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Perhaps this is a stupid question, but I'm not familiar with kite-boarding... Do kite boarders ever use the kite to ascend slopes (in lieu of skinning up) to then shred back down (wind permitting, obviously)?

No idea but that would be rad! I'd probably end up skying the summit and end up being a recovery mission but what fun.

Some do but most dont.

Not much of an answer. If you fly foil kites in snow its relatively easy to ascend the mountain powered by the kite with the right setup(upslope>sideshore wind). With a foil its easy to depower the kite, pack her up & do gravity turns down the mtn once you've located a good line. Its also fun to just do turns with the kite parked on the side of the window...its a whole different feeling for turns. Last Sunday was a short day with only ~4 hrs under my kite & managed 5700' verticle(uphill). With inflatable kites its not so easy to just depower & fold the kite up.

With a kite - no need to skin anything unless the wind quits ya....then its great to have a splitty on your feet & skin back to the rig.



Much of what is possible with snowkiting in backcountry terrain is truly in its infancy. The stuff Will, Pascal, Chasta, and a few others are doing is already amazing yet the possibilities and potential are pretty wide open. So many options yet to be explored via kite power. Think about this - doing gravity turns via skis has been around for how many years(1,000's maybe?) snowboard(30?) and kites have basically only been around since ~ late 1990's with snow kiting even less.

Lewmt - thanks for that reply. Ascending by wind, descending by gravity -- looks pretty ideal.

Oregon Field Guide has a segment about winter kiters....you might be able to find it and watch. Of the 10 minute segment they only have a few seconds of someone actually ripping pow on a slope, but it's interesting.

Skinning vs. Kiting = Work vs. Play
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Yoda, do you do any Kite stuff? My brother lent me his kiteboarding stuff, and I am nearby if you wanted to meet up.

To answer your ?... Yes. I've been kiting since '05. I started on the snow and went from there. It's one of my biggest passions in life now. I kite almost anytime the wind blows, work permitting. Now it's winter, I've been kiting Folsom lake on the frontal storm winds and clearing winds. A hoody wetsuit, booties, and gloves and I'm perfectly warm & comfortable.

Since you're local, let's meet up for sure. Snow kiting kicks in around January in the Tahoe area. Carson Pass/Red Lake Peak is the best local area to snowkite IMO.

I'm sold. That video is exactly what I want to do.

This video shows perfectly how its done. Notice how much the kite is being looped while going uphill - that's how the power is generated & they are pulling some pretty intense stuff - lesser slope angles don't require this much effort. Also keep in mind that you obviously aren't going to use a kite where there are many trees around so a kite won't get you up a bc trail in the timber. You also have to have the right wind setup to the slope you're climbing. Also keep in mind that often the wind at the start point is substantially less than the wind at the summit - it can get interesting.