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My daughter's first mountain sled trip.

Q
Mar 11, 2011
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90
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My wife and I got into sledding about 10 years ago and fell in love with the sport. So when we had a kid, we were always looking forward to getting her into riding. We bought her a 2014 Polaris 120 when she was 2...
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She loved that thing and had some fun with it...

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But it eventually got boring for her and it was time to upgrade. I'd been looking at the 200s when they came out and when the 2019s came out with heated grips and e-start, we felt it was time...

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She played on it all last winter around the farm and absolutely loves it (these sleds are worth the money for sure)...

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In the spring she asked if she could ride with me in the mountains, so we took her to Golden with us, I think the smile says it all...

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She came out with us, riding on my sled a few times since then. Then this fall she asked the question I've been waiting for.... "Dad, can we take my sled out to the mountains?", yes, yes we can. So a couple weeks ago we loaded up and headed out...

She was a little nervous in the parking lot...

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But by the time we got to the cabin she was all smiles...

feeding the whiskey jacks
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It was a little overcast down low but got above the clouds and the sun was shining bright...

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On top of the world...

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I was so focused on how she was riding and where she was going I never took too many pics. We all had an absolute blast all day long, Zero complaints the whole day, she did amazing out there and It's all she wants to do now. I'd say we've got a little shredder on our hands. Can't wait to do it again
 

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Q
Mar 11, 2011
146
90
28
Olds
If she keeps the passion for it she has now we're gonna have a lot of good days out there. I'm gonna absolutely gonna enjoy putting around, just checking out the sights with her for now but when she gets a bigger sled I think were gonna have a lot of fun. She's 7 now so it'll be 2 or 3 years before that'll happen, man time flys.
 

Mafesto

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Nov 26, 2007
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Not having kids, I can only imagine, but I would guess sharing this experience with her far surpassed the normal fun of mountain riding!
 
Q
Mar 11, 2011
146
90
28
Olds
It's a different kind of ride for sure, not your typical "get as far back and away from people as you can" kinda thing that usually happens. More sort of a "stop and smell the roses" kind of ride. Not in a rush to get anywhere, no real goals for the day but to have fun. Lots of snack stops and pointing stuff out. Just a relaxing day all around checking out the sights. Thoroughly enjoyed it
 

turbolover

Enduring the heat till Braap Season
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My Daughter is 21 now and absolutely loves snowmobiling.
When I am geting the sleds ready for the season, she comes out to the garage just to smell the two stroke smoke.
She jokes that they should make a cologne that smells like that.

Her and her brother have been riding with me since they were just over a year old.

I got them a kitty kat when they were much younger and they have graduated to the bigger sleds, a 97 488 fan cooled, up to an 09 600 rmk, then my 800 pro and last year I had to keep kicking them off of my 850.

When she goes along it is a bit different ride and I have to tone down where and how we go but it is just as much fun going with her as it is with my son. It's just a different type of ride.


 
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Devilmanak

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Dec 12, 2007
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Donnelly, ID
My Daughter is 21 now and absolutely loves snowmobiling.
When I am geting the sleds ready for the season, she comes out to the garage just to smell the two stroke smoke.
She jokes that they should make a cologne that smells like that.

Her and her brother have been riding with me since they were just over a year old.

I got them a kitty kat when they were much younger and they have graduated to the bigger sleds, a 97 488 fan cooled, up to an 09 600 rmk, then my 800 pro and last year I had to keep kicking them off of my 850.

When she goes along it is a bit different ride and I have to tone down where and how we go but it is just as much fun going with her as it is with my son. It's just a different type of ride.


Yah buddy! My 12 year old daughter doesn't give a crap about sleds, but she will go on fun runs or out on the lake for Sunday Funday. 11 year old Tater different story. Only issue I have had with Tater is being terrified that he will get hurt. His balls are bigger than his brain. So we have had some slightly stressful rides. 3 years on an M6000, zero wrecks. (Other than him snocross racing with my neighbor on a lake track and ripping bud's running board off, LOL.) He lost the sled once on a hill, I saw it and ran it down, ski pinned it. He was in TEARS, thought his sled was gone. Like you said, gotta tone it down for the kids, no big boy rides until they are ready.
 
I
Feb 23, 2021
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Alberta Canada
I love this thread. I started sledding late in life and got my son his first sled the second year I was sledding. He was 11 at the time and 15 now. He is killing it and out riding the old man now. Definitely my favorite riding partner!
 

christopher

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I love this thread. I started sledding late in life and got my son his first sled the second year I was sledding. He was 11 at the time and 15 now. He is killing it and out riding the old man now. Definitely my favorite riding partner!
the years when I was able to ride with my Sons were absolutely THE BEST!!
 

wideopenbeau

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Dec 19, 2009
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Milky Way.
I just picked up my 9 year old girl a 2001 Polaris rmk 500 136 electric start and heated grip will be nice for her. She came off a 200cc mini z and she would run full throttle everywhere. Last year I took her out in the back country about 5-7 miles back in and had to fill the tank a few times but she had fun. I hope this is just as much fun.
 

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Q
Mar 11, 2011
146
90
28
Olds
That 200 has been an amazing sled but since my last post Danika has gotten to be a darn good little rider and has been out-riding the capabilities of it. I knew it was time for an upgrade and wasn't about to start modding the 200 knowing she'll out grow the chassis soon anyways, We went out with a group and rented a venom 400 and everyone had the same opinion if it, under powered. over weight, poor handling, and not to mention overpriced. None of us could get off of it fast enough. I was disappointed cause I was sure that would be her next one. I looked at the new NEO from doo but it was more than I wanted to spend and obviously none to rent or demo, so the only other real option was the EVO, we're a polaris family anyways so I figured lets find one. After looking for a while, we found this one

2021 EVO RMK

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There was just enough snow left around the farm to test it out when we got it home,

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She immediately loved it, Smooth power, super light steering, I couldn't get her off of it. I had my doubts it would be a great mountain sled since it was so low and wasn't sure how the 550 fan would do at altitude but we had a trip lined up and she was beyond excited to see what this thing could do. We rented a sled-in cabin with a friend of mine and his daughter in the hills and I had something special I always wanted to do planned, so we loaded up and headed out,

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Took a while to get everything loaded up and situated but it was a beauty spring day,

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Cruised up the trail and up to our cabin to unload,

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The view out our front door,

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After we got settled in at the cabin, we went out for a rip,

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After a day of touring around on the new ride she absolutely loves it, obviously much more capable than the 200 but she says "it's so easy to ride" given, this is in spring snow and she never got stuck at all yet but she's never been out on a deep day with the 200 anyways so she doesn't know what she's in for next year. I had a chance to kick her off of it and jump on as well and I was really happy with it. Even up high it gets around well. Handles great and its really stable since it sits quite low. I was surprised by the power the 550 puts out, Granted I had to get it wound out to get up the headwall but it made it.

We rode until just before dark when the clouds rolled in and went back for supper.

My master plan was to stay up and go for a midnight ride on the glacier under the full moon but the clouds were trying to wreck my plans. We hung out and waited to see if the weather was gonna clear, and boy did it ever,

Looking out the door when the moon was coming up,

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Cleared right off,

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So we geared up and went out. D wasn't super excited to get up at midnight after falling asleep waiting for dark and me waking her back up a couple hours later but she was pretty excited and wasn't gonna miss this,

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She almost fell back asleep waiting for us to get ready to go.
 
Q
Mar 11, 2011
146
90
28
Olds
Once we got up top on the glacier this is what we seen, keep in mind these pics were taken after midnight the camera on the iPhone lights it up quite a bit, but the moon was so bright it looks like the sun but you can see stars in the pics, Evo10.jpgEvo11.jpgEvo27.jpgEvo29.jpgEvo30.jpgEvo28.jpg

It was one of the coolest thing I've ever done on a snowmobile and I'm so happy the whole family could be a part if it.

After a few hours sleep we got up and rode the next day until it was time to pack up and head out.

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We'll never forget our first midnight mountain family ride...

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