Snowkiting in Early December?

[Dropbear]

Hi everyone,

Apologies I can't post this in Swiss German. I wish I was multiliungual. Maybe soon I can be?

I'm an Aussie buggy and snow kiter who's gonna be travelling in Switzerland from the 30th November until the 10th December. I'd be interested in joining anyone on a snowkiting trip if there's anything going on at this time?

I would expect to be fairly free with dates and places. Four years ago I spent a week and a half in Switerland travelling around most of the country by train so I know how wonderful an experience that can be. This time I'll probably buy a half-price SBB pass, so I could go anywhere really.

(I also started this thread http://forum.kitesailingworld.ch/thread-...snowkiters in the Snowkite Forum.)

After this travelling period I'll be working from December through to March at Kandersteg near Brig so I'm hoping I can go kiting during that time too I've heard the Simplon Pass and the Daubensee kiting spots will be closest then.

Hopefully it'll be a great winter

Cheers

Pete

[michaelkaspar.ch]

Hey Pete

Just check the Page from http://www.unhooked.ch this guys try to check wind and Snowconditions every day. So then you know where to go. Kind of easyest thing in Switzerland.

Cheers

Michael

[Dropbear]

Hi Michael,

Thanks, that website is a great resource.

Yeah I'll certainly keep an eye on the conditions. I was also thinking if anyone intends on kiting around that time then it'd be nice to meet up with them

[Dropbear]

I'm about a week away from leaving for Switzerland now. How much snow is there at the moment (like say on the Simplon Pass - or wherever else you're familiar with), and how much is generally required for kiting to be possible?

I've heard that the Plaine Morte glacier between Crans Montana and Lenk is kiteable, that it keeps it's snow through summer so should have a good cover even now, and that it's a relatively safe glacier when it comes to cravasses and such. There also appears to be a Swiss Alpine Club Hut located close by. Has anyone kited on the glacier, if so what's it like? The SAC website has a good topo map resource and the glacier looks to be quite open to the north, so that much looks good at least.

[gurke]

There is no Snow at all and the weather for thr next week doesn't look good. Hope the weather condition change soon.

Let's pray

[michaelkaspar.ch]

may on the Glacier 3000. there it is close to always posible to go kiting but please read the rules first... on Unhooked and if you dont understand il translate it for you

[Dropbear]

Thanks Gurke and Michael

I had another look at unhooked.ch and couldn't find the rules - there were some areas of German text that looked likely to be them, but I couldn't highlight the text and copy/paste it into google translate to find out what it said...

Michael can you please translate the rules for me? I definitely want to do things the right and safe way, and to be a good ambassador for kiting

[Dropbear]

I flew in to Switzerland yesterday and took the scenic route from Zurich to Kandersteg - via the Golden Pass route to Interlaken. I went that way last time I was here so I knew it was spectacular, and of course it was, yet again.

Today I hiked from Kandersteg up to the Daubensee and back, 'cos I wanted to take the opportunity to look at it before the snows arrived. Bugger me that was a tough walk! But very much worth it, that valley was so beautifully serene, I loved it.

Interestingly the Daubensee is already frozen over. The water is really low, relative to the watermarks on the slopes around it, and the southern half of the lake looked like dry mud. Anyway on the northern side the ice appeared to be about 15cm thick, and I walked out on it a little way - but I didn't go beyond where it would be knee deep if I was standing on the bottom of the lake. I figured that way I could keep safe even if I didn't necessaily keep dry. Happily the ice was solid the whole way, the only places where it cracked was around the shoreline where it was thin anyway.

Anyway the talk here is that the snows are forecast to arrive on Monday. I'm keen to go kiting, but I imagine a fair bit of snow is needed to make these kite spots skiable? How much snow do you reckon is needed?

So if anyone's hitting up Simplon or the Daubensee sometime, can you please tell me, perhaps I could come along too?