inquiry about ice kiting equipment

[joe cheng]

kindly advise any good ice kiting equipment available in the market?


joe cheng

[edt]

you'll have to build your own. There is one product that is the "Switchblade" ice blade. You attach it to your snowboard and it acts like an additional heelside edge. It's sensitive to snow depth however because you are riding on that edge plus the heal and toe portions of your snowboard. Also you are constantly riding at an angle which at least for me was just too tiring. My usual ice kiteboarding spot has small patches of snow, that are about 1 inch thick then clear ice then more snow, so with the switchblade it would slip off then grip again. it's decent if you are on pure ice or snow with even thickness. As for how to build your iceboard, your own imagination is your guide. I've built 4 or 5 different kiteboards all sorts of designs and one thing I have found is I keep making them bigger, wider and sturdier. My current iceboard is about 140cm long and about 60cm wide and rides on 4 ice hockey blades. For my blades I go to a used sports goods store and buy some ice hockey skates and tear out the blades and them mount them on my iceboard. Most of my iceboard is made of wood, one reason making it out of wood is that it floats, so if I go through the ice I don't want my board to drag me to the bottom. Ice season depends on the weather, some years we get lots of ice some years none. If you can't build your own I suggest using skis (they get better grip than a snowboard) and know that you are going to burn up your edge on ice pretty much every session. Hockey skates work too but you can't hold down very much power and the landings on ice skates are frightening. If you wanted I suppose you could buy an iceboat and take off the mast and use the kite instead of a sail, but that seems to me like a waste of a perfectly good iceboat.

[joe cheng]

Thanks edt. It seems switch blade is the only option, with a short snowboard.

[joe cheng]

Will the ice boat works fine with a kite. seems the power point is in the front!

[Hardwater Kiter]

I'm not clear exactly what is meant by "ice kiting" equipment.

If you're a snow boarder then as mentioned the Switchblade is a excellent add on and will handle glass ice amazingly well. http://www.mnkiteboy.com/. As a dedicated ice specific board option it has it's limitations when encountering variable conditions.

I've never seen a ice boat powered by a kite. Often wondered how that would work. Again ice boats suffer the same sort comings as a Switchbladed board.

The best tool for the job is skis. The right ski with the right tune will blow everything else away. But it relies on the skier knowing how to effectively edge on glass ice. We don't get much snow here some seasons so we have to be good at ice here in New England.

https://youtu.be/eH36spidvLI

[joe cheng]

The ski works perfect. Any special attachment needed for the edge?
Will the skies wear out quickly?
I used to use snowboard for snowkiting. Is ski kiting in ice quick to pick up?

Many thanks for the sharing!

[Hardwater Kiter]

No special attachments needed. Being able to ski at an expert level on hard snow/ice on the ski slopes is a mandatory start. Although some people offset lack of ski ability with really long (240cm) speed skis.

Razor sharp edges are key. On really hard ice you will get about 40 miles in before you notice a significant loss of edge hold. At least that is the case with me.

[matthepp]

Chris is right, sharp skis are the easiest solution, but it's still hard to do! Luckily we usually have enough snow on top of the ice around here to get plenty of bite. You also likely want a couple ice climbing screws to anchor your gear so the wind doesn't blow away,a nice cozy chair, and a fishing pole.
If your kiting has a polynesian flare, try building a proa: http://www.instructables.com/id/Traditi ... -Ice-Proa/

[edt]

that is a sweet ice proa. And as for his failures building iceboard oh I've been there too so I understand.

[joe cheng]

I'm not a handy man. All the beautiful work piece will be out of my reach.

I think I will start with using the ski on Ice.