I have never snowboarded or skied before but have been wanting to try it. Today we got our first snow so I thought I would try the kids 20 dollar snowboard. My feet fit in the straps good so I thought how hard can it be? I've been flying my twister for awhile and I have good kite control so I thought it would be as easy as it looks. I was wrong! I never got further than 2 feet. A real snowboard probably would have helped a little, but I still don't think it would be enough. Would ski's be any easier? Either way, it was still a good time scudding.

It's so hard to learn that edge-point when kiting on a board. It's very very hard to learn it on shallow snow on a hard surface. Since you want to keep going, you must have had fun!

Skis are way easier to learn on, as you get two points of balance!

I will have to try ski's next time. A snowboard might require more patience than I have. Also, do you think a landboard would be easier (not when there is snow of course)? I had always planned on getting one but the snowboard experience has me second guessing that.

Landboard is much easier than snowboard, but still tough to learn how much you lean back, that same "edge" issue. On a ATB that's not really set up for your weight, it can be very very tough. ATB can be pretty tough on ass and knees. Well, I would imagine it's less so if you're not eating #@%$#! on your landings on the regular, like me. ;D

I think the key for either (although i think snowboard is much harder) is having enough wind to be able to really lean back and use the edge and your a$$ for counter balance. With a good wind board skills come quick, although i will only fly depower when on a board- fixed bridle is good for scudding and buggying in my opinion. And as EW likes to say and i agree Armour Up
Scott

I was planning on going depower for my next kite but dirtslide's Blade was recently for sale and I just couldn't resist one more fixed bridal. Should arrive any day now.

Now you guys are getting me nervous about this snowboard thing. Never been on a snowboard before, but really wanted to try it with a kite. I mainly got one for those snowy days on the lake, I can't see using one on ice unless you have a switchblade type device. Just hope it's something I will end up liking since I come from a skiing background. Skis were just dead easy for me so that's what I started with. I'll have to post some vid when the time comes so we all can have a good laugh:D

Gary Kjellerin, the guy that won the Hardwater Global Speed Ranking last season never snowboarded before he got on a kite. He learned to ride on the kite and is awesome.

The first time he took the board to the slopes he said it was terrible. Not even the same thing.

Snowboarding is a lot easier to learn than skiing. But for learning to snowkite it's easier on skis, even if you're a snowboarder.

Thanks for the confidence Chris ssayre: You and I should learn together...now that would make a fun video to watch

Feyd, would it be better starting out from a crouched position while trying to learn? I didn't even think of trying that until after I had left. Cheddarhead, don't be nervous, I'm sure it's one of those things that persistence will pay off. I did a few forward face plants but the snow was forgiving, just watch out for the yellow snow :o

We teach our students to launch from a seated position. Roll the shoulders forward and the whole bit, like a water start. It's takes just a little practice to get it figured out. Remember you need a lot more power on a snowboard than skis.

That said if the winds are steady or you have a good depow theres no reason why you can't strap in while standing.

Snowboards are great fun
Think water kite with more edge

Wear impact shorts at first.. Otherwise if you get our board skills up via a ski area or small hill both direction strong and switch meaning get good at riding both feet forward as well as both heel and toe side . it's pretty easy and almost all terrain and jumps are the same but snowboards are arguably horrible on ice w/out adapters and seriously easier doing freestyle in many aspects

Thanks for the tips. I think step one will be getting some better gloves. I was wearing a pair of thin gloves and since I am not hooked in and my arms are above my head a lot, it only takes about 5 minutes for my hands to be in extreme pain.

Def get a qr ( quick release) system and hook in
You'll have 10 times more fun for 20 times longer in length of kite sessions

Enjoy

Def get a qr ( quick release) system and hook in
You'll have 10 times more fun for 20 times longer in length of kite sessions

Enjoy

Hey, I just happen to have a couple cents in my pocket... ;-)

Landboarding and snowboarding with a kite, observations after a couple of years:

I landboard on a short grass field (complete with with gopher holes) and am always leery of being “gusted” over heels or plopping into a hole and belly flopping - I never worry about this on the snowboard and I can slide downwind during gusts without changing the direction of the board. And, wiping out on the grass field is almost always more painful than taking a tumble in the powder.

The smaller rolling resistance of the landboard on hard ground makes it easier to fly foils on handles - I experimented once with using my 5.6m foil with the snowboard (without strop) and my arms were shot after about 10 minutes.

I haven’t tried skis yet, but it always seemed to me that the guys in our group that were on skis, seemed to glide through the snow with much less resistance than those of us on boards.

...just some ramblings...

Thanks Pongnut, I just got my blade III in the mail today (thanks dirtslide) and cant wait to give it a try on a landboard (don't have one yet). Man, this sport takes a lot of stuff and learning to get going.

Went out for a second try today. I was a little more successful. I was at least going 20 or 30 feet before falling or running out of power. I was using the 4 meter today because it was a little gusty. I think with a proper snowboard, more consistent wind and warmer gloves I would have gotten it today. I've never flown a depower, but from reading on here, it sure sounds like they would be easier. On the bright side, if I get this down using a plastic snowboard and a fixed bridle with no harness, than it should be a snap once I have all the gear. Also, does anyone no if they make bindings for a real snow board that you can just slip your feet in without strapping in? I kind of like being able to jump out when I hit a gust. It saved a few face plants today.

I'm glad this topic came up. I was just wondering this myself, if it's easier for a "noob" to learn with a depower kite on skis or a snowboard?

Seems like skis might be easier?

hmmm... my spidy senses are tingling, must be a poll about to post... :eureka:

We need a second poll for depower vs fb as it relates to snow kiting. I know the general consensus it that depower is better, but is it also easier to learn on? And if so will my fb experience translate to depower making it easy to pick up, or will I have another long learning curve ahead of me on depower?

I came from a ski / skate background. Next to no board experience other than the one I made out of my Sisters steel wheel roller skates way back in the 60's. Learning the board on water was basically a fail. Learning to kite ski was so natural it was amazing and very rewarding.
Learning to mountain board with the kite was an interesting struggle . I had a real hard time my 1st 3 tries using a high performance board. Then I bought a big old MBS Blade board and took right off. The bigger, heavier, stiffer ride made it easy.

On the FB vs Depower thing I say depower all the way. I started out my 1st serious year with a 3, 4.5 7m FB quiver. It did the job but was hard to get the right kite up. Very often I would find that the 7 was perfect until I got out to the middle. Then I would be so overpowered I could not hold a upwind line. I was still learning how to get the kite low but even having that explained I could not hold a line. The 4.5 was fine out in the middle but I struggled getting in and out. An 8 - 10m depower would have taken me anyplace I wanted . Like 90% of the people were doing.

Probably the best advice I got that year was in strong winds to get the kite down very low and as far up the edge as possible then to edge upwind to slow down / control speed. This is an important skill with FB in particular.

My fixed bridal Vipers when faced with a fair amount of resistance (4" or more snow) tend to fly too far forward in the wind window and loose the "grunt" that is needed in deeper snow. I can overcome this by sining the kite up and down. My depowers will hang back enough to maintain good "grunt" and away I go with the kite parked on the horizon. On bare ice or light snow covered ice , both types of kites perform well. So with a fast fixed bridal in snow be prepared to work the kite a bit untill you come up to speed (if you can come up to speed at all).

I came from a snowboard background before i kited. I skiied before boards were even allowed at the mountains around here. Ive seen people learn on both skis and boards. I would have to say if someone has no snow experence i would think the board easier. For someone with snow experence on skis seem to have an easier time.
As far as the op best thing to learn with a board is the heelside slipper. Get on any kind of hill, board across the hill and your body facing straight down the hill. What u want to do is basicly slide down the hill on your heels, stand up on your heels and just point your toes a little to slide. You do not want to get flat footed as this is when your toe edge diggs in and you faceplant. Just practice slipping down the hill. Once you have this mastered kiting is much easier.
Start from sitting. Work on just standing up from kite power. Dont let the kite pull you over the front. Kinda like scudding. Stay a bit on your heels and let it slip. After your up just point the nose a little for the direction your going. Its all about controling that heel edge. Hope this helps.