So I've gone to town with a hangover on Saturday morning and booked myself a snowboarding trip for September with some other rock apes. This snowkiting rort looks like a bit of fun hey? If I were to take a day off the regular resorts and rent a car, what would be the best place to try and head to out of Queenstown with a kite? Is there a local weather forecast we can look at to try and work out which will be the best day to do it?
I'll answer my own question. It seems the Snow Farm at Wanaka might be a good choice. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it is.
Gday Pat,
Ill be there in July and plan to give it a go so will tell you how it pans out.
Worthwhile checking out Wanaka as well, heaps better snow at Treble Cone and Cardrona
Thanks
Matt
vishy are you going there on holiday or working??
if the second i wanna know more
Yeah snowpark has some flat land around the area as I myself are going back there again in late july with southern snow riders as they are bringing the world champ over for approx a month to teach intermediate riders some finer points on snowkiting.
Yep I'll be going wanaka way for about a month and give this snowkite bisso I good nudge.
Pat if your planning on kiting you'll have wind that's for sure Easterlies will freeze your gonads off bring a good wetty , you'll need it! You could drive pretty much up the east coast and see alot of breaks from the road hell you can do the whole island up to Nelson in 9 hours, there's a fair bit of turbulance in places given the land height from the water line.
There's a bit of a small scene in Christchurch I forget the guys name from the only kite shop there up near ferrymead rd beside where they make the underground boards, groundswell I think they're called, they should be able to give you some advice on spots.
I'll find the details.
Enjoy your trip.
Well most other threads on the subject mention the Snow Farm at Wanaka, the transfers that came with my regular snowboarding package include it as a destination and it seems pretty convenient to Queenstown, so between that and only doing it for a couple of days as a break from regular snowboarding I think that's going to be pretty much it.
Hey Greenpat.
I bet u don't remember me but we met you when you had that crazy idea about kiting at night at Rockingham. Can't beleive u survived??? Anyway your a man of my own heart with snow kiting and I've spent a bit of time snowboarding heliski etc.(not that a Perth boy will every be world champ) Anyway spent a couple of mths in NZ(Queenstown ouch) last year and met a guy who is local/instructor/bouncer/party animal who could point you in the right direction. I think he is working in Aus this year but could be good to get in touch with.
Hey Gav,
Yeah I remember you, out of everyone who said they were interested to come down for a look you were the only one who showed. It wasn't a crazy idea, it was a great idea and I had a blast, can't wait to go again, though I reckon somewhere like Lancelin would be better next time - I kept worrying about the Penguin Island ferry and the beach is awfully narrow for rigging, not much help in the dark.
As you can probably guess no-one drops into this end of the forums often - pm on the way about your mate, would be well keen to get in touch with him.
Cheers,
Pat
Here's a google earth image of the snowkiting area at Snowfarm. The green area is the beginner / freestyle area and is fairly flat and an easy walk from the carpark. Please DO go into the basebuilding at snowfarm and pay your $15 access fee. The blue area requires some skill to get to so is more Intermediate / Advanced terrain and the backcountry of the Pisa range opens out to the east off the map and is virtually endless. Just be aware that if you break something you'll have to walk back so have a plan-ie touring gear, snowshoes, radio, cellphone etc. Note there are roads and test tracks outside the highlighted areas. Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground leases this area and gets paid obscene amounts of money by Car manufacturers to test their next edition vehicles. They are VERY concerned with safety and security so please stay off these tracks or you may become a hood ornament on the latest Toyota which is nothing compared to the treatment the local kiting community will give you for ruining their access to the best snowkiting area in Australasia. These vehicles have not been released so they are also concerned that some Knob is going to pull out his cellphone and put a picture on the internet so please respect their scene and they'll respect ours.
Boarder Patrol offer snowkite lessons and Camps. Our office is just over the hill and we are happy to give info and advice. See www.boarderpatrol.com.au
By the way, it's dumping right now and looking SWEET AS! Come on over!
Excellent news WS!
Just checked out the snow reports and it's looking awesome over there!
Can't wait to get started on the camp and hear what Chasta has to say!! 
Just heard from Remi Meum who will be joining us from 17-24 July. Should be awesome having both Remi and Chasta here. The legend and the young gun all in one place! There are still a couple spots on that camp which starts on the 20th of July. If you are planning a trip to NZ later in the season FYI there is an annual snowkiting event called "Wannakite" which is happening this season 28-31 August. It's not a comp but just a loosely organized gathering. Boarder Patrol will have a camp during that week also and there'll be a "Kite night" at one of the local wanaka bars so should be the largest gathering of snowkiters down here yet.
Good information on snowkiting. Will come to Wanaka end of July. Will try snowkiting (if there is wind)... Could someone tell me:
Is it worthwile taking my own kite (from kitesurfing), a North, Rebel, 08, 12m2? Is it possible to hire gear? As a kitesurfer and good snowboarder should I get a lesson to get introduced to snowkiting or just try it myself?
I'm going to take my own kite, the smallest one of my quiver. Lots of the footage shows people on LEIs so I don't think it will be a problem. You might be a bit keen taking a 12 though, I'm taking a 9 and I weigh 110kg, they say that you want a much smaller one than you would use on water and from my experience kitelandboarding this is certainly the case.
Should you get a lesson? I don't intend to, but that's just me. I figure that if I get a nice open area with no obstructions and make sure my safety is rigged right it won't be all that different from kitelandboarding, and what difference there is I should be able to work out pretty quickly. That's just me though. Probably better to see if anyone who has actually done it before can make a recommendation.
ha ha just booked my ticket to queenstown 2 lol from 1st sep - 18th sep just could not help myself after sitting at home watching snowkiting dvd (something stronger) 200 times got 8 days of free lift passes so ill have to use them up 1st then pray for wind but not 2 much. im 52kg and cant decide wether to bring my 6m or 8m lei. any1 now what the wind is like in september can only bring 1 kite with me wish i could have gon earlyer to see the world champs but had to work.
evan
Well I went into doing our first snowkite camp thinking that Snowfarm was THE spot and really there weren't many other spots in New Zealand due to the steepness of the terrain. We had easterly winds for most of the 2 weeks which is opposite what is normal. So Snowfarm was out and we had to go searching. At the same time Chasta opened our eyes to the backcountry and just how steep we could go. Check out the images and video at:
www.boarderpatrol.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=30
We had about 2 days when the light was good enough for photos.
We're running another camp 6-18 September. The weather usually settles down and we have a whole list of missions to get through. Why don't you join us?
Ok kites to take to NZ I spent 6 weeks there, I weigh 90kgs thought one light wind kite would be enough, it wasn't you need 2 just like your water quiver infact you could even have 3 if you want better wind scope.
I had a 9m Ozone Frenzy 08 (snow kite foil) the winds were light on and ranged from 3 to 10 on average, Had 2 days that were around 20 knots and this was a good wind for my 9m , I wish I'd brought my 12m as well as would have used that nearly the whole trip!!
As far as kites go either, but the foil offers the better safety factor on really steep terrain, and if you are going back country where all the best spots are that we've found thus far in NZ are pretty steep, it meens you have better control that's all and can deflete the kite instantly and bring it out of the air with 0 pull, meaning it doesn't pull you off the side of a mountain range.
We had alot of Easterlies during the time , wind is hard to pick as you need the + 2000 m readings which are hard to find accurate readings far from the ski fields which we used to gauge and trianglulate areas.
Also Google Earth was our weapon of choice believe it or not , and it proved invaluable we found a couple of amazing locations in the back country that were unreal, look for road access into any nice open flatish plains , although as Chasta showed us flat is out and full time mountain flying is the best way this sport should travel I recon.
So if you can take two kites also if your serious about really getting into this sport, you will also need the following:
1. Hand held GPS ideally with compass an baro pressure,a good one that can handle altitude note: the magladin can intergrate directly to google earth for up/download of way points.
2. Plastic Snow shoes(invaluable in the back country)
3.UHF hand helds
4.Transponders
5.Snow Shovel.
These things I recon are a must if your gonna give this sport a honest bash.
Things can change quickly on the mountain as I can atest too, having got completely lost in a close out myself you can be miles away from any given point in a matter of minutes, and in mountain ranges and valleys it is very hard to get a bearing.As you have no physical tacking points to follow.
Well all in all as far as the weather went for the 4 weeks I was there solely for snow kiting we got 9 days of kiting in and the rest were boarding at the fields when the wind conditions were not favourable or we got the forecast wrong ourselves which is very easy too do.
I'm hopefully going back for a spring sess before the season ends, Wanaka has a really good place to stay called X The Base it's brand new only $80 a nite tv ensuite, Queen bed.Also the Oak Shores in Queenstown on Franklin Rd is another winner for staying.
Check out www.whotif.com for wicked accom deals in NZ.
Get into it , it'sva blast, and Jon at BoarderPatrol is the man to speak to when you get there.
Enjoy
