Kitesoul Magazine #3 English Edition

point and the plastic valves used to inflatethe kite will harden very easily. I’veoften witnessed valves or pumps breaking,cutting your session short or preventingit altogether before it had evenstarted. A LEI kite is definitely much easierto manage in gusty conditions as itssemi-rigid structure can better absorbthe gusts, however when you crash youhave to remember that the terrain in themountains is not as smooth as water,but presents obstacles (rocks, trees orice ) which can break and puncture yourkite. And when you break a LEI the gameis usually over. Re-launching a LEI kitewhen inverted (upside down) requiresa very large space (at least 25mt). Thekite has to rotate with the LE rubbing onthe snow until the edge of the wind window,and you need to be lucky enoughnot to encounter any obstacles on yourway. You cannot improvise a backcountryhike either because, if your goal isto reach the summit of a mountain, thesafety system of these kites does not allowyou to land where you want to, anddoes not ensure that the kite will notbreak during impact with the ground.On the bright side you can make stunningjumps and glide off a slope, somethingwhich however we advise againstas a kite is NOT designed to fly like aparaglider. In the mountains when youjump off a slope you can easily lift upmore than 15mt off the ground, so ifyou do not have great piloting and flyingskills, landing on top of an obstacleis the most common thing I’ve seen.In addition both the chicken loop andharness are not designed for flying offslopes: you are hooked in only to a pieceof plastic which, if accidentally released,could leave you hanging helpless at 20meters off the ground. Riders who fly