Kite + Ice + Butt + Board

Your screaming steel blades carve the ice.
Your straining kite hurls you along at incredible speeds.
You are mere inches above the ice. Or suddenly wiping out all over it.
If polo is the "sport of kings", then surely kite-ice-butt-boarding is the sport of gods.
This week's Instructables TV episode shows you what you've got to do this winter.

For details and inspiration memorize, chew and swallow the following instructables:
Howtoons Ice Skate - Skate Board
ewilhelm's Ice Proa
radiorental's Convertable All Terrain Board

Step 1: Ice Awls - Important Safety Equipment

Also called "ice claws", these enable you to crawl back onto the ice if you break through.
Without them you'll be in big trouble. You'd have to go up and over the edge of the ice, continually breaking the weak edge or sliding back and falling back in. These awls let you drag yourself back onto the ice, staying low and spreading your weight out more. These are standard equipment for ice fishermen along with life jackets and sleds big enough to be used as a boat.

This pair of awls was made by drilling an undersized hole, pounding a nail in, cutting off the head and filing a point on it. The nails are off-center so you can drill a larger hole in the other awl and plug them together so one sheaths the other. Very slick. Wear them around your neck. These were made from chunks of broom handle and stainless steel ring nails.

Comments

[matt09]

why dont u call it kibb boarding

[Foaly7]

K.I.B.B. Boarding would be redundant. "Kite Ice Butt Boarding Boarding". Plain old K.I.B.B. or K.I.B. Boarding would work.

[matt09]

wheere is this?

[M F]

air and speed, cooool. How about sky dive  canoeing?
Do you think it would work?

[Derin]

BLING!!!!!!! Kite powered ultralight ice golfcart.

[sunderman]

i built a type of this with wood and a sail.. its pretty cool

[Tool Using Animal]

That does it! You folks are completely destroying the publics perception of nerds. As punishment, I want you to go to your mom's basement and think about what you've done, and when you've compiled a list of every remaining gopher server you can have some Mountain Dew and Doritos. Oh and another thing, I'm inviting my fat, clumsy butt along next time.

[Russian Bear]

that is my "icebugy" What do you think about my invention?

[ewilhelm]

Post more pictures, or a full Instructable!

[schneidp20]

I tried making your butt board a couple years ago. Mixed results. - it pulled me off the board a lot. When it didn't, hiking with the wind turned the board into the wind too much. I tried making an outrigger foot rest, but that didn't work too hot either. I'm going to try your Ice Proa this winter.

[TimAnderson]

Hmm. I think I mostly rode with my butt hanging off the back, the board under my thighs. I'd shift back and forth to set the default angle to the wind. I'd have to check the video to make sure. Where were you riding? Was the ice good? How was the wind? do you have pix?

[schneidp20]

The ice was great and the wind was a little gusty I guess(this was 2 years ago). I was flyin a 5M Frenzy in Minnesota. If the conditions are right I'll give it another shot.

[temp]

Where do you go kite+ice+ but+ boarding? Meaning... What type of climate do you use to get a frozen lake with no snow on it? (does this make sense?)

[casey321b]

i got an idea but u have to see in my next instructable

[bowmaster]

I am going to make a completely tricked out ice buggy with flotation bladders (so I can use it on water), brakes, a way to switch the blades for wheels (to use on land), and a padded seat!! (instructable coming soon[maybe])

[Nor-tea-a]

awesome video. after i saw this i bought a 5m pansh kite and made a ice skate board out of one of my old skateboard decks.

[Rakkan]

I saw something similar on a late-night tv show where someone was skiing down a hillside, using a hang-glider to pull of some gravity-defying stunts. It wouldn't take any tinkering, but alot of skill to pull it off.

[trebuchet03]

That, looks totally fun! More so than cable boarding :) <<-- in which I found my limit on where the helmet camera goes... Not where it can get completely submerged :P Where did you go for the ice?

[ewilhelm]

The video was shot on a couple of outings to Quaboag Pond and Lake Quannapowitt in MA. The video in my ice canoe Instructable was shot entirely on one Tuesday on Lake Quannapowitt where the zeroprestige team went to Lake Q for a morning session, and then went to work. None of us could focus at work, and the wind was still blowing, so we just went back to the lake for the rest of the day. I still get shivers of pleasure down my spine just thinking about that day!

[trebuchet03]

Ahh - very cool (ha! a pun :P) It had me confused for a bit -- considering the temps in SF :P

[Tool Using Animal]

the howtoons, to my eye, contains a rather bad error, anyone who had never ice skated before might be led into putting a 45 degree bevel on their blades.

[ewilhelm]

Our blades are different from ice skating blades for two reasons: 1) ice boats use this same type of blade 2) it's much easier with commonly available hand-tools to make this type of blade. I'm no ice skating expert, but I do consider myself an ice-butt-boarding expert and these blades work perfectly. They grip the ice when you want, but still can be broken free for power slides and quick turns. I've never tried ice-butt-boarding with ice-skate blades, but would definitely like to try.

[Tool Using Animal]

I stand corrected, seems to happen often ;-) Useless trivia...I was born inside the I-95/128 loop.

[wombat7]

fond memories of the zeroprestige days :)

[Corvos]

If the blades are hollow-ground (rather than 90 degree square edges) performance will be much better. You can do this by hand with a round dressing stone held in a spring clip arrangement; these are available from places that sell ice skates and most skaters have 'em.

[ventifact]

Wear a helmet and look out for holes in the ice!

[TheCheese9921]

fun fun

[Wade Tarzia]

Fantastic, an ice-proa! Instructables guys make life worth living even more than it was before.