okay so i am relatively new to the sport of kiting, so here is my question. what is the difference between snow kites and land kites? i mean i know that you can fly a snow kite on land but what are the subtleties, is one better suited for another or is it just an advertising scheme. thanks guys

It all depends on what your doing...buggying...ATB ing...jumping....snow boarding and jumping...or cross country snow boarding, snow boarding with the intention of going uphill....or up then down ......so what are you doing?

dq

i would say dual purpose light jumping on both and just all around cruising. i know that each kite has its characteristics, i guess what im trying to say is that you dont bring a lei on the hard ground or snow because it will probably pop on impact and was wondering if their was a snow kite that would also be great with landboarding i think you guys call it atb is that correct.

To the best of my knowledge a snowkite is just a large depowerable foil, for land and snow use only, no water.
And alot of people take LEI's to snow, just don't dump it! :~) :P

I like my Ozone Access for relaxed cruising in a buggy or on a Mountainboard. It was one of the one's Ozone calls a "Snowkite". If your not looking for serious airtime... they work well.

What are you flying now?

One subtlety is whether a kite is lifty overhead or if it gets its power flying fast down low in the window. The former may be better for skiing if you want air, and the latter is better for buggies when you usually don't want air.
HQ Crossfires and Flexifoil Blades are examples of higher lift kites, with the Blades considered to be kings of lift. The Blades have adjustable angle of attack adn can be "turned down" for lower lift and higher speed/ better upwind work. The Crossfire II due out in 6 weeks will have an adjustable bridle with a low lift "buggy setting".

Examples of low lift kites I like in the Bug are Flexifoil Rage and Peter Lynn Reactor.

De-powers are popular snow-kites as well. Often in snow you can hold down more kite than in a bug or land board because you can hold 2 edges against the pull.

almost all kites can bu used as a snowkite

IMO I just think they call a snowkite, an open cell depowerable kite like Ozone, so it's really a buzz thing

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Originally posted by buzz IMO I just think they call a snowkite, an open cell depowerable kite like Ozone, so it's really a buzz thing

I agree with the Buzz thing. Companies like Slingshot and Airush call their open cell depower kites snow kites to sell to the kiteboarders.

I think Ozone calls the Access a snowkite because it is lighter, simple, huge depower, lower lift, floaty, with great gust absorbsion. :puzzled:

The kite I would call a great snowkite is the newer P.L. arcs. For all the reasons above

I think those Escape snowkites you see on Ebay are called that but I don't know why ? Probably a Canadian thing :wink2:

right now i fly a beamer II 5m for the land and i have a strike 2 9m but no lines or bar for it yet. im looking at getting a bigger foil and since im in utah i thought i would look into snow kites but since i have a home in vegas i like to hit the dry lake beds every once and a while.

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Originally posted by snowbird I think those Escape snowkites you see on Ebay are called that but I don't know why ? Probably a Canadian thing :wink2:

Anyone know about those anyways? Love the price tag, I'll tell you that much.

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Originally posted by barnes Quote: Originally posted by snowbird I think those Escape snowkites you see on Ebay are called that but I don't know why ? Probably a Canadian thing :wink2: Anyone know about those anyways? Love the price tag, I'll tell you that much.

the price tag is cheap because they are older kites (like 4+ years)

A year or 2 ago I was interested in these kites. With them being so rare I wanted to know a bit about them / the company and such. I got a real bad attitude in return. More or less saying they are so inexpensive and such top quality I don't have time to answer you questions
I suggested he post a picture showing the bridle and I see he did. At least he was listening even if he wasn't talking