Snowkiting this Saturday

[KillaHz]

Hello Yoda,

I'm going to say it again. You are wasting your time in the keys. You may have been confused by the comments of some of the locals. There's only about 7 "local south lake kiters" and I know them all. I used to be one of them and I guarantee not one of them would say the keys is a good place to kite. On a SW wind, the Keys are never good; water or snow.

That being said, on the other side of the meadow it can be decent but generally on a SW we'd go up to Grass lake or out into the valley. Grass lake is a good place to go when the wind is light as many other places won't be kiteable.

How was your trip to Utah with Jeff?

[Yoda]

Grass lake is a good place to go when the wind is light as many other places won't be kiteable.

How was your trip to Utah with Jeff?

The one time I've actually snowkited the Keys was when it was the only place blowin. We didn't scope out the middle of Grass Lake, but the trees around lake were not moving at all, so we went to check out the Keys as plan B. It was really light, but I did get a short session in... a lot of work for little play basically. All the other stuff I've heard about snowkiting there has sounded alright; however it sounded as though the Keys was a plan B spot for other kiters as well. Per your response, I'll try to avoid going there again.

Utah was EPIC!!! Three days of perfect snowkiting conditions. I got the best snowkiting sessions of my life. Most sessions were 3-4 hours long. So sick! Kited with this cool guy from Mexico and got the goods all over Skyline and that huge pass right before (or behind Skyline) off the right side of the road. I asked Jeff what the name was of that entire pass area. He said it didn't have a name, so we named it Yoda's Pass. I wonder if the name has stuck? The forth day we got skunked with a major storm and whiteout conditions. We did scope out this awesome reservoir south of Fairview. I can't remember the name, but Jeff would. Lots of potential for some seriously long down winders. Talk to Jeff... he can fill you in on the details of the "reservoir expedition". The fifth day I talked Jeff into joining me in getting pulled by gravity instead of a kite. We hit up Snow Basin on the best day of the entire season (according to the locals). It was knee to waist deep, super dry fluff topped off with bluebird skys and cold conditions which kept the snow perfect all day long. Faceshots were the order of the day. Another EPIC day to add to my trip and it was Jeff's first time to a Utah ski resort... go figure?

I also want to say that today up at Martis Meadows was EPIC as well. I have to say I called it for today and for all those that missed out, it looks like tomorrow could be a repeat. My session today rivaled what I had in Utah. It was on my 12m Frenzy, it was sunny, 15-20+mph winds, minor & infrequent gusts and great snow coverage... perfect conditions IMO. I saw nearly a dozen snowkiters out today with at least 8 kites in the air at one time. Rare site at Martis. I think Dave from TMS got some pics and hopefully will post them. I think I will be somewhere up in Tahoe again tomorrow. Maybe Martis again.

[tms1]

Great weekend for kiting out in Martis Valley this weekend. We saw west/northwest winds on Saturday with about 10 kites in the air and then Sunday saw very squirrely winds with everything from northeast to south to some southwest by the end of the day. Don't forget about the demo day coming up next week up at MT Rose. Here are some shots from this weekend:
Mark Robinson coming right at the camera!

Pam getting her first snowkiting tracks in:

2 of the many that were out on Saturday:

Dirk:

Pam with Northstar in the background and a dog at her heels:

Unknown:

The parking area on the west side of 267 with setup just below it:

And MArk once again:

[BayAreaKite]

Just got back in from utah last night, it was good fun and good wind. Will post some pics from the US Snowkite Masters event. Among the pros who showed up were Adam Koch, Jason Slezak, Dimitri Maramenides, Alex Peterson, and more. Was good fun!

[Yoda]

I found a white Slingshot pump left at Martis Meadows the day that Dave took the above pics. It was saturday March 1st. PM me to claim it.

[windhorny]

Man I wish i had a kite to play with yesterday as Tahoe was powdery and windy everywhere!