BayAreaKiteboarding.com

very scary: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=12434

prayers to the family, be safe out there.


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Awful and sad news indeed. I am also a paragliding pilot and can tell you that both sports should be considered extreme-sports and require lots of training to be safe out there.

Thanks for sharing the info on this tragedy. Usually severe kiting accidents are reported on most forums, partially out of shared concern for each other to be safe out there, and also as a venue to discuss modifications and improvements of techniques and technology in order to minimize risks.
On our trip to the Camas Prarie in Idaho and Skyline in Utah last week, one of the local glide experts at Skyline mentioned the Big Horn tragedy our last afternoon there, and I was surprised nothing had come out about it. It's the first snowkiting death from gliding I've heard about.
One technique I appreciated as being safer was seeing experts like Jake keep glides lower than 15 feet, and I watched him repeatedly go from the top of the ridge all the way to the bottom and never get more than 10 feet high. However, that's a lot easier for experts, and my attempts to keep glides low occasionally led to heights that could be disastrous given how hard the snow was in some areas.
I saw one glider go off the top of the ridge and attempt to glide across the road, only to realize at the last minute he wasn't going to make it but too late to turn back. He came down on the pavement and fortunately wasn't seriously injured, as he wasn't wearing a helmet.
The experts make it look easy, but even they risk crashes from equipment malfunctions.