hey does anyone know of a suitable accessible area for snow kiting in Canterbury, there must be one, the snow farm is too far for regular trips. I heard that maybe porters could be good? any info?

I have seen a few smaller hills on the wy to mt hutt last winter that had great coverage and looked great for snowkiting. But alas... we just rode hutt instead...

Rode the port hills in winter too! It was awesome! it was knee to waist deep heaps of snow... in a padock with natural kickers everywhere, the wind was smooth SW-W too and i was wishing i had my kite so i didnt have to walk so much!

i think castlerock area might ok too, but i've not been there for a few years

maybe sort it out now with the farmers etc.. before winter gets here

thanks for the info but we need an area with good cleared road access otherwise its a long hike with lots of gear. Ideally a kite friendly ski field with rolling terrain at high levels. Another thought is to ask the heli park for a ride up to the top of mt Potts, im sure they wouldnt charge too much but am unsure of the suitability of the area.

Go snowfarm. It's worth the drive. Went there 3 times last year.

yeah the snow farm rocks, i lived in Queenstown for 5 years and rode it heaps but so far from ChCh that it makes it a big mission. I want to ride weekly. We have awesome mountains an hour away and just need to get to the top of them!

just below roundhill at tekapo was fun, think the snow has to be quite low down though

I live in Queenstown so never up that way much in winter but Chasta comes down here every winter and sometimes does a bit of a road trip and he's been very excited about the possibilities at Round Hill at Tekapo. Looks like it would take a south to sw. Get on google earth and check it out. Make sure you check the terrain box in the layers and go to preferences and set the elevation exageration to 1.5 in 3-D view. You can then check out the mountains from a horizontal angle and see where the spots are and also then it's easy to work out where the clean wind will come from. We've found endless terrain down here. Don't think snowfarm is all there is. It's the easiest to get to but thars Gold in them thar hills boys.