Thought I'd start a thread to hear from folks who have experience kiting in CO, places they've been able to kite, if it is any good, and the equipment required to get to them (park n' ride, skin, sled etc). Being in Colorado Springs, I'm particularly interested in places close by the Front Range.

I've heard really good things about Rabbit Ears Pass and Snow Mesa near Creede, but haven't made it to either and would love more info on both.

Thanks!

Nate

I’ll Start with a couple places that I've been:

Hoosier Pass

Parking available at the summit of Hoosier Pass, need to walk/skin about a mile to the east of the pass to get into open terrain, then you are good to go. Only been there once w/ stronger winds and spring conditions, but seems like it has a lot of potential and definitely want to get back. It is steeper terrain than your average rolling meadows with no flats to speak of, so I wouldn’t consider it a beginner location. It would be perfect for the guy who wants to use their kite as a chairlift to get multiple laps on some great back country skiing.

Chubb State Park

If it gets enough snow coverage, Chubb can be great, with park and ride ability. Chubb is the rolling open meadow on HWY 24/285 between Antero Reservoir and Buena Vista.

Spruce Meadows

Spruce Meadows is on the Front Range near exit 167 (Greenland exit) on I-25. It is a Douglas County Open space, and I have talked to a couple rangers there who have given me somewhat reserved rights to ride there. Being a park-and-ride spot that has great rolling terrain, it is one of my go-to locations near Colorado Springs – provided there is snow and wind. If you decide to ride there, make sure there is ample snow coverage as the Rangers are most concerned about damage to the terrain.

Divide
Divide can be another great place close to the Front Range. Also the rolling hills there favor winds from the west, which is pretty typical in the winter. It is a park and ride location. Park near the baseball field Just south and east of the main intersection in Divide.

Rampart Range Road
There is a small open area on Rampart Range Road on the south end of Farish Recreation Area. It sits on kind of a high plateau up there. I’ve kited it once with mixed results. Winds were from the south and felt like they were rotoring off of the rising terrain from the South. It is park and ride, provided the road is plowed.

Once place I've eyed up on Google Maps and even took a summer drive to scope out was Greenhorn Mountain. It seems like you should be able to make an ascent from the Western side, starting to the North. Has anybody been there yet?

Need to get frontrangejeff or proletariat on here to tell you about all the snow kiting places southish of denver. We went out on 11 mile res one time, and I imagine you're a lot closer to that in the south. My other favorite spot was rabbit ears pass. Both of these are park & ride, and wind direction agnostic (for the most part)

So this isn't snow kiting, but still a great place for CO: FrontRangeJeff was nice enough to let me tag along with him on Monday to Wheatland Reservoir, WY. It was some of the best water conditions I've had while being here in CO. Wind was in the mid to high teens w/ probably a +/- 50% gust factor - which for here is quite good. Felt smooth compared to what I've been used to getting any way.

Thanks Jeff for inviting me! Look forward to doing it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-bQb7SZ8Q

Cool. That was the first place I was able to reliably ride upwind on water. Then when I got to play in the steady ocean breeze it wasn't even a problem anymore.