anyone try these or something similar? i searched "boot ski" and these popped up. seems like a decent way to basically scud on a small, relatively smooth school field in hiking boots.
tom
https://snowfeetstore.com/product/snowfeet1/

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to scud, but I'd suspect they might present some challenges to set an edge under kite power and tack as you can while snow kiting. There just isn't a very long edge to brace against. What I want to see video of is Chris (Fewd) wearing these while flying across one of his iced over NH lakes. :evil:

found this, and placed an order, just for the heck of it. 137 bucks total is worth a chance, i guess.
click on the "pledge blah blah" sections on the right side of the page, and it turns green. click that and you're forwarded to the order process. according to the site, i'll be billed on dec 18 and should get them sometime in january.
tom
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snowfeetteam/snowfeet-i...

Hey Tom, A few years back I tried a pair of short aluminum shoe skis. Ebay, 10.00.

So the little skis were set up to be strapped to your shoes, and none too quick and easy.
However if I took a pair of shoes and strapped them to the skis they could stay with the skis.
All I'd have to do is slip off the bean boots I was wearing and slip into the pair on the skis.

Kind of hit and miss on the scudding, ended up on my butt a few times, not much better than just shoes.
After working my way down field for awhile I lost track of where I started and looked for my bean boots for the next hour.
Also tried a plastic sled tied to my hook, but it had its own ideas about where to be.

Theres a pair of these on Ebay for about 15.00, The ones you are looking at are 50.-75.00

mr. cline - NEVER thought to check ebay! don't know why that wouldn't have popped up in my search.
perhaps i can cancel my kickstarter plan.
thanks!
tom

I would stick with the kickstarter, tom. I was ready to dismiss the whole idea, but watched the vid. My first thought was there would be no way to hold an edge on those things, but it looks like they thought of that by embedding metal the same way they do on skis. Not sure how far upwind you can edge on those things, we need you to get them and report back :evil:

The ones Ed posted look fun if you want to break your legs. I think my brother had those ski & skates, I got the Snurfer :D

The predecessor of the snowboard.
I was more interested in girls by the time this was marketed..:evil:

I'd think they would be very slow and far less stable than regular skis.

If I only had snow more than once every 5 years or so, I'd love to try it. Of course, when we have snow here in Atlanta, the roads are all filled with abandoned cars stuck in the snow so you can't go anywhere.

Hey Randy, Glad you chimed in. Should Ihave told them that all my experiments were on grass?
I never considered where Tom might be? :dunno:

SE michigan. i shall proudly represent pkf in test dummy mode when these show up for my attempts.
tom

Ski & Skate!

That's a lot o' fun for $3.49.

...useless in deep unpacked or ungroomed snow-these and the Snowfeet. Better for tight tree ski lines in firm snow.

Don't forget Bigfoots..w/ double the flotation

the cheaper sets on ebay are listed as unbranded and made of nylon. not certain if fiberglass is used with those.
i will stick with kickstarter and wait for my red models to show up. the color should blend well with the blood when i snap my little chicken legs.
i might buy a cheapie set, too, and have something to compare when the branded models come in. and that would give me a set NOW instead of waiting for january.
my regular field is only about 500 feet n/s, and a couple hundred feet e/w. i'm not looking for speed. use 1729 stewart, lincoln park, MI and you can see my lack of area to work with. on the lazy days when i just want to get pulled, i'll walk across the street, strap on the shorties, scud a bit, and walk back to do it again.
if the bigfeet were a similar design, without boots and bindings, i'd get those. if i feel the need to do more than scud, i'll throw my snowblades in the car and head somewhere else. really looking forward to trying the snowskate, too.
and getting the feel of the balance on the little boot skis will probably help immensely with the snowskate.
brother left me his gopro 4. looks like i need to learn how to use that to journal my es-ski-pades.
tom

i'd consider snow blades
can be had for cheap and you can set an edge

Yeah, snow blades and RVL8 ski boards look sweet. It looks like the attraction with the snow feet is you don't need ski boots. So for Tom, popping them on and off quickly without having to deal with heavy ski boots seems optimal. What the hell do I know, throw a kite at it, it all looks fun to me.

if i'd have known about skiboards before i bought snowblades, i would have a pair of those instead. but, i do like the thinner width aspect since i did a lot of ice skating in my youth and having the wider skiboards would more than likely have led to a trip-fest.
tom

lots of videos for these. and they make me think that the snowfeet will exceed my expectations.
tom

additional - i just bit the bullet and ordered a cheaper set of unbranded snowfeet for 64 bucks on ebay. should be here by dec. 5. my current forecast shows that i should have usable snow just after that.
but - based on the grass skids/scuds i got yesterday with a 4.9 blade using tennis shoes, i think these could work well for that, too.

I know next to nothing about skis. What is the advantage of longer skis? Are they faster? I did ski downhill and cross country a few times decades ago. I recall using pretty short skis because they were supposed to be easier.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

I know next to nothing about skis. What is the advantage of longer skis? Are they faster? I did ski downhill and cross country a few times decades ago. I recall using pretty short skis because they were supposed to be easier.

Randy - pretty much depends on what you want to do with the skis. Lots of ways to go with this, but since this is a power kite forum, for snowkiting you want skis to set an edge and allow you to tack across the wind just as we do with buggies, etc. On "Hardwater" (glare ice) a long very straight stiff DH racing ski is the tool of choice. These skis have metal edges that you can sharpen to really gain firm purchase on the ice and they are "straight" (long turning radius) so when you do set the edge you don't hook upwind as you would if you set the edge on a shorter radius traditional downhill ski like you'd use on a typical ski day at a ski resort. The length of the ski is important for putting a long edge into the ice and for balance.

In deep powder or other soft snow conditions a fatter "powder" ski can be fun. I had a blast snowkiting in deep UT powder with powder skis. They have a shape to them that wouldn't work well on hardwater but in soft snow seemed to work well. Others like a more intermediate width and side cut ski.

All of these "feet" or blades" would likely not work too well for setting an edge and tacking with a traction kite but you might be able to get some action. I wouldn't want o have to claw upwind with so little edge under my feet in snow.

People of course successfully slay hardwater with skates but that's a whole other discussion.

Feyd, Utah Tami, Cheddarhead, and many others have much more experience than me...

If selling skis because you have a retail store... it's location, location, location..

If your the buyer and skiing those skis, it's flotation, flotation, flotation!

I never want skis on glare ice if I have skates.

finally got a dusting of snow and some 20-30mph wind. had a very small area to work in but got in at least a dozen 200+ foot runs. there was more grass visible than snow. most of the runs were straight downwind. the last few were big lazy "s" turns downwind. you can definitely get out on the sides... much better than expected. i was using a 4.2 nasa on7m lines that i got from randy.
slightly more snow but a lot less wind today. i think susan's 7.6 npw will get the duty this time around. if it's not enough, i'll walk the 1/2 mile to my old high school and put up the peak2 6m.
i didn't have to take them off and put them back on again, like i thought i'd have to. made the run, put the kite up high, and walked back to the starting point. they're really easy to walk in both forward and backward. i never tripped once.
when it got dark i ski-skated across the grass back home.
it was a very good learning experience overall.
happy new year!
tom

That's awesome, Tom! Let us know when you get a chance to try working them upwind. Would be interested to hear if you can hold an edge on those.

jeff - i think that if i can get and keep any kite even slightly upwind, i should easily be able to skate 'em upwind like a simple crossover turn with hockey skates. one leg up over the other, repeat.
time will tell!
tom

Way to go tom - glad to hear you are had a good "snow day." Love to try it but we don't get much snow around here.....

It looks like a lot has been covered already - when really powered up the more edge holding the better - as you bounce a bit you will loose contact when you only have a few inches to grab and then need to reestablish the edge again so you will need a lot of foot pressure and probably a good idea to use a snowboard boot with ankle support. I think they'll be fun but in the higher wind and pressure to edge the ankles could take a beating.
They should work good on hardpacked snow or anything not too deep. When you have deeper powder a wide ski will get you up easier and a regular width ski you'll need to sit back a bit to keep the tips up - i don't think there is enough length to be able to ride the deeper snow but worth a shot - any kind of riding is fun

It would be really interesting to have three and strap them onto buggy tires (and set wheels so they don't turn). perhaps make a cradle for the back wheels to sit that puts these back end skis mounted on a slight angle to get a bit more lateral hold

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

I know next to nothing about skis. What is the advantage of longer skis? Are they faster? I did ski downhill and cross country a few times decades ago. I recall using pretty short skis because they were supposed to be easier.

"Long skis truck, short skis suck" is the saying but the definition of "long" has changed over the years. In some skis long= anything over 170cm.

Length counts but radius counts more. Like AR on a kite. you can have two kites, 8m in size, but the AR5 is going to be a lot different than AR7.

https://www.hardwaterkiter.com/skis-boards-boots.html

didn't think about the bouncing and loss of contact. that actually sounds like fun. when the snowfeet no longer cut it, the snowblades will come out. i am not looking to ski all day or go for miles. of course, that may change.
as for buggy snowfeet, today, actually, i came across something that may make that work. snowmobile skis! the few that i ran across were pricey compared to what i have, but my peabrain went into overdrive when i came across those.
oodles of choices, such as these - https://www.denniskirk.com/snowmobile/skis
balloon knobbies on the back, a ski on the front, fun, fun, fun
tom

great analogy for the radius. i don't even know what the number is for my snowblades.
i went shorty short mostly for the hope that i wouldn't wreck my legs as bad with a shorter lever attached to them, and people have said that if you can skate, you can snowblade. i found out that wasn't quite true the one time that i tried them, but i had a blast and didn't break anything. i'll count that as a win.
tom