Kite skiing is a relatively recent development of skiing where the pull comes from a kite. It can be done on water, snow, land or ice.

Kite skiing on snow has little in common with downhill skiing which is very popular in the alps and on mountains around the world. It shares a greater similarity with cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...

 but the driving force coming from the kite rather than stocks

Stocks

Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...

 or gravity. The technique was successfully used on the return leg of Amundsen's South Pole expedition

Amundsen's South Pole expedition

The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott...

 in 1911-12.

Kite skiing on water can be done with different kind of skis, therefore it may be compared with water skiing

Water skiing

thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...

 or with wakeboarding

Wakeboarding

Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques....

. Kite skiing on land uses specialized grass skis or sand skis.

On 5 June 2010 Canadian Eric McNair-Landry and American/French Sebastian Copeland

Sebastian Copeland

Sebastian Copeland is an award winning photographer, author, lecturer, extreme outdoor adventurer and environmental activist. He has led numerous expeditions around the globe to photograph and film endangered environments...

kite skied 595 km in 24 hours, a distance world record.