123.Snowkiting

Snowkiting is an outdoor winter boardsport, combining similar kites and techniques used in kitesurfing, with the footwear used in snowboarding or skiing. In the early days of snowkiting, foil kites were the most common type; nowadays some kitesurfers use their water gear such as inflatable kites. Snowkiting differs from other alpine sports in that it is possible for the snowkiter to travel uphill when the wind is blowing uphill.
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As a child Dieter Strasilla, inspired by Otto Lilienthal, practiced gliding around Berchtesgaden and in the 1960s he 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.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. 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