so i went kiteskiing today, and the wind was pretty good if a bit gusty (20mph gusting to 25 was what the weather channel said, but i think it was less). I had my 10m Frenzy out, and that was well powered

my problem was with the snow. we just had two major snow storms here in MA (we have almost a foot on the ground), but it was a little warmer yesterday, and the top layer of snow was a pretty thick crust. I found that if i leaned back on my skis, i could usually stay on top of it, but once one ski went underneath, i was yanked over. Also, if I tried to edge hard, I would just sink in and get tangled.

Do i just need more practice, or are there any techniques to deal with this? Or should i just wait for better snow conditions (will it get better?)

Note: i am 170lbs skiing on 170 rossi zenith skis... do i need longer/wider skis for kiting in crusty powder?

I live in NH and know exactly what you were out on. This is my first year of kiting and I haven't gotten out on the skiis yet, so I can't offer any good advice for dealing with it. I don't think there is a way to ski successfully on that ice.

In my yard there is a 1/4" thick layer of ice over the snow. I'm surprised that you were able to stay on top of it, but not surprised that it stopped you cold when you fell through. Too bad because it was great powder before the rain.

If you were on private property and are able to get a snowmobile out there to run all over the place and smash up the ice that would be my best suggestion. A fall on that stuff Could be downright nasty.

Where are you located in MA?

yeah there was a guy snowmobiling on it when i was getting set up, but he didnt do too much...
maybe more people will break it up.

yeah i got a nasty scrape on my lower back where the ice rode up my sweatshirt (i was sweating so i took off my jacket).

im currently in amherst MA, but i will soon be going home to West Springfield MA (i got to Umass Amherst)

Another annoying part of the snow is that there are lots of little peaks in it to grab your lines... maybe ill just steal a snowcat and groom it

Tell yourself over and over..... KEEP YOUR TIPS UP !
Cruddy snow is just that. Best you can do is lean back a little bit more on your heels than normal. Not too much or you lose edge control.

yeah thats what i ended up doing when i had the best success. I think the gusty wind didn't help too much either.

it's like skiing powder . keep the tip up by staying backward a bit. if you can fly the kite higher it will help you floating. and keep the kite moving up/down to generate the extra power you need

in these conditions I use my rossignol bandit B2 skis which are wider and have a smaller radius than the zenith. if you kite more than you alpine ski, then you might think trading your skis. the zenith have too much carving

if you can give a board a try, was riding on simmilar stuff today, crust on top with wet slush crap underneath, and I had no issues on a board, more surface area and forces on snow are different on a board. I would personally rather ski but they are at my condo, :sniff:

Crust on dust stinks but its what we have right now. Warm temps would be good to soften it up. I can't add much more than what the others wrote. Lean back, keep the tips up and if you torpedo a ski get ready to be launched.

Conditions will get better. We have far more snow and ice right now than we have had in some winters in general. You may need to use hop turns if you keep sinking - those are OK but not nearly as fun as super powered down wind carves at speed - but you need a nice surface to pull those off.