PNW Snow Kiting

I heard a story once about Norwegians kiting for 80 miles between villages. I've always thought that this would be a stinking good day out. My gut tells me that Phillfort is right & that the wind will be really dirty in the mountains (also I heard that the wind always blows parallel to the ground plane, imagine that if it's steep) . I reckon the plains are where it's at, you just need a ton of snow. How about North Dakota, just watch out for power lines! I'm interested though & still have few kites around.

It seems like a low percentage activity in our mountains. But if you lucked out, here are a few places I think would be cool:

* Eldorado/Inspiration Glacier
* South side of Mt Baker
* Sulphide Glacier on Mt Shuksan
* Garibaldi Neve
* Garibaldi Lake (or some other big lake in the area)

My brother Carl took some photos of friends snow kiting in the Table Mountain area near Mt Baker ski area. That has the advantage of a short approach.

Thanks for the responses everyone. Agreed that this is a low percentage activity. But it's always good to throw the kites in the car when you go out touring in a good spot if it might be windy. I have been in the bighorn national forest on the plateau in Wyoming and it was one of the best experiences ever. Pretty strong steady wind and awesome hills.

I will check out the areas you mentioned, and thanks again for the responses.

Pete's right.. you need open/ rolling terrain with a frontal or prevailing flow. Only tried it a couple of times on snow, but lots of experience in kayaks. I've found ram-air types to be best. Popular in Antarctica..

Another cool place to kite ski would be the upper Enchantment plateau, between Dragontail and Little Annapurna Peaks.

But that's an awfully long way to go just to get skunked by the wind.

Seems like the ideal conditions would be frigid Nor'easter in winter. With the right wind you could surf your way right up either of those peaks, maybe.

Most of the avid kiters I know do it on the Waterville plateau when it gets enough snow. There are consistent winds and rolling terrain with lots of space. The elevation averages about 3000' so it can hold snow well.