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FYI Colorado

Forum for snow- and landkiters
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rickythecat
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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby rickythecat » Sat Jan 18, 2014 6:08 am

Hey, thanx for letting us 'locals' know about Steamboat Lake! Looks a whole lot better than our Lake Dillon here. By any chance, did the rangers you met mention anything about summer kiting there?


Also, my Lake Dillon update - The north (Dillon) side SUCKS. The blizzards we've been having have left this side of the lake mostly clear ice. I was out there today - won't bother again unless we get some snow coverage. The south end (Farmers Corners) has MUCH better coverage. Just wanted to get this out there for anyone coming up here this weekend.

What doesn't suck though, the skiing and boarding have been incredible (at Copper Mountain).

Rick

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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby GeHo » Sat Jan 18, 2014 5:11 pm

Hey Rick, you're rite about the North end being solid ice with little snow coverage. Yesterday (Fri) the girlfriend and I hit Copper till after lunch, and then headed over to the South side of the Res for a couple of hours of pretty decent North winds. Snow coverage a wee bit over 4"-5" on the ice. 11m Frenzy powered up! The snow up at Copper was perfect Pow-PackedPow!!! Lots o sunshine!
Happy Stoking,
Gene :beer:

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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby FrontRangeJeff » Sat Jan 18, 2014 8:53 pm

Hey all,
just recently joined this forum.

Rick-I saw you asked a question about Steamboat lake for summer - I have some info as well as a bit of info about the snow kiting up there. My parents are retired in Clark and have been for a number of years....and my father has a ski boat - so we've been using Steamboat lake to waterski for years.

Last summer my father bopped down to the visitor center to ask about their policy for kite boarding for me. After going through a couple chains of command the official policy came down that they would allow it so long as the kiter didn't get significantly airborne. They said that 2 to 3 feet as a natural result of hitting chop would be ok.

Last week I finally snow kited the lake and the ranger I talked to that day communicated the same notion. So basically I think it is cool so long as nobody boosts huge airs - which clearly would get us an immediate ban.

As for the snow - the lake has huge potential. The ice varies from wind scraped to big depths with lots of slush underneath.

Hope this helps!
Jeff

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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby maradon1 » Sun Jan 19, 2014 4:27 am

Steamboat Lake is definitely great but not that many days with good wind in winter. So that's why everybody says rabbit ears... You can find some wind up there even if it is dead in the valley.

Ok. Good to know to keep it close to the ground next time :D :D

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rickythecat
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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby rickythecat » Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:04 pm

Gene - :thumb: on Copper. That's my resort this year. Let me know when you'll be there next.

Jeff - Thanks for the lake info. Might be a fun day destination this summer. Only 2-3 feet though? :cry: maradon- :nono: :D

Heading to Farmers Corners in a few minutes. Light wind, 17meter, but good snow. Tomorrow Copper.

Go Broncos!

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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby matthepp » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:39 pm

FYI Coloradans,
"Kiteboards" are already technically banned in the whole Colorado State Park system. The interesting part is that the regulation doesn't occur under the boating regs, but under aircraft regs. They've banned landing paragliders and anything that's designed to get you airborne including "kiteboards". So it's pretty cool that the Steamboat Lake rangers are even willing to let you kite at all. I'm not sure personally if I could get excited to go kite if I couldn't boost though! I used to kite at a local state park until the rangers looked into it. Luckily there are other, better local resources for water kiting in SW Colorado that are non-State Park regulated. Blue Mesa reservoir is under the feds who don't care if you kite. We have another spot that is a Wildlife area. Last year the Wildife and State Parks got combined under one agency so it's unclear if the Wildlife area will adopt the SP reg. I think we have a case for years of historical use at this point, so I'm willing to get into a legal battle for this resource if need be. Any lawyers out there willing to particiapate? It's in the boonies (BYOEverything, be safe!) and it's no one but a few wind heads and trout fishermen.
Also, in the winter, especially if you're on skis, you could lobby a hole in the reg that it doesn't apply to you! But don't be an a$$hole about it. If we have a safe responsible behavior during any limited State Park interaction, it could go a long way toward an improvement in the regulation for us.
Remember the Code of the West: do what you want, but don't f@#k it up for the rest...

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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby FrontRangeJeff » Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:28 pm

Matt - I too was quietly accepting of the allowance so long as we don't get airborne. The ban in state parks for aircraft including paragliders was already difficult since I also paraglide...knowing that Steamboat lake is willing to allow it under the terms of staying on the water I just accepted and moved on. I figured if I am there staying with my parents I'll throw my gear in the car JIC. It would be a cool spot to get some water time but I certainly wouldn't make a special trip. Too far to drive for what I'd consider less then good chance for stellar winds anyway. BLM and wildlife lakes are a much better idea. BLM tends to be in more open/wind swept locations :)

I finally snow kited Steamboat Lake last week because Rabbit Ears was closed and nuking anyway. The winds on the lake were incredibly steady and docile - a rare occurrence for the area and not something I'd rely on for sure.
Jeff

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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby CaptainArgh » Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:39 pm

matthepp wrote:...
Also, in the winter, especially if you're on skis, you could lobby a hole in the reg that it doesn't apply to you! But don't be an a$$hole about it. If we have a safe responsible behavior during any limited State Park interaction, it could go a long way toward an improvement in the regulation for us.
Remember the Code of the West: do what you want, but don't f@#k it up for the rest...
Good tips, Matt! In our case (snowkiting) we stopped on the way to ask permission and were told someone was already out there! (Jeff) The staff was very friendly and they even took a video of us which they posted on their FB page. Good times. So nice when you run into friendly staff that wants you to enjoy the public land they manage. We have some county parks around here where the park staff are a$$holes...so I particularly value friendly staff and work to keep them that way.

Good times on the snow all the same!
Have a great snowkite season, guys. You have a lot of it left. :thumb:

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rickythecat
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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby rickythecat » Sun Feb 02, 2014 5:11 pm

Lake Dillon update:
Fresh powder! - over a foot deep! - 3200 acres! - *untracked!
The lake now has ALL good snow coverage! Dillon (north) side is open for business.

*Untracked until yesterday :thumb: Can't believe I had it all to myself.

See ya out there,
Rick
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matthepp
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Re: FYI Colorado

Postby matthepp » Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:11 pm

Nice work Rick. There's nothing quite like having a giant canvas of virgin freshies all to yourself, along with a good breeze to thoroughly track it up!


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