Practicing at Home

January 2006

We learned to kite from books and videos; and we practice on terra firma, near our home. Here we have 10 knots of wind, just right for learning. Often we have fun flying the kites until well after dark.

In 15 knots of wind the kite develops enough power to pull. If this looks like fun, you're right!

Instead of towing a sled, I'm trying to drag Jenny :)

Colorado

Colorado January 2006

Our first snowkiting trip was to Colorado, on the Dillon reservoir. In three days I managed about 100 feet. Humm... This is a bit more difficult than it looks. Back to the books and videos.

Minnesota

Minnesota, February 2006

Our second such trip, shown here, was to Minnesota, where we spent a week snowkiting on a huge frozen lake. With wide-open spaces and no traffic, we made excellent process.

Testing Jenny's home-made pants in Minnesota. Based on their performance, Jenny made pants for me and jackets for both of us.

Jenny snowkiting

Having fun in Minnesota. Photo by Jenny

Utah

Utah, March 2006

Skiing down to a lake in the morning.

Laying out the lines in an early morning snow storm.

This is our largest kite at 12 square meters. It measures 22' tip-to-tip L

Jenny carving a beautiful hair-pin turn.

The ranger said the snow on this lake was 4.5 feet deep, and beneath that, the ice was 4 feet thick.

The higher the winds, the smaller the kite. This is our smallest kite, at 3 square meters (10' tip-to-tip).

I carry a wind meter in my pocket. This morning's winds are 30 mph.

Jenny enjoying the Utah powder.

Except for one morning of no wind, we snowkited seven hours a day, for six days.

Kite skiing back up the hill in the late afternoon. Hidden in the gap in the fir trees above and to my right is the parking lot. By carefully steering the kite between the trees, I skied to within 15 feet of our car.