I finally got out snowmobiling with a work colleague yesterday.

He's been here for about ten years, and loaned me his secondary sled.

We drove up into the mountains, unloaded, and hit the snow.

I grew up with snowmobiles, but on the east coast the snow and terrain are significantly different. Back east, the snow is wet, heavy, and the terrain is fairly flat. Therefore, the snowmobiles have short tracks with very little in the way of traction paddles, half-inch protrusions are all you need. They turn easily, and slide well, they're agile little things.

Here, the backcountry means deep powder, steep slopes, and immense landscapes. The machines have evolved..... more power, long tracks, and big track paddles. They work well, but I was continually trying to turn the thing unsucessfully. The long track and "digger" paddles means the thing primarily wants to go straight. Off camber hills are extremely difficult.

P.S. I was extremely bummed out that I forgot my camera for this adventure, missed a huge amount of pic opportunities. Oh well, next time.

The snow was uncharactistically wet and heavy, exacerbating the machines' bad behaviour, especially on off-camber slopes, but I was having a blast.

Got stuck twice, both related to my overestimation of turning capability, but otherwise had a wonderful day.

Toughest part... the light was overcast, muting all aspects of the terrain, the only sensation you had was either weightlessness as you dropped off a lip or compression as you hit an unseen rise. Tough to read the land. Intermittent sun breaks showed us the stupidity of our earlier lines. I thumped my elbow impressively as I took an unseen dropoff at 30mph,unexpectedly weightless, floating for an unsettingly long time, the compression upon landing blowing both my hands off the bars and causing my chin to g out dangerously close to the triple-clamp, activating the engine kill-switch. Whew!!

Highlight?... we dropped into a ravine, only to face a steep, smooth uphill. Pinning the gas, we blasted up, the ski tips floating as the track spun and hunted for traction, shifting your weight to subtly adjust the trajectory as you powered upward.

Spun around, hit it a few more times. My bud then asked if I wanted to trade vehicles....Hell yeah.

His motors' piped, ported, tuned to the max. Dyno'd at 170 hp. This beast ripped up the slope on it's rearmost 2 feet of track, floating, drifting, the rest of the sled pawing high in the air. Sounded like three chainsaws on steroids about to explode.

It was getting late, we turned back toward the parking lot. Blasted down the choppy road, being careful to mind the occasional switchback as we descended at 50 mph.

Found the "sweet spot" of the sled here, got the rhythm of chopping the throttle to weight the ski's', turning on trailing throttle, then spinning up just past the apex to get a good drive down the next straight.

FUN!!!!!

Got near the end, I was tearing it up, when my bud ripped past on the left, passing me like I was stopped. I grinned, loving every minute, even as I was being pelted with shrapnel from his track.

Unfortunately, He compressed too hard on a dip,. bending the bolts that adjusted track tension. Thankfully, we were at the parking lot, and were able to load the crippled sled without difficulty.

Today. I'm SORE. Quads, shoulders, right forearm, lower back, all are burning. Descending steps is especially fun.

What a hell of a GREAT day!!!

I'll bring the camera next time. Stay tuned.