Snowkiting

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Snowkiting on lake Kallavesi, Kuopio, Finland in March 2005.

Kiteboarders use inflatable kites to glide through ice and air.

Snowkiting is an outdoor winter boardsport, combining the airfoil and techniques used in kitesurfing, with the footgear and gliding surface used in snowboarding. Either a snowboard or skis can be used. In the early days of snowkiting, foil kites were the most common type; nowadays some kitesurfers use their water gear such as tubekites.^{[citation needed]} Snowkiting differs from other alpine sports, in that it is possible for the snowkiter to travel uphill when the wind is blowing in the right direction. Like kitesurfing, snowkiting can be very hazardous, and should be practiced with care. Snowkiting is becoming increasingly popular in places often associated with skiing and snowboarding, such as Canada, Iceland, France, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden and the western United States

In the 1960s Dieter Strasilla began parapente experiments (also with his brother Udo in USA) in Germany and Switzerland, parachute-skiing in 1972 and later perfected a kiteskiing system using self made paragliders and a ball-socket swivel allowing the pilot to kitesail upwind or uphill, but also to take off into the air at will, swivelling the body around to face the right way (SKYWING).

In the mid 1980s e.g. some alpine skiers used a rebridled square parachute to ski upwind on a frozen bay in Erie, PA.^{[citation needed]} Kiteskiers began kiteskiing on many frozen lakes and fields in the US midwest and east coast. Lee Sedgwick and a group of kiteskiers in Erie, PA were early ice/snow kiteskiers. In 1982 Wolf Beringer started developing his shortline Parawing system for skiing and sailing. This was used by several polar expeditions to kite-ski with sleds, sometimes covering large distances.^[1] Ted Dougherty began manufacturing 'foils' for kiteskiing and Steve Shapson of Force 10 Foils also began manufacturing 'foils' using two handles to easily control the kite. In the mid 1980's Shapson, while icesailing, took out an old two line kite and tried to ski upwind on a local frozen lake in Wisconsin. Shapson demonstrated the sport of 'kiteskiing' in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Finland. He also used grass skis to kiteski on grassy fields. Early European kiteskiers were Keith Stewart and Theo Schmidt, who also was among the first to waterski with kites. American Corey Roeseler together with his father William developed a Kiteski system for waterskiing and began winning in windsurf races featuring high following winds, such as in the gorge of the Columbia river. The following terms describe the sport of 'Traction Kiting' or some refer to as 'Power Kiting': Kite buggying, kite skiing, kitesurfing, kiteboarding.

New sports normally get less dangerous over time as better equipment, safety practices, community know-how and qualified instructors become available, allowing people to learn through different means then trial and error.