Normally mid March is my favorite time of year for winter kiting; days are longer and it's usually getting a bit warmer and when it hovers around the freezing mark or a few degrees above everyone ditches the hats and then at +5C get rid of the cold weather jacket etc for something lighter.

Well this year is no where near it - spent the last two days outside in shorts and t-shirt as we are getting temps in the low 20's here in southern Ontario - feels like late May/early June. We only had a couple of snow sessions this year. A little further north they had bit better but a dismal winter season.

Now this early warm air is messing with what could have been a good early start to a buggy and surf season - the cold water and clear sunny warm days means doming already - kills the wind along the beaches and you get cold mist rising off the sand until the water warms up more or you get a cold wind day with cloud cover to keep the beaches from heating up too much.

at least NABX is only 2 weeks away.

We had 72 degress F here today. Great wind and great ice when we drove an hour north.

Local ice is done. We'll get another week at least.

Bet most lakes around Mpls/St. Paul will be ice out in a couple days. It hit 81 F today. About 3 weeks early on ice aout and 30-40 degrees high on temps. Guys started on water this weekend. I'm much more of fan of snowkiting, so this winter was not a good in my book.

krumly

COME TO SEATTLE, IT'S BEEN SNOWING, HAIL, RAIN, SUN, WIND, RAIN, SNOWING, OH BY THE WAY DID I TELL YOU IT'S BEEN SNOWING......THE WEATHER FORECAST FOR THE MOUNTAINS, WHICH ARE ONLY AN HOUR AWAY, IS FOR 1 TO 2 FEET OF SNOW EACH DAY.

I will have to chain up just to leave town for NABX. The Syskiyou's are going to be nasty, looking forward to putting chains on the motor home and trailer.

Thursday my fav lake still had ice but you had to paddle twenty feet from shore to get to it. Yesterday and today in the mid to upper 70's F. Lots of fisherman out in boats on the rivers already. What a bizzaro year!:dunno: It was fun while it lasted but skiing gear is packed away in storage for the year

Had an awesome session yesterday. Got some kites wet and a bit of sunburn but it was really good. We shoulf get at least one more week in up north.:D

Jelly for sure! Some of my best skiing on the ice was mid to late march. Warm temps, sunburn, and good speeds all in the same day.:bouncing:

It was 82 degrees here yesterday. It's going to hit near 90f today! I still think we'll get one more weekend but I'm wearing my PFD just to be sure.:duh:

We still have the best of both worlds. The Spring "velvet" has not formed yet on lakes closest to Calgary, and it is still snowing at Sylvan and Spray Lakes, but you can kiteboard in a drysuit at Keho already. Winds have been good too.

The soccer fields in town have dried out so I have even had a few after work sessions on Coyotes and mountainboard .

On Monday we got a nice 20cm dump. Woke up to a two foot drift pushed up to my front door. But as luck goes there has been zero wind. Today it's suppose to be 50km winds and another 10cm expected. Day off tomorrow, so here's hoping that it's at least 20km to play. Sunday is forecast windy too!!! I was mountainboarding with my son on Sunday, Tuesday they went to that same hill to toboggan. Weird way to end the dry winter we had. Next week it's back to +11.

Sad here as well !!! we have been getting the same weather as feyd here(not that far apart) and i had my last session two week ago .
i must say it was a perfect way to end it,sunny,warm nice winds,no jacket/gloves or hat just palin cruising for hours on end untill it was time to pack up..
the river is also a no go,it's been melting so fast that i wouldn't never dare try to adventure on it...

at least this year we got a little snow!!! so managed to get out a good 12 times,,not great compared to a few years ago where we had full coverage in the field until mid april..

compared to last year and the year before that now that was awfull... i think i'm moving to Nunavut to kite with the polar bears heheheh

only 9 months to go for the next season :-D if we get one this time !!!!!

steff

I had my last ice session today. Rode 50 miles with an average speed of 24.5 mph and a top speed of 64mph. Surface was hard frozen ice fragments akin to riding shattered pavement. Winds were gusting to 30mph and the 12m Ph2 on 40m lines was a riot.

Ice thickness ranged from 12 to 4" but none of it was good ice and it was bowing beneath me when I edged hard by mid day.

Were all wore our PFDs but nobdy went swimming. We could probably ride tomorrow but I'm happy to have the last day without going swimming. :D

Can't wait until next season.

You're a legend in my mind. You and Phree have to put more miles on in a year than anyone else. In the kiting world, they should have career miles like hockey players have career goals.

Heheheh thanks Shaggs. Really it's not hard when you don't get much snow, have lots of hard ice, tons of wind and you like to ride as fast as you can. The miles add up quick.

I stopped keeping track after around 900 this year about a month and week ago. My guess is I got between 1500-1700 for the season. My best week this season I logged 360 miles in 5 days. My friend Jim Cline finished yesterday with 2165miles for the season. I think his best season he bagged 3000. He's got 6000 miles in just in the last 4 years.

I love doing it but in the back of my mind I have to wonder what it's doing to our bodies. We weren't made to do this kind of stuff. This kind of hard mileage destroys equipment, it must take it's toll on us as well.

I dunno, it's a drug and I'm an addict. Can't be as bad for me a heroine or crack or even alcohol right?

The difference between this addiction and many others is that even after years and years of use and abuse you will still be smiling.

I wonder if what the pro and con health benefits really look like. I suspect that your knees and ankles are the most at risk from wear n tear. Someone asked me how I could justify the risk once. I laughed and told them it was much safer than flying down a ditch doing 80mph on a tricked out quad. And way cheaper as well.

Quote:

Originally posted by snowspider The difference between this addiction and many others is that even after years and years of use and abuse you will still be smiling.

And most likely still have teeth

Went for a brief session this afternoon. The snow is really sticky and heavy now. Wind meter read 28km gusting to 34. I pulled out my 9m frenzy thinking the 12 might be a tad too much. I got going and the wind dropped to 20km. Fought with being powered enough through gusts to not near enough. After an hour I quit to pull out the 12m. Once I had the 9m packed my laziness set in. I checked the winds, back to 27km. Hummed for 10 minutes and decided to go home. I kicked myself all the way home but it is what it is. Suppose to be +9 to +13, so it's gonna be dry again in no time.

really, you let a good session go cause you were too lazy to set up a foil?
Maybe we can chalk that up to temporary brain malfunction due to a general lack of snowkiting this season.

Yeah I was kicking myself Sunday night for not trying to make a go of it. It's light till 8 now so looking to get one in the evenings. Sad thing though really underpowered in sticky heavy snow is way more work than anything. That's when you realize how out of shape you are.

There was a place up north that I wanted to hit this month because it's big and has lots of room to run. This is the fast running part of the season with fast surface and high winds but this season the surface went a month early. The place I wanted to go hasn't got the surface but the winds are gusting 48mph today. It would have been awesome.

I've been worked up all day thinking about it. Can't focus on anything.

ya, Shaggs, I am thinking you probably have a general wax on that board, or even a cold temp wax? maybe wax that board with some warm temp wax. It would make a big difference.

I agree I need to invest in some warm temp wax for next season. Took three days and all that snow is more or less gone now. Seems like the only snowkiting I get in is at the end of the season. Maybe that should be what I put on in the first place lol. Guess there's next winter to look forward to lol.

Anybody else grieving the loss of winter. I had a good year but already going through a slight depression. Is there a five step program for skiing withdrawal?

Rob

Crushed. Happens everytime. I'm doing bike stuff now but at this time of year comming out of snow kite season I come into bike season with a little resentment. Today I'm building some new elements and skinnies to play and teach on so I'm a little pumped for that. There's a ton of trail work to be done so I'm pumped on that too. Shopping for a new bike has also been a great distraction.

But the itch is still there. I've been forcing myself to look and web cams of some of our kiting spots to see how bad they are now. That usually makes me go "Oh good, I'm not missing anything."

Last night I flew a little 1.2m in some high winds last night to scratch an itch but it doesn't really get the snowkite monkey off my back.

I'm still on snow here in NH
Has a day teaching mountain kiting up on the Presidentials and an likely to be in Utah for another few weeks of incredible kiting on mountains!
In the mean time I've been out on the water which is as great as snow! Only the waves move you, where in snow, they don't.

So when the season is done, there's still lots to do that's fun!

Quote: Originally posted by Cheddarhead

Anybody else grieving the loss of winter. I had a good year but already going through a slight depression. Is there a five step program for skiing withdrawal? Rob

Man that week Bohemia got 20 + inches - and 16" the following week! Crazy year ...

Yes, there were some late spring snow events, but nothing that affected us here in Green Bay. Mostly north and west of us. I still would love to make it to Mt Bohemia sometime, it looks beautiful. I haven't skied conventional downhill in years, just kite powered:D

Still in grieving over the end of winter snowkiting Was one of THE best seasons that I can remember. I know I didn't get out as much as I wanted to due to wind or obligations, but I shouldn't complain as I was able to ski the lakes until mid April which is longer than most seasons. Every year at this time I feel a little empty that winter kiting is over and I have to put the ski equipment away. I think I need some therapy, lol.

I'm not done in northern mn this week might be the last but we still have two feet of ice on the lake. Just waiting for the wind !