Snowkiting for beginners - first steps in winter kiting

What is snowkiting? What do you need to know and be able to do before trying this sport?

Experienced athletes answer.

Snowkiting is not only a sport, but also a type of active recreation at the same time. It is accessible to many people, but it is demanding to weather conditions. We won’t tell you everything and we won’t teach you how to ride, but we will reveal the main points.

Five-time Russian Snowkite Champion, four-time WISSA World Champion

Snowkiting is a kind of sailing sport, where riding takes place with the use of a kite. You can ride almost anywhere: from the snow-covered field or lake closest to your home to the mountains. A kite is your personal elevator, snowmobile or even a paraglider. As long as there is a little wind blowing.

For a beginner the best option is definitely to go to a kite school, where he will choose the right equipment, competently tell and show everything. Such training will definitely be safe, and this is important.

In spite of the huge amount of information and flyhacks on the Internet, it is definitely not worth trying to learn from scratch by yourself. Without knowing some of the subtleties, you will waste a lot of time and nerves. That’s why taking classes at school is the best option. I am sure that for the first couple of hours of training this unusual sport will pull you in.

Índice

What to wear and what you may need?

First of all, you need warm winter clothes. It should be comfortable while skating so that you can focus on the process and not on thoughts of the cold.

Selection of sports equipment depends on your preferences: any snowboard or alpine skis will do. In addition, you will only need a belt trapeze – a special attachment that acts as a link between the kite and the person. And, of course, the kite itself. Now there are many different models on the market, which differ in price, shape and size: depending on the wind you need to use a different area of the kite. But the equipment can always be rented.

Snowkiting – is it easy?

Anton: This sport is not as difficult to understand as it seems. Many students start riding already on the second hour of training.

amateur snowkite

No special physical training is needed for snowkiting. Due to the fact that the kite is attached by a rigid hitch through the trapeze to the body, it is not necessary to apply additional forces to hold the entire system in the hands. If a person knows how to snowboard or ski, this training will be enough to do snowkiting.

Why can the weather spoil everything?

Nikolay: When riding, of course, there are its own nuances. The wind is extremely necessary, of course there is enough of it in Russia, but in Moscow realities it is not enough: it blows a couple times a week at best.

If you are only planning to take up snowkiting or you have been riding not so long ago, the best place for you will be an open area, such as a field or a reservoir. In Moscow, for example, these are Strogino, Podolskie Polye and Klyazma reservoir. As you progress and understand how to catch wind currents correctly, you will be able to skate in other places as well.