Snowkiting near Wisconsin Dells.

[miltak]

Hi,I am from south Iowa.I would like to go snowkiting this weekend on some good lake-nothing safe around here.Have to take family,so I thought Wisconsin Dells.Anyone knows good spot there? Or some place in MN,where is hotel with indoor water park nearby.Please let me know.
Thanks
Dan

[dave12341234]

I think theres a grand rios hotel w/ indoor waterpark in nw mnpls. as for the dells just about every hotel has a waterpark. as for snowkiting, cant really help yah. I know theres lake delton in the dells but i dont know how good it would be for kiteboarding because its surrounded by tall cliffs. good luck!

[monkey1031]

Bloomington has a waterpark, i don't like germs, so i don't go there, but friends who've braved the pee filled pools say it's pretty cool.
on the plus side, if you can ditch the family, you can ride with me out to the lake. I'm a few blocks away from the h20 park.

-smd7

[BBAddict]

Madison is about an hour from the dells and Lake Mendota is usually pretty good, but I'm not sure what the ice/snow conditions are like there right now.

[Dave Z]

Based on what the Mad-town crew is posting I would say the Madison area lakes are not safe:

http://www.kiteridersllc.com/mb/viewtopic.php?t=1440

[Dave G]

We kite in Lacrosse and also a place just north of the Dells called lake Petenwell. It is big and flat....not sure on snow cover right now. Google a bar called the Lure (Archer road) to get ice info.
We ride there a lot in the summer. It is a couple miles wide and 12 miles long....so it has good wind.

Let me know if you need more info

Dave G

[miltak]

Thanks for all messages.I saw the lake Petenwell.It looks big,but I didn't find an info about the ice and snow condition (we have decent size lake Rathbun here and it has been below 0 F for a while,but from experience I am not going there-I walked on skis over the lake 2 years ago after finding-there was no snow in the middle,just ice and places were soft-pretty scary-took me 1.5 hour walking on skis to get back,because without skis I saw myself going thru the ice-I was exhausted).I am thinking about MN now.I guess Minneapolis is place to go.I may post before this weekend to check on condition and place to go.
Thanks again
Dan

[toyletbowl]

Yo Dave Z. what's up? That thread is actually for Mendota only regarding ice thickness. Mendota always freezes late compared to the other 4-5 main lakes around the Madison area. We have a great coverage for snow in the fields (17 inches a few weeks ago), but it's since melted to a harder crusty layer with about 6-8 inches underneath still.

So the fields are good, but we could use a fresh layer of snow. We're supposed to get some on Thursday/Friday, but not sure how much.

Below is info to help with ice thicknesses on the area lakes. MY guess is all the lakes have rideable ice (mendota is questionable still), but the snow cover is not as good as the fields.

http://kiteridersllc.com/winter.html#lakes

Dan...if you find your coming this way, give me a heads up and I'll let you know how things look.