What Makes A Good Snow Kite?
As a general rule, depowerable 4-line parafoils are ideal for snow kiting. This kind of setup takes care of the 4 most important aspects of a snow kite: • steerable – of course! • soft, flexible construction • reverse launchable • variable power It’s pretty obvious that you need some sort of steering ability. Just like the mainsail of a sailing boat, you need to position the kite according to whether you are running downwind, crosswind or trying to make progress upwind. On top of that, if you’re more adventurous, you might be into getting ‘big air’ off the ground. This involves flying the kite high and piling on the power. Like any aerial hobby where you fly something into the air, it’s going to hit the ground hard once in a while. It would be frustrating and expensive to always be replacing spars, so a soft flexible design makes the best snow kite. They are easy to pack away and carry too! Parafoil designs are ideal, although even these vary in how much punishment they can take. What
