About Kiting FAQ - Quick Links
Kiting on Snow, Water, and Land
How Do I Learn?
What Gear and Skills Do I Need?
Isn't the Water too Cold in Alaska?
Where Can I Kite Around Here?
Kiting Videos Online
Kiting on Snow, Water, and Land
Kiting encompasses snowkiting, kiteboarding on water, kite-skating on ice, and landboarding and carting. Once you have your kite skills down, you can use them to pull you on virtually anything that moves! The practical kiting styles here in Southeast Alaska are on snow and water, including ice if you are a skilled skater.
Above: Bruce Todd snowkites on White Pass, BC, near Skagway.
Snowkiting on snowcovered lakes is easy to learn, and requires little additional gear if you are already a skier or snowboarder. Mountain slopes require more practice, but it is quite possible to kite up a hill and ski or snowboard down. Skate kiting is for skilled skaters with hockey padding, but requires only a couple small trainer kites.
Above: Tim Gray kiteboards on Mendenhall Lake, Juneau.
Kiteboarding in water requires a good wet or drysuit, and is a little harder to learn. It is much like learning to snowboard - you need a good teacher to get you through the first few days, but once you have the basic skills down, you progress so rapidly that you can see the difference every time you go out. As for the fun factor, it is the closest thing summer has to riding deep powder snow!
With salt water that is quite warm enough with a proper suit, our water kiting season goes from May through mid-November and beyond. Snow kiting season goes from November through mid-April at lower elevations, and year-round on the Icefield.
Kiting is perfect for Juneau's often-light winds. In water, you can plane, go fast, jump, and have a great time in as little as seven knots with gusts to 14; or a steady breeze at eight to nine knots. On snow, the kiting threshold is around four to six knots.
For steadier and stronger winds, weekend trips to Haines, Skagway, and the Yukon yield reliable breezes that blow almost every day.
Above: kite travel; warm water, board shorts, and steady wind at sunset in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Kiting opens up a world of possibile places to go because the gear is compact and easy to travel with. A complete kit fits in a 140cm roller kiteboard bag without going over airline weight limits.
Our winter and summer kiting photo galleries, and this short You Tube clip of Bill Glude on a nice 17m day at Sandy Beach, shot by Jack Kreinheder, give you lots of images for a good idea of what kiting offers for you.
How Do I Learn?
Kiting is surprisingly easy to learn. But don't try to teach yourself - good coaching is essential to managing risk and learning quickly!
Above: Miriam Osredkar practices with the Uno tube kite trainer at Dyea flats, Skagway.
The best thing you can do to start learning, even before formal lessons, is to buy or borrow a foil trainer kite and practice as much with it as you can. The more practice time you put in, the faster you will learn when you get on a full-size kite.
Above: Shawn Eisele learns to snowkite on a 6m Ozone Access on the Juneau Icefield in May.
Snowkiting is the perfect introduction to kiting. If you are a skier or snowboarder, you already have the gear for those sports. All you need to add is a harness and kite. Learning on a snowcovered lake is easier than on water, and you can then learn water kiting quickly using the kite skills you have developed on snow.
Above: Bill Glude teaching Tim Thomas to kiteboard, Haines. Photo © Peter Nave.
Water kiting is a little harder to start with, but good coaching offsets the initial challenge, and you get better very rapidly once you are past the first few days. You need a little more gear, including a good wet or dry suit. We have found that giving people time on our Uno tube kite trainer, which is identical to but smaller than a regular water kite and flies off the same harness and lineset, gives our students a tremendous head start and they learn quickly when they get in the water.
Above: Bill Glude teaching, Tim Thomas up and riding, Haines. Photo © Peter Nave.
You can learn here in Juneau, or you can travel. We offer free kite demo days with coaching once or twice every summer in Haines and Skagway, informal free coaching here in Juneau, and formal lessons in a four-day weekend kite camp format in Haines and Skagway. Our kite camp schedule is here. Contact us for details.
Above: Real Kiteboarding, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in October.
If you want to learn in warm water, or on vacation, the ultimate spot may be Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It has warm water, steady ocean breezes, endless shallows, and great schools. I highly recommend Real Kiteboarding's kite camps, where I learned. You can fly Southwest to Norfolk, Virginia, rent a car, drive down, and stay in a motel or with friends in a weekly-rental beach cabin.
Friends highly recommend the kite schools in Maui, Hawaii, but we do not know about them personally.
The most-forgiving spots to learn in the Northwest states outside of Alaska are Urban Surf's Jetty Island school just north of Seattle, or Floras Lake Windsurfing's Kite School on the Oregon coast.
Above: Kite Spit, Hood River, Columbia Gorge, Oregon.
The Columbia Gorge is great for experienced kiters. The Kite Spit in Hood River, Oregon is a more-challenging spot to learn because it is small and heavily-used, with strong and gusty Gorge winds, but my first instructor Mark Wirth is excellent, and will clue you in to how to kite there with minimum risk. I recommend his his Gorge Kiteboard School if you want to get started there, or are going there after learning somewhere else.
What Gear and Skills Do I Need?
For snowkiting, you need to be at least an intermediate skier or snowboarder. You can start on a roadside lake with downhill-only gear, but if you are going far you will need a way to get back when the wind dies - AT or tele skis with skins and collapsible poles, a splitboard with skins and collapsible poles, or snowboard and snowshoes. And a snow helmet.
You can use a snow or water kiting harness, but a lightweight climbing harness with a locking carabiner is our favorite light, compact setup.
Above: Wade Panzich on the 10m Ozone Access, an excellent first snowkite, on the Juneau Icefield in late May.
On most days, a midsized snowkite will be your choice, something in the 9 to 11m size range, depending on your weight. You might eventually add something in the 6m range for storm days. You can add a big kite for light air, but for most of us, a one or two-kite quiver is enough.
You can use water kites on snow, but not the reverse. We recommend foil snowkites though, because they are easier to use, work better in the cold, are lighter to carry, and pack much smaller.
Bill Glude in a good drysuit, coming in from a great session at Sandy Beach, Juneau. Photo © Lisa Miles.
For water kiting, you can start with a good warm wet or dry suit, water kiting harness, water helmet, one twin-tip board, and one water kite in the 11 to 12m size range. You will soon want two more kites to cover the typical Juneau wind range.
Above: Kiteboarding gear on the beach, Carcross, YT. The Ozone Catalyst 12m is a great first water kite, and the 138cm Xenon Rayo is a great board to learn on.
A typical Juneau quiver for someone in the 84 kg (185lb) weight range is a 138cm twin-tip board, a 17m light-wind kite for most Juneau days, an 11 or 12m kite for the windier days, and an 8 or 9m kite for travel and for the really windy days in Juneau.
The basic three-kite, one-board quiver will be enough for most Juneau kiters, but that quiver might eventually expand to include one smaller high-wind kite, a smaller twin tip board for strong wind, and a directional kiting surfboard for wave-riding.
Isn't the Water too Cold in Alaska?
Yes, the water is cold. But staying comfortable in it is simply a matter of dressing properly in a good drysuit, with booties, gloves, and hood.
Would you ski or snowboard in shorts and a t-shirt in midwinter? Of course not! Is it miserable when you are dressed properly? Of course not! We are not impervious to cold water; we are just dressed for it.
Good suits are like magic - you can be out enjoying violent storm days while staying warm and cozy inside your suit. It doesn't matter if it rains and blows; you are already wet, and your suit keeps you toasty warm!
Above: With a good suit, kiters in late fall are warm and comfortable. Bill Glude heads out in drysuit, hooded vest, helmet, 3mm gloves, and neoprene socks inside 5mm booties at the Mendenhall Wetlands. Photo © Kent Haley.
For our students, we supply the baggy-style drysuits with 3mm gloves and 5mm booties. In fall and spring, or in Mendehall Lake, we use hooded neoprene vests over them. You will need your own long johns and fleece to wear under the suits.
For your own gear, baggy drysuits work well and can serve for kayaking and other paddling too. A new semi-baggy neoprene suit design looks promising, but we are waiting to see how their durability proves out.
For now, our favorite and well-proven Southeast Alaska suit is ProMotion's tight-fitting neoprene drysuit, which is reasonably priced and has the advantage of not taking in enough water to cool you down when it is punctured or torn. Supplement it with a neoprene hooded vest, 5 or 7mm zipperless high booties with neoprene socks, and good 3 or 5mm gloves or lobster mitts, and you are set for anything including Mendenhall Lake. ProMotion's drysuit is not listed on the website because they don't sell many; call them or drop by their store in Hood River.
People who only kite in salt water in summer, or in non-glacial lakes, or who are naturally warm, get by with a good zipperless steamer wetsuit with hooded vest, and the same foot and handwear.
Where Can I Kite Around Here?
Snowkiting Spots
Above: Laura Green snowkiting on Mendenhall Lake, Juneau.
The best Juneau snowkite spots are Twin Lakes, Mendenhall Lake, the sandy Beach ballfield, and the Icefield. South Twin Lake has the best snowkiting wind in town. Mendenhall Lake is great when it blows, but is not usually windy in winter.
Beware thin ice near inlets and outlets in both lakes. Stay well clear of the power lines, light poles, and Egan Expressway at Twin Lakes; and thin ice and calving icebergs near the Mendenhall Glacier.
Below: Marc Scholten snowkiting on Twin Lakes, Juneau.
The baseball field between the Sandy Beach parking lot and the hockey rink can have good snowkiting when there is snow on the ground and the lakes are not in good condition. It is a tight space, just big enough for two kiters. Lights on poles around the edge allow night kiting, especially when combined with a headlamp to tend lines and pick out irregularities. Stay on the upwind half, well clear of buildings, fences, and poles!
Below: Marc Scholten snowkiting in late evening, Sandy Beach ballfield, Juneau.
Weekend trips to Haines and Skagway give access to excellent kiting near the Haines Airport on the Chilkat River flats, at 34 mile Haines Highway on the Klehini River flats, and on both the Haines and White Pass summits.
Below: Nancy Pfeiffer snowkiting on Summit Lake, White Pass, BC, out of Skagway, Alaska.
The Juneau Icefield has unlimited snowkiting, is especially nice in the spring, and is only a short and relatively inexpensive ski plane or helicopter flight away from town.
Below: Nancy Pfeiffer snowkiting on Lemon Creek Glacier, Juneau Icefield, in May.
Water Kiting Spots - Sandy Beach
Above: Bill Glude heelside turn, Sandy Beach, Juneau, photo © Jack Kreinheder.
The best spot to learn water kiting in Juneau is Sandy Beach, beacuse it has shallows and lots of open sandy space. It offers good kiting and easy launching and landing on all stages of the tide.
It is best on SE wind, and can be kited on NW wind though conditions tend to be turbulent and holey on that direction. Spring and fall storms (1-minute gusty fall storm movie) often bring strong winds, and some sunny spring and summer days have just enough of a sea breeze for big kites.
The major hazards are all the old mining junk on the beach, notably some sharp-edged, barnacle-encrusted rusting pipes and railroad tracks, and the signpost forest that threatens us when carrying kites or sails through between beach and parking lot. Be sure to let Parks and Rec know that we kiters and windsurfers support cleanup of these hazards, and will pitch in whenever we get the chance to help.
Douglas Boat Harbor is the closest online anemometer, but it is poorly located and often misleading. It reads low on SE winds, high on NW, and the wind shadow of Mayflower Island often throws its direction off as well. We would like to see the old anemometer on Mayflower Island reinstated and put online.
This is a popular spot for many other users - be sure to be a good neighbor to all the kids, dogs, and dog-walkers.
Below: Bill Glude kiting at Sandy Beach, Juneau, photo © Shota Endo.
Above: One minute in a gusty November storm off Sandy Beach; Bill Glude on 9m Ozone C4 and 135cm Xenon LaLuz. Click to play.
Water Kiting Spots - Mendenhall Wetlands
Above: Kent Haley heads in from the main kite launch across the high-tide sloughs to the Airport Dike Trail, Mendenhall Wetlands, Juneau.
The Mendenhall Wetlands are great on high tides, above about 10' for the Channel flats, on E and SE winds. Be a good neighbor - do not kite off the ends of the airport's runways, float pond, or helicopter approaches, including the otherwise-tempting areas along the Egan Expressway and the waters beyond the observation platform near Lemon Creek. Keep your kite low when aircraft fly over even though it is far beneath their altitude, and don't crowd the duck hunters!
Walk out the Airport Dike Trail (now signed as "EVAR") from the trailhead at the end of Radcliffe Road by the Mendenhall Sewage Plant, around the end of the runway to the Wetlands side, past the huge new fence on the left, to where a parallel trail drops down to the right. Take it and almost immediately turn right to follow along the first slough, toward the Channel.
On 14' and higher tides, skilled kiters can launch here and kite the "slick" flatwater of this slough, about the width of a good two-lane highway, then work upwind to the Channel. Walking, head ESE toward the Channel, crossing the first and a second slough where they shallow, aiming to the grassy right end of the treed island that is on your left as you head to the Channel. You'll arrive at a good launch on the Channel side of the island with no trees upwind, on a big cove with steady breezes.
Beware the steel channel marker, squirrely winds near the trees on the far shore, and tiny low-tide mussels and barnacles that will shred carelessly-landed kites!
Below: Mendenhall Wetlands Kite Map on Google Maps base.
Below: Kent Haley heads out into the Channel at high tide, Mendenhall Wetlands, Juneau.
Water Kiting Spots - Mendenhall Lake
Above: Tim Gray and Mary Soltys kite in front of the Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau.
In summer, the only reliable wind in Juneau comes off the Mendenhall Glacier on hot sunny afternoons. On a good day, it will start at 3:00pm, peak around 5:00pm, and blow until the shadows reach across the Glacier.
When it really fills in, you can launch off the West side, the Skaters Cabin side, if the lake level is still low. The kite launch is up West Glacier Trail past the first bridge. Watch for a little footpath off the right side near the top of the first small hill, leading to the "Big Boulder" and a small point that becomes an island at high water. Be sure to come back before the wind line retreats toward the far shore as the evening comes on.
The wind is stronger and kiting is usually much better on the other side of the Lake, the Visitor Center side. Check the wind with binoculars from the Visitor Center parking lot; it is usually calm by the Center but you can see ruffled water and whitecaps to the west if it is blowing. Park in the lots near the Steep Creek trail or those along the road near the bus parking lot. Take the Steep Creek or bus lot trails down to the Moraine Ecology loop trail and follow it west along the lakeshore. Take the first side trail to the beach if the water is low, or the second one if it is higher. Work west on the paths, avoiding getting stuck on the one peninsula, and head toward the beach once you are past the slough behind the peninsula.
The Main Launch on the map is the best practice area, with a friendly shore downwind and shallows extending out far enough to stand and relaunch or take a break. This is cold water, so wear your warmest suit, and watch out for drifting and rolling icebergs. The water is totally opaque, so the wave patterns are the only giveaway to the rocks or spots that are too shallow to kite through.
Below: Mendenhall Lake Kite Map on Google Maps base.
Water Kiting Spots - Haines, Skagway, and Yukon
Above: James Alborough, Pyramid Island spit, Haines, Alaska.
Haines has almost-daily wind and great water kiting out Mud Bay Road, at the mouth of the Chilkat River, on the top half of the tide. Go past where the road first descends to the shore of Chilkat Inlet. Where the small trees on the right first break and open up the view, you will see a spit extending out toward Pyramid Island. Park on the road shoulder and launch from the spit.
Beware strong ebb current that will steal your board! Local kiters either put a wheelbarrow inner tube through their board handle to make it drift faster downwind, or use a leash.
Haines is also the home base for James Alborough's Kiting Alaska website.
Above: Dyea flats at low tide, Skagway, Alaska.
The Dyea Flats near Skagway have the most-reliable wind in Southeast Alaska, minimal current, and they work on all stages of the tide.
Drive out the Klondike Highway toward White Pass, turn left on Dyea Road just before leaving town, go past the Chilkoot River bridge, and take the left to the old Dyea townsite. Drive down to the open grassy flats. The City campground in the last trees before the meadows is perfectly located for kiters.
Take care where you park; higher tides flood the road behind the beach! Follow the mud, dirt, and sand road to the beach.
Watch out for the pilings from the old dock, but take advantage of them for anchored solo launches. At low tide, launch and land above the barnacle line and walk to the water.
Above: Bruce Todd soars over the shallows, Carcross, Yukon.
The Yukon has some great kiting. Lake Bennett near Carcross is our favorite for dry weather and gusty but reliable onshore winds, and a kilometer-wide sandy shallows to practice in. We camp there every summer for five to ten days at a time.
Kluane Lake is deep and cold, but scenic and windy. We have windsurfed there in the past, and intend to return this summer to explore some new spots with kites.
Kiting Videos Online
Here are a few of our favorite kiting videos:
- LVQ Productions snow and water kiting in Europe
- Planet of the Apes Kiteboarding - Kiting in the smooth-water "slicks' among the Cape Hatteras marshes.
- Huge Freeride Day (snow)
- Snowkiting Up, Skiing Down - Faster than a chairlift!
- Chasta Flying in LaGrave (snow)
- How to pack your snowkite on top of a mountain
- Ozone water kite self-launching and landing
- Ozone REO surf kite POV
- Ozone Catalyst Surf and Freeride Testing
- "Everybody" - Kites, windsurfers, and big multihulls racing side by side across San Francisco Bay; nice!
- Rob Douglas, Luderitz wind powered world speed record run - 55.65 knots in a speed trench in the desert of Namibia!
- Rob Douglas interview - what it takes to be the fastest kiter.
- Antandroy - Remote travel and incredibly playful kiting in southern Madagascar; well-shot and edited by Band Originale. Surf, flatwater, SUP, local villagers, and landscape. Nice!
All photos, text, and images on this website are © Bill Glude unless otherwise noted.