It was a fairly windy day at Skyline today, so I pulled out a Duotone 6.5M Slick to give it a go. Wind was 10 gusting to 20 mph and snow was 8” of crusty powder. I got in some great powered reaches. Here are my observations as a total beginner on the Wing, but with over 20 years of kiting.
1. It is not hard to pick up if you have previous experience with a kite or sail, but someone unfamiliar with angle of attack and pumping would definitely benefit from some instruction.
2. Powder snow and sloped terrain make it more challenging. The next time I go out it will be on a flat lake with hard-pack or a thin layer of powder. The powder snow and any uphill slope made it difficult to get up to speed. If I were on a flat surface with less snow, I am sure that I could have flown a smaller wing.
3. Snow winging is a good compliment to snow kiting. Kite when the wind is light, up and down hills, and when the snow is deep. Wing on frozen lakes, hard-pack, and on nuking days. There are days when the only windy spot is at a local lake. It is boring on a kite, but it would be a lot of fun on a wing (at least while I am still learning the wing).
4. Similar to snow kiting, Skis are much better than a snowboard for learning.