Spring Riding At Its Finest

By Ryan Harris

Ok, so the headline's a stretch. Last summer in June we had more snow than this past season in January. But to the surprise of many western snowmobilers, there is still good riding available.

Joined by Jared Sessions and Tony Jenkins, we rode this past Wednesday (May 2) out of Star Valley, WY, and got into about 8 inches of fresh snow. In fact, we were able to back the trailer right up to snow and probably had to ride less than 100 yards of dirt as we worked our way up the canyon. The cooler temps we've been experiencing are keeping the snow from melting at a rapid pace. Up high (around 8,000 feet) at 2 p.m. we were sinking down about 6-8 inches into the snow. You could pick just about any line you wanted and have enough traction to control a steep downhill descent. 

We rode a custom 2012 Arctic Cat M800 built by Ride Rasmussen Style's Bret Rasmussen. He hand-picked (or designed) most every aftermarket part on this sled, from the fixed-post ARS-FX low steering post to the C3 Composite's carbon fiber hood. And the Zbroz shocks, Skinz Protective Gear narrow running boards, WRP low-rise seat, SLP resonator and custom front bumper helped this sled shed nearly 40 lbs. and handle amazingly well. More on that later. 

But we really wanted to share some shots with you and let you know that if you feel like you got the short end of the stick this year with a brief riding season, you can still get on snow and rack up some more miles before you fog the cylinders.