SNOWMOBILE BLOG

Now I don’t want to be a party pooper … but is global warming still cool? I mean, for the past decade there has been a movement that asserts that if you are anybody important, you have to assume that global warming is hot. And anyone who doesn’t agree with this philosophy is not.

After all, the ice caps are melting, polar bears are floating out to sea and civilization as we know it is near extinction.

Yet, this spring marks the second-coldest on record … just slightly warmer than the spring of 1975.

But if you’re in with this whole global warming thing, you understand that global warming can also mean global cooling. Actually, it tends to mean whatever is happening to the weather at the moment.

Bottom line, the combustion engine has caused our earth to turn into an out-of-control thermostat set on high. Translation: We’re all going to go to die. (I’m not sure if these environmental extremists were aware of the fact that since the beginning of time, we have all been destined to die.)

Al Gore made a movie about the disastrous consequences of global warming (he also made millions of dollars with this scam as well), so it must be true. The CIA opened an entire investigative branch as part of national security to monitor global warming (although they really didn’t monitor much … mainly sent their top-ranked agents and political appointees to some beach in the Caribbean  to work on their tans during two-week government paid “fact-finding” missions). (New York Times, 11/20/12)

Democratic lawmakers have even warned us that if we don’t give them authority to legislate global warming, then all our women will likely have to turn to transactional sex for survival. (The Hill, 4/29/13)

Oh, and for the record, when environmental extremists realized the phrase “global warming” was becoming a joke because anybody with any intelligence knew that the earth has always experienced climate change, these politically correct whack jobs hijacked the term “climate change” to adopt the meaning of global warming.

To lead the charge for the government to have control in everything we say and do, President Obama has invoked the name of God and science to call us to repentance. According to our president, science recognizes “climate change” (although that doesn’t necessarily separate the true definition that the earth goes through heating and cooling processes over time from the environmental extremist definition that the combustion engine has turned up the thermostat on the earth’s heating system). He also says that it is our responsibility to God to allow the government control to regulate our lives. (Obama Inauguration Speech 2013)

Perhaps if we were a more righteous nation, or a more righteous world, God would adjust the earth’s thermostat to be more moderate when it comes to weather patterns. Or perhaps we’re experiencing a cold spring because throughout the course of history some springs are warmer than others and some springs are colder than others. Fact is, there is no science that can separate facts from opinions. Environmental extremists have been predicting these meteoric conditions for the past 20 years … the Bible has predicted them for the past 2,000 years. Somehow the Johnny-come-latelies haven’t connected the dots with the words of God.

I just wish global warming (now known as the new climate change) wasn’t so cool. And that today’s “cold” isn’t the new hot. It’s just getting too hard to keep track of things.

SJ

The thing about spring snowmobiling is that the only things it has in common with regular snowmobiling are the actual snowmobile and the white surface. The white may be called snow, but it certainly isn’t what we were riding on in February.

The challenge with spring riding is finding easy access to the snow. This time of year, any southwest facing trails or slopes tend to be bare. Anything facing northeast tends to be winter. If you could spend your entire day riding the northeast trails and slopes, then life is sweet. But for most of us, that’s not always possible.

So that means somewhere along the way you have to fight with the lower elevation snow—either with your truck and trailer busting small drifts that haven’t melted, or with your snowmobile negotiating dirt patches, rocks and stumps. And when you do get to the point of the trail in the higher elevations where snow depth is adequate, then you have to deal with the back wrenching moguls until you get above timberline.

But once above timberline, life is good, snow is deep and winter lives on.

The benefits to spring riding are many. You have longer hours in the day, milder temperatures and less crowd. Many times you have the entire mountain to yourself. If you catch the right day following a good rain storm in the valley you can find great snow. But you better be quick, a couple of feet of powder on Monday can become rock hard by Wednesday. (Remember the part about the days being longer? That means the sun is working harder to settle everything down. Add that with cold clear nights and you have the recipe for ice.)

The downside is that mistakes tend to be magnified more during the spring. If your sled gets away from you, rather than rolling 10-15 feet and softly coming to a stop in deep snow, it can continue rolling 1,000-1,500 feet down the mountain … and usually its stop is most abrupt. (We tend to have the most expensive repairs to our sleds after spring rides.)

Usually at a certain elevation the snow base is so solid that you can go about anywhere you want. But keep in mind two things: The tops of mountains tend to have lots of different angles to them that can get you high-sided at any moment; and just because the traction is great climbing up a slope, it doesn’t mean you will have that same traction coming back down (say 500-pound bobsled with no brakes).

It’s a different kind of snowmobiling in the spring. But it’s still snowmobiling. And keep in mind, each time out may be your last ride for seven or eight months. Make it memorable.

SJ

            Six months really isn’t a very long time … but when it comes to attitude, it can seem like a lifetime.

            We all remember back to last October when everyone was religiously studying the SnoTel site on the Natural Resources Conservation Page website to see how much snow was accumulating at the higher elevations.

            We browsed various chat rooms and social pages to see who was riding and where. We posted the comments like “lucky dog” or “I wish my riding area could get that kind of snow” and we expressed our jealousies and vowed that when the first flake of snow fell, we were calling in sick and hitting the mountain.

            That was all six months ago. The most important thing in our life was snow. We wanted it, we searched for it, and we vowed that when it came we were going to be all over it.

            Well it came. We rode. We enjoyed. And then we did something very interesting: We quit riding.

            So what happened in those six months? What turned us from diehard sledders to lawnmower pushers?

            Did we just get sick of snowmobiling? Impossible. Did we ride so much that, like after a Thanksgiving feast, we just couldn’t stand another scoop of the mash potatoes? Improbable.

            Did we just forget about the snow once the roads in the valley dried up and the lingering drifts melted? More than likely.

            But if you take the time to go to those coveted SnoTel sites to check out the snow depths, you may find there is still more snow in the high country than there was in January during the heart of winter.

            So what’s the difference?

            Attitude. With weather getting warmer, you tend to forget about what you love to do during the winter and start looking at what you love to do during the summer … although you can’t quite do that because it’s not quite summer.

            And while we sit around waiting for summer, we’re wasting a lot of time that we could still be enjoying winter. And yet, in six months, we’ll likely be back to the routine of checking out SnoTel and searching out the social media to see who’s riding where.

            Hey, it’s April. There’s at least four more weeks of winter somewhere within a two hour drive (if you live in the West).  Let’s lose the attitude and find some altitude. After all, we really only need five months of summer.

Let’s ride.       

SJ

            There’ve been better winters. No, this one wasn’t necessarily a bad one … it just wasn’t necessarily a good one either. On one hand, I was riding the best snowmobiles ever. But on the other hand, the snow was mostly less than average.

            Now, I’m not one to complain. I’m grateful for every opportunity I have to snowmobile. But over the past 30-plus years one tends to recognize good snow from not so good snow. And this year it was the latter.

            Some may point toward global warming. I don’t accept that premise because I believe in natural climate change—the kind that isn’t affected by what man does, but tends to follow natural cycles. And the natural cycle for the past few years has been somewhat dry.

            This year it was dry when it was cold, and wet when it was warm. In other words, the moisture we got came often in liquid form rather than the nice white fluffy form that can be measured in feet.

            The good news was that there were a few more days with blue skies and sunshine for snowmobiling. The bad news was that the snow wasn’t very deep and sometimes it took a couple of weeks just to cover up the tracks from a day’s ride. For some of us, there is something urgent in riding on clean untracked snow. Tracks leave you with the impression that you’re bellying up to a buffet after the fat people have already eaten—it’s slim pickings and the best stuff is gone.

            Now this time of year there usually are a few great rides just waiting to happen. But after a long winter of searching for snow, it’s kind of hard to create the desire to leave the warmth in the valleys to go up to the mountains looking for winter.

            But as long as Mother Nature keeps refreshing the higher elevations with a layer of snow, some of us will just leave our lawn mowers in winter storage and continue to do our best to beat the fat people to the buffet.

            There’ve been better winters. But we’ll still try to make the most out of the one we still have.

SJ

            This past week the staff at SnoWest Magazine (and every other snowmobile publication, website or other various media) had a chance to get our first look at the 2014 model year snowmobiles.

            Well, technically, these are prototypes of what the 2014s will be … and this year there wasn’t a big effort (at least with the mountain sleds) to fabricate the new models. Basically, the 2014 mountain sleds are extremely similar to the 2013 production sleds with just a few simple variations.

            That isn’t necessarily saying that the snowmobile manufacturers took this year off. But rather, with all the changes over the past couple of years, we’re not yet due to new body styles or major changes. And to be honest, the 2013s were pretty solid units built from the latest technology.

            I’m not sure there are too many things that I would have expected to see changed. Both Polaris and Ski-Doo have focused on refining their product line. Cat went the extra mile for 2014 in an effort to shave more weight of the sled. Yamaha is still standing pat with its mountain line. So the only real noticeable change will be BMG—bold new graphics.

            On a side note, as I was driving up to West Yellowstone to ride the new models, I couldn’t help noticing as I drove past the Arctic Cat R&D facility that there was a Yamaha engineering trailer parked out back. For those who don’t know, Cat and Yamaha are working on some joint ventures that have brought Cat suspensions to some of Yamaha’s trail sleds and Yamaha engines to some of Cat’s trail sleds. This may be something interesting to watch to see how things unfold.

            With our three days of riding the 2014s, we must say we were impressed on how well they all performed and on how class the 800 mountain sleds are with their performance. We were also delighted to see Ski-Doo throwing out a 600 to compete with the Pro RMK 600. That’s an intriguing market that really should be getting more attention to many mountain riders.

            Thanks to Ski-Doo, we have a 2014 Summit 6 to ride for the rest of the season. You can bet there will be a lot more head-to-head comparisons with our RMK 6 as the season winds down.

            If you want to see all the 2014 mountain sleds, be sure to attend the World Snowmobile Expo in West Yellowstone March 14-16.

It’s the middle of February and by all accounts we should be in the prime of the winter season. Every blue-bird day should be a riding day. That’s how it works; snowmobiling at its finest.

So how come I’m sitting at my desk pounding away on the computer instead of out busting power? The answer is simple—the snow sucks.

We are presently going through a weather pattern which has brought little or no snow to the higher elevations during the past two weeks. The little snow in the mountains, particularly at elevations lower than 8,000 feet, has become dehydrated, crusty or hard … not the snow you really relate with busting powder.

Temperatures have gone up and down—cold, warm, cold—which leads to deteriorating snow conditions. Basically, riding conditions are just not good.

So that means there has been no real desire to go out and fight with nature. And with the lack of fresh snow along with the already low snow depths, there’s just not that much ground cover to protect your sled from rocks and stumps. (This is speaking from experience—I’ve already replaced three A-arms this season.)

Don’t get me wrong—I’d rather be riding in bad snow than sitting at my office fingering a keyboard and watching winter slip away. But now I’m just content biding my time and watching every storm front move across the radar maps. 

The snowmobiles are all fueled and ready to go. I’m working ahead on assignments to free up my schedule. All it will take is one fat-looking snowflake to float down from heaven to get me up out of my chair and heading for the mountains.

After all, winter is half over … but I hope I’m just getting started with the riding season.

SJ