Utah Windriders Association

Holy shit!! I must be really determined or nuts to go out in yesterdays storm. When I arrived in the parking lot the wind was blowing about 25mph out of the west and it was snowing sideways. I figured that since I was already there, I might as well throw up a kite and see what happens. I should have taken a clue that there were no other cars in the lot. Although I was able to fly my 7.5m Frenzy it wasn't pretty. I stayed out for about 2-2 1/2 hours and by then it was really getting gusty and snowing harder. I lost the cat track on the hike out and stumbled into the parking lot. It probably took me 15 minutes to drive from the upper parking lot just to the first cutoff to the condos, since I had to get out of my truck several times to locate the road. The sagebrush is at least 80% covered now and the skiing will be great when it clears up.
I encountered a situation that we don't frequently see or discuss when we talk about the old inflatable vs. foil argument. If you fly a foil in a snowstorm it will collect snow inside and make it heavier. I also had a pretty good coating of snow/rime on my lines when I finally quit.
With the weatherman predicting 30mph winds for the next few days, I am not sure if I want to go back to Pow Mow soon. I am willing to bet that the Monte Cristo area is now ready to ride and winds are typically 8-10mph lower there.

Augie,

I've kited in a heavy snow storm at rush lake with a inflatable and like your lines my whole leading edge was collecting snow and it made the kite super heavy. When my foils would start collecting snow I would stear my kite strait down and most of the snow would fall out....If the snow is wet your just kinda scewed....If the weather permits Im comin up the tomarrow..

Ry...

Yeah I've done the straight down flying to try to get rid of snow but it was snowing really hard and didn't seem effective. The winds were kicking ass and I didn't think want to do any radical kite maneuvers.

Tomorrow the winds are supposed to be 32mph out of the SW. Coupled with the bad visibility, I just can't see it being that much fun. The winds over at Monte are only predicted @25mph SW. Then again, it looks like it will be snowing hard all day anyway so I may just stay home and do some knitting.

Auggie, I heard from a neighboring snowmobiler that the snow coverage is good on Monte Cristo. If you have a day off next week and the forcast is good, let me know.

Winds are supposed to blast at Skyline tomorrow as well, but if I had a choice between the two, I would go to Skyline as there is a lot more room and you can always ride in a wind shadow if it really nukes.

I just wish I was going. It would be fun to watch everyone go huge with that kind of wind kicking up.