OK so I've never snow-kited before, but I picked myself up an Ozone Frenzy FX 9m (2008 version) on eBay cheap. It's got the new-style moulded 'Megatron' chicken loop.

I'm doing the whole season in the French Alps. I'm going to be skiing and snowboarding with it.

I need a harness. People have said the Ozone harness is good, but I don't know whether to choose the version with the spreader-bar and hook, or just the plain webbing loop:

http://www.atbshop.co.uk/productdetails ... 25&cat=har

Will it be a pain in the arse having to re-do the chicken-loop all the time to un-attach and re-attach it?

Or will it be more a pain in the arse having the chicken loop fall out from the hook when I don't want it to?

I don't intend to be doing any wrap-around tricks that will require the hook...

Hey welcome to snowkiting! By the way, awesome kite you picked up, they frenzy's have resounding good reviews.

As far as the harness, most people buy the hook style harnesses. The reason being, even if you don't plan on handle-passing now, it might be something in the future. And a really good thing to have is the megatron loop. They should come stock with a small plastic piece protruding from the loop itself. This has a few names such as a kick-it, donkey-stick or most commonly donkey-d***. This piece is used to hold the chickenloop in the harness hook at all times. If you need some help figuring out how it sticks in between the loop and hook, let me know. This is a great way to make sure your chickenloop doesnt fly away while your riding on a harness hook type setup.

In my opinion, I would go with the hook.

One last thing to consider, some riders who make it their goal to get the largest and longest air possible will tend to choose a higher percentage of the mesh style ring due to the added security when your 50 ft up haha

Let me know if you have more questions!

I suggest the hook as well. I used to use a climbing harness which was effectively a loop set up, and now have a snowkite harness with a hook, Ive found that its much more convenient. I know Eric the founder of this site rides with that Access harness with the loop and if I recall correctly, he said once he wishes he bought the hook one instead....maybe he'll chime in with his 2 cents.

I found a carabiner that will fit in the loop nicely, so I bought the loop version. I hope I'll have the best of both worlds.

My only slight worry is that the chicken loop won't be quite as close to my body as if the carabiner wasn't there. It's only about 3 inches so it shouldn't be a problem.

The carabiner, that is!

haha. I remember riding with a carabiner for a while, and realized that the bar was a little to far (about 3 inches haha) outside of my comfortable arm reach.

If you find that your hunched over a lot, or stuggle to grab the bar when its at depower, just loop the chicken loop through the harness loop and skip the biner.

Either way you'll be fine with the harness, good buy!

Hey have you had a chance to ride with the new harness yet? I'm curious to see the comfortability factor. Let me know when you get a chance!

Matt