I have never snowkited in Montana. I have the oppportunity to use our time share exchange and possibly go to Big Sky,MT, West Yellowstone, MT, Red Lodge, MT, or Island Park, ID. I skiied Big Sky years ago- nice hill. However, am more interested in kiting. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Backcountry

Depends on what your interests are. If its 90% kiting 10% skiing go for island park village resort. grand targhee and bigsky are near the same distance. Big sky i've heard of reports of kiting but couldn't say where or how good. Island park gets massive amounts of snow pack your snow shoes. west yellowstone if your into snowmobiling a quick trip to two tops could be good but not a whole lot ta do there.

Redlodge dunno im guessing your gonna need a sled to get to the biggies.

Craz Z,

Thanks for the reply. I am pretty much 100% snowkite. I would be brining my 3 daughters who all kite and my wife who is a great cheerleader, however we may be able to get her on a kite. She is still stuck on pole surfing. I live in N Idaho near CdA so the drive is about the same any to destination. I do have a sled that I can drag along, but would rather not.

Island Park is looking good...

I.P. is a great spot to snowkite and to have a sled to run around on. West Yellowstone has more (I'm being generous here) of a social scene. Keep this in mind - the drive from Island Park's snowkite spots to West is only 16 miles. Because I'm here a lot, I frequently spend my nights in West and kite I.P and Raynolds Pass by day.

However, there in nothing like wakening in I.P. with two feet of new fluff, ripping winds, and no drive to go kiting! Repeat that for a week and well, that's why snowkiting here is so good. December can be a month early but La Nina may make up for it.

If you don't need a social scene, I vote for the I.P. Village Resort. Hope to see you out here.

Noah thanks for the reply. My wife is contacting the people at IP today. Not really concerned about the social scene-my older daughters may be after a couple of days... After last winter here in N Idaho, I just want to get out. Had an epic summer at Hood River so hopefully La Nina will come through.

Can you kite at the resort or do you have to drive?

While you can kite from I.P. Village, there is a big power line you have to go under before you can launch your kite. A more safe and practical launch is from the Hungry Bear Market, a mile away to the north. You can drive there or ride your sled to the "Bear".

There are also a few other spots that we kite depending upon snow coverage. The Corrals are across from the Red Rock Road snowmobile parking area. This area, like Hungry Bear, is all grass so almost no snow cover is needed to kite at these two spots. Nice boosting off the small terrace that runs between the Bear and the Corrals. Beginners can start at one end and downwind it to the other end. The Gravel Pit is just north and needs a bit more coverage as does The Wave.

Raynolds Pass is just up Hwy 87. Kiting is done on the Idaho side only (all private land on the Montana side). This area also requires more snow depth then the Henry Lake Flats down in I.P.

Here's a map:

Noah, again thanks. My wife called yesterday and it appears that IP only has one room-max capacity 4. We are packing 5. She is going to call West Yellowsont today. Might have been a little late in trying to make plans. The map is a graet help. I have cousins in Bozeman, so even if we don't make it for Christmas we are going to try and see them this winter-so will try to get to IP sometime. The snow level in N Idaho was down to 2,800 last night so it is looking up.