I am on the faculty at a small college in Butte, Montana. Have been kiting for a couple years now and would like to offer a snowkiting course through the college. Thought it would be beneficial to gain an instructor certification but am having trouble finding any courses near Montana. IKO and PASA both seem to offer snowkite certifications but I can't find any actual courses being offered. Any help or guidance is appreciated. Thank you, John.

Regarding PASA Certification:
Contact one of the PASA Examiners
PASA Contact Page

or

Claudia Nygard (KiteGirl@KiteGirl.com) who I believe is still a Regional Instructor Examiner.

In some cases, for them to hold a certification class, there has to be a certain level of demand (ie nn number of instructor candidates).

IKO is still trying to make inroads in the US, but insurance is sometimes a stumbling block.

If you become PASA certified, you can get your IKO certification doing a 3 day (instead of a 5 day) course through the Instructor Equivalency Course.

Regarding IKO Certification:
Your might also want to contact Zebulon Jakub . He's a PKF member, but is on sporadically so his profile email or phone (603.356.7064) might be the best way to contact him. He is currently a team rider for IKON and an IKO Level 2 Snowkite instructor. He'd be in a good position to tell you what hoops you have to jump through.

ATB,
Sam

Perfect, thank you for your help.

Does anyone know if there are any colleges that offer snow-kiting as a class? I could add a list of schools to include in a proposal to administrators....Thanks in advance.

I would check with rudeboysaude, but I think there is a snow kite club at UND and UMD, but I may be wrong.......

Here is a pdf that covers snow kiting on the UMD campus.....

http://www.umdrsop.org/%28RSOP%20Web%29/Surf_&_Kite/info...

Hope this helps......

PASA water certs are common. Good luck getting a snowkite cert.

IKO certification for North America is taking place right now in Quebec. The only other ITCs they offer are in Europe (Norway etc.) and I think they are over for this season.

They require 5 instructor canidates to hold an ITC. It is a five day course and is offered either in english or whatever language is dominant in that region. Cost for the course is around $1100 U.S. per person. They had a couple courses lined up for Quebec but they were cancelled due to lack of attendence.

It's a wicked hard thing to coordinate. Your best bet IMO is to deal with IKO directly through thier site. They are very good about getting back to you with and answers you may need and the information on the site is very good.

I'd get ahold of Aaron "Rudeboy" Saude and pick his brain. He does snowkite courses for the college system out in his neck of the woods. He's been doing it a long time and probably has some good advice specific to your situation.

to be a cert. rider ?

OR

to became an instructor?

in general you have to travel as i have noticed TO BECAME AN INSTRUCTOR. but you could be certified as a rider where ever you find an instructor.


its organized but a college class?come on....UND has a club i think. prolly find an instructor there

Thanks for the direction guys - very beneficial. Phreerider - come on what? Skiing/snowboarding is offered at many colleges why not snow-kiting? The registrar I've talked to is all for it.

The University of Calgary offers Hang/Para Gliding & Traction Kiting extramural courses that include snowkiting. They run them through the Canadian Ozone distributor Muller Windsports.

It would be awesome to get a credit course in snowkiting.

wow college kite! no #@%$#!! i want to go back to school!

i guess sailing /rowing/ponies/ski , i see now ... OK so surf, skate, pole dance too!!!

college is so resort kool now, all i remember was 2 jobs and 21hrs a semester.

Phreerider: If you've got something constructive to add, please do so. If you're going to be an ass, go to another thread. I'm not impressed.
Everyone else: thanks for your help, am in contact with several people with good ideas.

extramural no doubt,

jamtmann31 you are enlightening me on the scope of post secondary education where i lack discernment of contemporary trends, i must extend my gratitude for it and you should disregard any moments of mirth at the topics expense.

everyone else i beg your tolerance of my lack of sensitivity

good luck with the cert. ....i did the rider cert. for water a few years ago. the instructorship only adds teaching model stuff.

Quote:

Originally posted by PHREERIDER wow college kite! no #@%$#!! i want to go back to school! i guess sailing /rowing/ponies/ski , i see now ... OK so surf, skate, pole dance too!!! college is so resort kool now, all i remember was 2 jobs and 21hrs a semester.

what a hustle!

I'm looking to hold a IKO instructor course in March here in NH.

Stay tuned and if you have any questions please contact Zebulon Jakub at 603-356-7064 and ask for me.

More details to come!

Thanks for the call back Zeb...I will keep in touch.

This thread is ironic I was gonna ask about snowkite certification close to me, the other day but never did. Professional instruction is something that might do wonders to help me progress.

Irony is fun...
so more progress is taking shape, hopefull if all falls into place the ITC would be taking place likely in NH and it would be late Feb.....Early March.

Ill post more details as time flies....with the snow!
YA WHO!!!

There's an ITC up in Quebec Jan 4-8th for english speaking instructors. Si vous parlez francais they have another one available.

http://www.ikointl.com/iko.php?page=itc-public-training-cale...

It's held on Lac St. Jean (for the outside segments) and in Metabetchouan for the classroom stuff. Its a HUGE lake surrounded by huge rolling fields. They hold the Mishkumi Challenge there, basically a north american VAKE endurance race. Pretty much a snowkiter's paradise. It's a haul to get there but it's awesome from a cultural point of view. Very much an immersion type of expirience.

The ITC pretty much sucks up any chance of getting to ride cause you spend your time studying at night and making lesson plans so make time for a couple extra days so you can get the goods after the cert.

The people are super friendly there. Can't wait to get back there just to ride.:wee:

North Conway, NH
Snow IKO ITC English

Feb 24-28 2013

http://www.ikointl.com/training-calendar

For more details or to enroll call:
603-356-7064