SNOWMOBILE BLOG

What’s New?

            This is the standard question I get this time of year after riding all the 2013 snowmobiles. And it’s a good question. After all, it’s getting close to those snow check days when you have to make a monetary commitment on what you’re going to ride next year.

            If you invest nothing, you will be riding the same hardware as this year. In you invest a lot, you might be on shiny equipment which will make next winter one to remember.

            The big question is: Is there something worth sacrificing Johnny’s braces or Sally’s dance lessons?

            This past week we’ve spent a good portion of the time in fresh powder with the latest and greatest from all four snowmobile manufacturers. Like a kid in a candy store, we were jumping from one sled to the next seeing which one held a sidehill, absorbed the big bumps and carved through the trees.

            It’s like being able to take bites out of candy. You ride one sled for 10-15 minutes and move over to the next. If you drop into the trees, you move on to the lighter sleds. If you come to a section of rough trails, you move to the snowmobiles with the best suspensions. If you want speed, you go to the four-stroke turbos.

            So back to that question: What’s new?

            Well, since this blog is expected to be short and to the point, I don’t have time to get into the details here. But the March issue of SnoWest (which is being shipped within the week) will let you know which manufacturers stepped up this season.

            As for Johnny’s braces and Sally’s dance lessons … maybe it’s time for you to have the bright smile and sing for joy when you put your name down on a shiny new 2013 snowmobile.

SJ

Don’t Lose Winter

            This hasn’t been a banner winter when it comes to snow. In fact, in some parts of North America, this hasn’t been winter at all.

           For whatever reason, expectations didn’t match reality. It’s not that winter didn’t come with cold and moisture. It’s just those two key ingredients to making snow didn’t come at the same time.

            When we got our cold temperatures, the skies were clear and blue. When we got our moisture, it rode the back of warm fronts and erased the remnants of any snow that might have been on the ground. Most of our “winter-like” storms only lasted a few hours and didn’t fulfill meteorologists expectations.

            So here it is the end of February, spring right around the corner, and many have less than 500 miles on their snowmobiles. What do you do?

           Our first suggestion is to not give up on winter. You may have to look a little harder, climb a little higher—but there is good snow out there. You also have the World Snowmobile Expo coming up in West Yellowstone, MT., March 16-18. This would be a good excuse to plan a week-long vacation to West and do some serious riding for a few days. There is good snow in the area and the trails can get you back to some spectacular country.

            Face it. If you give up on winter, it will be gone until next December. That’s a long time to go without your douse of snow. It doesn’t have to happen that way. You don’t need to lose this season merely because it didn’t come to you. Go to it. It’s well worth the extra effort.

View the SnoWest Newsletter – Feb. 23rd 2012

            You can measure how good a ride is by the pain you feel the next morning when you try to get out of bed. The more it hurts, the better the ride.

            And by that standard, Monday’s ride must have been epic.

            Usually I don’t like groups larger than five. When you get too many people, you tend to have a lot more problems. And that was no exception on President’s Day. Trying to keep track of eight in some extreme mountainous backcountry (located east of Idaho Falls, west of Alpine and just south of Hell) proved to be a challenge throughout the day. And that’s even taking in consideration that we were the only tracks out there. Not once did we cross tracks with anyone outside of the group.

            This in itself tells you two things—first, we had all the fresh powder to ourselves; second, where we were riding was too extreme for anyone with common sense to venture.

            By the time all eight sleds made it up (and sometimes down) the steep slopes of non-descript locations called Red Ridge, Fourth of July, Bear Creek and Big Elk, the landscape would resemble a war zone with trenches, craters and some non-essential parts scattering the terrain. And each time as we reached a new peak or ridge line, the thought in everyone’s mind would be “I sure hope we don’t have to come back this way.”

            About midway through the ride we realized that we didn’t have enough daylight (or strength) to complete our projected route, leaving us with the frightening realization that we were going to need to go back some of the way we came.

            It’s remarkable how slopes that seemed almost vertical on the first go round suddenly become even steeper and more trecherous on the return trip. Within a few short miles it felt like we assaulted pretty much an all-star line-up of hillclimbs resembling the RMSHA circuit … without the hill crew to catch your tumbling sled. Our snow suits were soaked from the outside in as well as from the inside out—sort of like hot and cold running sweat.

            Although the seven-plus hours of riding only netted just over 50 miles, you can bet we earned every one of those miles during the day.

            And Tuesday morning, when we rolled out of bed and dragged our sorry bodies off to work, you can bet we felt all 50 of those miles.        

SJ

It's been years since I've been on a good night ride (that was intended to be a night ride, anyway). But last weekend I took a friend out on a loop through the mountains in Island Park. We left at 10 at got back around midnight.

The first thing I noticed is how we have taken headlights for granted in our mountain sled tests. Since we weren't on a trail and we were going up and down the whole time, snow buildup and having a wide beam of light are big issues.

The other thing is that if you're going off-trail, you better know the area better than the walk from your bed to the john, because when it's dark, you lose all your landmark points of reference. There were a couple spots where I was looking at snow drifts trying to confirm that we were where we were supposed to be.

In a cycle of rides that seem to run together, a night ride reminded me just why snowmobiling is such a fun sport.

-RH

            Wednesday morning Lane Lindstrom and I left the Bone parking lot on two 600-class snowmobiles for a 120-mile ride to Alpine and back. Others were invited, but felt that the ride sounded like too many miles on groomed trails for their liking.

            However, within a half-mile of the parking lot we turned off the trail and for the next 40 miles only rode 120 feet of groomed trails (we crossed it about 10 times). The rest of the time we went from ridge to valley and across sidehills. It was one of those rides where you were going up, down, sideways, or a combination of the three, the entire time.

            With the exception of a few tight places through trees, you could see by the tracks that there were only two sleds. There were two distinct sets of tracks, each one picking its own parallel line across the landscape.

            Another advantage of the ride was that with two people, we covered a lot more country at a fairly decent pace. We would have covered even more country if it weren’t for a couple of incidences with Lane’s sled getting stuck and one poor line down a steep canyon through the trees that ended in a nose-plant in a creek.

            Obviously, if you’re riding 120 miles in a day, there is going to be some trail miles—about 40. But that leave 80 miles of cross country in fresh powder snow.

            What a perfect day.

SJ

Don't trust your local gas station about whether or not its premium unleaded really contains ethanol? Neither do we.

Idaho, for example, recently became victim of allegedly having 100 percent of its gasoline shipments be an ethanol blend--regardless of octane rating. Some stations have been able to work their own arrangements for ethanol-free premium gas. However, many stations still display stickers or labels claiming that their premium unleaded is ethanol-free.

How can you be sure? Here's a quick and simple test that Ride Rasmussen Style's Tony Jenkins showed us. All you need is a clear bottle and some water. Put about an inch of water in the bottle and then add the fuel you want to test to the bottle. Shake it a little and watch what happens. Since ethanol absorbs water, the ethanol will take on a milky appearance--a dead giveaway. If there's no ethanol present in the fuel, the gasoline will separate itself from the water (pictured) with a distinct line between the gasoline and the heavier water below it. We've found three of our old standby gas stations claiming ethanol-free premium do in fact have ethanol blends instead. Bummer. But we carry a couple empty water bottles in the bed of the truck now.

One of the common remarks heard out on the snow each winter is “boy I’m out of shape.” This comment is usually uttered about the time a person is chest-deep in snow and trying to get his sled unstuck.

            The comment is then usually followed up by some feeble promise to get in better shape next time. And then many riders tend to become less ambitious in their riding—usually they reframe from taking the aggressive lines that got them stuck in the first place.

            But for others, rather than assuming a year-long regiment of weight room time is the answer to stay in shape, this is the time of year when moving from one stuck hole to the next is just a means of riding oneself into shape. Why lift dead weight when you can do your reps with your snowmobile?

            The keys to riding into shape are simple: Start early in the season, go late into the season, never pass up an opportunity to push your snowmobile to the limit, and don’t be afraid of a little work.

            The thing most people find tedious with weight rooms is that you’re lifting dumbbells until you’re worn out. Then you go home, shower and lay around the house until you have enough energy to go back and lift dumbbells. When you ride yourself in shape, you do more than just lift weight—you experience life.

            Rather than working out for a mere hour or two, you spend the day working every muscle in your body … including the one between the ears. And at the end of your workout, you have something to show for it.

            So quit complaining about being out of shape and start riding. Trade that weight room for deep snow. This is one membership that you will be certain to get your money’s worth out of it.

SJ

We've struggled, like most of you, with finding good snow this season. We were wondering how our Deep Powder Challenge--a shootout of sorts between the three mountain 800s--was going to play out in 12-18 inches of snow.

Luckily, the tail end of January has been very good to parts of the West. Some of our favorite riding areas accumulated 60-plus inches in a matter of 2-3 days. And just in time, too. We were able to get all three sleds--the 2012 Arctic Cat M800 153, the Polaris Pro RMK 800 155 and the Ski-Doo Summit X 154--out on phenomenal snow at the same time for several grueling test sessions. Here's a preview of what's coming in the March issue of SnoWest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs9Bhuu24L4

Racking up some miles

            Even though it may have taken Old Man Winter a while to get here, it’s been nice to finally be able to get out on the snow without worrying about rocks and stumps on the trail. And even though the snow depths are quite a bit off from last year, at least we’re riding.

           
If there is a benefit to the lack of storm clouds (and we’re really stretching here to find a benefit), it is that most of our riding days have featured blue skies and great visibility. What a stark contrast to last season where the snow was great but we spent most of our rides in flat light

           
Although most snowmobilers are just trying to rack up miles on their 2012 snowmobiles, we have been busy finding seat time on some of the 2013 prototypes. In this ever-changing industry, what’s new on the snow this year is in the process of being replaced by the new features coming up for next year. Its remarkable how some ever-so-subtle changes can make significant advancements in product performance.

Obviously, we aren’t allowed to release information on the 2013s until sometime in March. So for now we will merely encourage you to put as many miles on this year’s sled as possible … after all, you do want it worn out by the end of the season so you can justify putting a down payment on next year’s exciting stuff .

SJ

View the SnoWest Newsletter – Feb. 2^nd 2012

            During the past few weeks we’ve been in the process of testing the 2012 800s in what we call our Deep Powder Challenge. And during that time, different members of the staff take all three 800s out with their various hand-select groups to gather rider impressions.

            This creates an interesting situation for me with my riding buddies. First, all of them ride 800s … and they ride them hard. So if I want to slip out with them while our demo 800 sleds are out on the Deep Powder Challenge, I need to pony up on one of our two 600s.

            Naturally, I get that look from my buddies that the 600 just isn’t going to keep up with the 800s. And when you pour into the mix that my buddies average 20 years younger and with a lot more strength and energy than me, you can see that I do have some significant shortcomings.

            However, one of my shortcomings isn’t the sled I ride. These new 600s will go almost everywhere the 800s will go. The only time I have issues is if it’s a long hard pull up a steep hill. But then, as long as I have a good track to follow, the 6 can usually make it. If not, I can always sidehill back and fourth for a while and find a way to break out on top.

            On the plus side, after a 60-mile day cross country and through trees, I sure feel a lot more refreshed from riding the 6 than I do when I ride the 8.

SJ