I'm amazed at how quickly and easily people pick up snowkiting as opposed to kitesurfing. This is a great way to get your friends into kitesurfing in a much more gentle learning curve. The photo is from a session on the Old Man range a few days ago. None of these guys had ever flown a kite before and they were ripping it up on their first lesson.

One of the hardest things to teach with water kiting is how to put your board on your feet with one hand and carve downwind to get up. Snowkiting removes this complication and allows a beginner to get up and moving really quickly.
I always suggest learning to fly in the water (body drag lessons) but starting to board on the snow. That way when summer comes around, you are experienced enough that a water start is not such a big issue.

That is good advice Michelle.

well can i say landboarding on the beach also removes that complication aswell.... i suppose the beach is harder than the snow....
I would have thought snowkiting would add a few complications that land/surf at the beach wouldn't have. like wind lips and gusty inland conditions and updraft and increase lift up the hill.

amusingly when i go snow kiting this year it will be without snowboarding experience. (i did a decent amount of skiing/snowboarding 10-15 years ago but nothing since). So i'll have the kiting flying skills but will have to learn the edging control pretty fast. i intended to go for a snowboard session or 2 before snow kiting but money and time is going to kill that idea.

I found the transition from water to snow very easy, exact same body position and feel.
As long as your board is set up symetrical like your twin tip.

The real thing I found tricky on mountain terrain was the extra dimension of the gradient uphill and downhill.
EG; kiting directly upwind against your kite but down the mountain, using the steep gradient.
Still it's just a matter of riding different angles.

Thats who beat us to the old man range! we were wondering who left the tracks...