wind energy and climate change. From the U.S. - Canadian border in the north, to the state line in the south, extreme endurance athletes Sam Salwei, Jason Magness and Paul Cassedy will snowkite 390 miles across the frigid winter moonscape of North Dakota.  Carrying everything they need on their backs for the three-week expedition, the trio will make the journey propelled solely by the wind’s energy.  Driven not only by their quest for adventure and extreme challenges, but also by their passion for empowering and inspiring society to see the potential for wind energy as a meaningful and essential energy source in the fight against climate change.

The name To Cross the Moon (2XtM) was suggested by our esteemed Videographer Tad Erickson of T-Phy Productions.  Not only is North Dakota a beautiful moonscape in the winter, but more importantly, 2XtM draws from President Kennedy's bold vision for America to be the first to land on the moon.  He rallied an entire country behind him in an age where the technology did not exist to accomplish the goal.  Climate change provides us with a challenge even more daunting than reaching the moon.  The difference is that today we have the technology to rise to the challenge.  What we lack is the political will.  A power shift is needed to change the political climate instead of the climate of our planet; A power shift to a clean, renewable energy economy and a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.

- The Many Elements of 2XtM -

Expedition: This first of its kind trans-state snowkiting expedition will cross 370 miles of North Dakota from Canada to South Dakota. Athletes will be self-supported as they carry everything they need on their backs through a maze of barbed wire, power lines and jagged ice.  They will sustain themselves on a vegetarian diet for the entire three week expedition.

Education:  We’re using the buzz generated by the expedition to educate young people about wind energy and climate change in a fun and unique way.  A fully interactive website will provide students

Snowkiting Clinics:  Somewhere in North Dakota lies the Aspen of snowkiting. We will provide free snowkiting lessons in all the communities we visit giving people the opportunity to feel the power of the wind with their own two hands. People will have a chance to see gear in action and learn more about our sponsors.

Documentary Film:  2XtM, the movie, will be shot in HD by experienced filmmakers.  The film will parallel the challenges faced on the expedition with those facing North Dakota’s fledgling wind industry.

2XtM started as an idea for an adventure between two friends.  Soon it became an expedition, now it’s a cause, turning into a movement!