Who has accidently ran over their lines and cut them in half or nicked them so their unusable? I did it last year but luckily I wasn't on edge so no damage done. I realize accidents happen, but I still would be mad if it happened. Line sets are not cheap.

Not me but Buggeyed has had some bad luck.

We have sharp edges for the ice and he has run over his brake bridle. IT happens :dunno:. Fortunately I keep a spare old bridle set and we spliced in what was needed that night in the cabin.

Snowmobile ran over his lines on another occasion. Demolished his handles and the lines were stuck in the sled's tracks but somehow the kite was saved. Our lesson was to mark out our home base better. Folks on sleds have no clue what we are about.

At my 1st Montana snowkite Rodeo I was riding along all stoked being some of my 1st real runs. Some folks yelled at me and I thought they were saying Hi. The were saying LINES and I realized just as I was riding over a set . :duh: I didn't jump over them but reacted and got light. We inspected the lines closely and He couldn't find damage but I felt a total fool ! :embarrased:

It happens all the time, more often when people are learning and either awkward on skis or still learning kite skills. Then there a number that happen by falling and flipping a leg around to hit the line with an edge and even seen it with people flying a kite but laying at an awkward angle and swinging a leg to get better angle to stand and "ping"
Then there are lines that are cut by others going over them. This can be aggravating if you have your set up in what should be a clear area and some bozo comes through and sometimes it happens because people land kites and leave lines out in the snow where they shouldn't
Then there are snowmobiles....they tend to also eat kites
Ice buggies on blades can be a great way to make short line sets being so easy to over run your kite and have the lines drape on the ice and you see it coming.
And finally (maybe...) there is rough and jagged ice that catches lines and bridles like kiting on a cheesy grater!
Overall these things happen less and less after getting more winter experience but they still happen to others. I felt like an ass a couple of years ago when a guy was having troubles getting out to where cleaner wind was and his kite was down in the snow and he was standing near it on the upwind side. I came ripping down the lake and swung a distance downwind of him coming to lend a hand and suddenly saw lines where I didn't expect and turned but doing that edge turn at the last second cut a line. It was a fairly new kite and lines and felt bad that it put a damper on his day that he couldn't use that kite and we didn't have a bar set up to lend that would work. It was just one line and at first he wanted a brand new line set but I talked him in to getting two be main lines so they match that I made up of q power pro line with the promise that they were better than what he had and he didn't like it I would make it right however he wanted. My bad skiing over his line but felt even worse about giving him a bad day.

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

Folks on sleds have no clue what we are about.

Your absolutely right about that! Sleds flying across the lake at a high rate of speed can spell trouble.

I am guilty but once was enough to make me super careful. Snowkiting on sports fields in turbulent, gusty winds often leads to the kite getting tangled in the bridle and needing attention. It is so tempting with snow blades to just skate up to the kite to reset things but it is so easy to step on something you shouldn't.

A few years back I had just replaced a lineset on a 5m Frenzy.

One line was nicked and the others had seem a lot of action so I bought a whole new set for it. Put them on one night and the next morning a buch of us went riding. The wind was nukin' and doing it's typical shifting 180deg nonsense. Molly decided to take the 5m out.

She launched, pinned it across the lake, hit an air brick, kite folded, Molly got dropped, kite fell, caught a gust, reopened, dove looped and crossed under Molly's ski tips as she was sliding. I had tuned her skis after I replaced the lines that night before so her edges were freshy fresh.

Cut clean through 3 of the 4 lines. Yup, an activity that involves strings and things with really sharp edges....

If I can't veer out of way quick enough I tried to train myself(I think) to drop to knees and fall over them...instead of skating/skiing over them.

Another time..... @ first Kitestorm... a bit of an out of control snowboarder roared into myself and my kite lines and frayed one a bit- but not cut into it fully enough- so It was still usable.

People seemed too bunched up at times and decided at future events to spread out where I base camped or set down.


The trouble is you cant see lines often when laying in snow or even ice...or know what direction they run from kite...especially if kite is not 'open' from ground wind pressure- but crumpled.

You should always give a 150 ft distance or wide berth from any kite or object that might be a kite when approaching that object when on snow or ice. You might be coming close to say hi to person next to it... but it's better to stop and land a good distance away and then walk over to socialize.


Although this thread is about self inflicted occurrences...... it is a good reminder about being around others who don't realize what you have or more so that there are lines laying out and they can't see them.

If I am on a frozen pond and there are ice skaters around....... leaving your kite by itself to go to car for something is a bad Idea an invites a cutting accident. Sometimes I'm right there and a skater approaches too close to me and my landed kite and I have to warn them away.
Better to wrap lines up or pull them neatly folded onto kite if anchored by something like snow. A careless skater not looking might even not see your kite and skate into it....but they certainly won't see your lines stretched out across surface in most cases.

Well said.

We're all on colored lines here. Makes life a little easier.

It's true how easy it is to save a lineset just by reducing the weight as you edges cross them. Hard ice makes it less effective but any amount of snow and the lines tend to crush into the snow as opposed to getting slashed.

skimtwashington is right, leaving lines out, especially in a launch area is just asking for trouble.

Yes, roll your lines. I have a bunch of small orange cones (they sell some with a spiral cut away on the cone part so they vent wind better instead of falling over or sliding) and sometimes I'll set out a wide V shape pattern on the ice to define my anchor and set up zone if there are more fisherman or sleds etc. But even with that I've had sleds come through because they wanted to see what the cones were for.

another thing, aside from going where you shouldn't there are times when accidents happen - tell people you went over their lines and check with them and step up and come to an agreement if there is damage. I've seen it with friends that someone skis over lines and then tries to jump after the fact and didn't tell the owner so it became more of an issue of a friend not telling he may have damaged the lines - then when confronted, going with "oh I thought i jumped them" then the next was trying to rationalize why it wasn't his fault even though he launched and skidded 100 feet straight downwind then right through the zone where we were all setting up. It just damaged the friendship more than the lines by pretending it didn't happen.

Yes, nicely said Skim. Although it's a rare occurance I ski with any other kiter, you have a good point about others in the vacinity being aware of whats going on. It's lonely in these parts

I've pulled the same as Canuck, we are both gusty wind small field flyers. As much as it sucks to scrape the boots and strap the blades back on I now also boot it to my kite to undo tangles. Was lucky I had dull edges and didn't damage my lines!
Definitely safer to snowboard, can't walk with that thing on!

Hello

Quote: Originally posted by Cheddarhead

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner   Folks on sleds have no clue what we are about. Your absolutely right about that! Sleds flying across the lake at a high rate of speed can spell trouble.

I totally agree! It's especially scary in the darkness. Those headlights coming towards you at 100+ km/h don't seem to predict anything good...