We just returned from Burandt’s Back Country Adventure for the 2nd year in a row. Last year was pretty light on snow so I never really got the full experience. This year was nothing like last year and the snow was plentiful for this time of year.
Once again we were greeted by Bev who was hard at work cooking up some ribs and potatoes for all of us. Chris returned shortly after we arrived and we got to work on some odd jobs in the shop. This year the shop has a new look and many of you know what that is. Gone are the Arctic Cats and in their place Polaris Dragons set up for some serious riding. Although many didn’t agree with Chris’s decision to move to Polaris it has been a great transition and Polaris and Chris are working very well together. As usual UPS shows up and it’s like Christmas morning with toys galore. A stack of boxes waited for him to come back from riding and play with. Exit Shocks, Pure Polaris parts, SLP goodies, Graphics, and much more but you get the point. This was what we were looking forward to for day one getting to play with stuff we would not normally get a chance to touch otherwise. We worked into the evening poking fun of Sahen who always takes it like a champ. Sahen is a great guy who is a lot of fun to be around so we always look forward to giving him a hard time.
Woke up in the morning and we headed out in the ATS diesel Chevy to ride. We unloaded and took off into the mountains for some “testing”. Chris always takes new guys out for some testing to see how much skill they have so he knows how far to take it for the day. Having a bunch of flatlanders with him we stuck to some basic stuff but still presented some challenges which we took advantage of. One thing I will say is Chris loves teaching if you’re willing to learn. The best thing to do when going riding with him is to leave any ego at home and go into with an open mind. He’s been riding his whole life and is filled with a lot of knowledge and its there for the taking if you have an open mind. Day one was filled with some nice amateur hills not too easy but nothing too extreme. Water, water, water….drink lots of water if you go out and ride with him you’ll need it. After about 5 hours of riding most of us were done and the sun dropped and so did the temps. We returned to steak fajitas that sound simple enough but Bev and Sandy took them to the next level and WOW…took everything in me to not eat until I exploded.
Day two Chris had to pull a couple raffle tickets for the local snowmobile club. They were giving away a brand new M6 and a $1000 and they wanted him to pick the winners. Alpine Motorsports was packed with ticket holders waiting to see if they won. We quickly jumped into the truck as we had customers with us and they were ready to ride. Brandon, Jake and Dax from Laramie Wyoming were joining us for the days ride. They showed up the night before and we hung out with a great bunch of guys!
Stomachs full thanks to Bev and Sandy and an awesome breakfast we suited up, filled the hotdoggers and we were off for another day of testing our limits. I was anxious to get back on the Polaris Dragon 163 with the stage 1 SLP kit on it. Snow was good down low at the parking lot, to some of us the 3 feet that we were looking at would have been epic conditions in our home states but to Chris it was still thin. At the top we were riding 5 feet of powder no problem and in some of the low windblown areas A LOT more. It was amazing watching Chris guide us through the woods with nothing more than his memory! He knows those mountains like the back of his hand and we never saw another sled once out in the trees both days. We never cut a track other than one of his from the day before. We got to hit a couple climbs that were pretty technical for our group which certainly ate up some daylight but it was a blast. Pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone can give you a high for both yourself and Chris. He really loves seeing his customers excel and learn, it gives him a certain level of satisfaction knowing he has created a new memory they may never of had otherwise. Throughout the day we had some chances to stay low and play in some fields filled with powder while those feeling comfortable enough could go and follow Chris and Sahen in the trees. A couple of us took the break and just did POW turns and jumped some smaller stuff in the meadows. The day ended with a pretty large climb (too me anyway) that we all took a half a dozen runs at. In 2 hours I’d say we had 20 stucks with Chris and Sahen being the only two making it to the top. My “last” attempt at getting to the top through the trees I got stuck AGAIN and just had enough. We got to the bottom and my buddy Jason and I both swore we were not going up that darn hill again.
Well…….we were wrong!! Chris came down and convinced us we could make it and wanted us to try once more. We both made a good run at it and we both made it further than we had before but inevitably we ended up stuck ½ was up. Chris looked at me and said “now we can go home, I just wanted you to try one more time”. I think we were both happy we tried it one more time but we were also really happy to hear we were heading for some chow.
Back at the lodge we had some beef stew waiting for us and that was a multiple helping type of meal, plus we didn’t have to ride the next day.
Day two ended with many of us being more exhausted then we had ever been. We hung out, got some business out of the way and BS’d for a while before he went home to see Stryder and Sandy.
After watching Chris dance through the tree’s on his Dragon I’m here to tell you first hand he’s doing just fine on Polaris! Proof positive that it doesn’t really matter what you’re riding its more about how you ride it. I felt right at home since I have an RMK but Chris’s exact words when asked about his Race Gas Boondockers Turbo and how he like it….”It’s the funnest sled I’ve ever ridden”
There you have it….the man loves his Polaris.
Word to those coming out, leave your ego’s at home, be in the best physical shape possible, and be ready for the ride of your life!
Thanks Chris and the whole Burandt crew, we enjoyed every minute of our stay. See ya next year.
Once again we were greeted by Bev who was hard at work cooking up some ribs and potatoes for all of us. Chris returned shortly after we arrived and we got to work on some odd jobs in the shop. This year the shop has a new look and many of you know what that is. Gone are the Arctic Cats and in their place Polaris Dragons set up for some serious riding. Although many didn’t agree with Chris’s decision to move to Polaris it has been a great transition and Polaris and Chris are working very well together. As usual UPS shows up and it’s like Christmas morning with toys galore. A stack of boxes waited for him to come back from riding and play with. Exit Shocks, Pure Polaris parts, SLP goodies, Graphics, and much more but you get the point. This was what we were looking forward to for day one getting to play with stuff we would not normally get a chance to touch otherwise. We worked into the evening poking fun of Sahen who always takes it like a champ. Sahen is a great guy who is a lot of fun to be around so we always look forward to giving him a hard time.
Woke up in the morning and we headed out in the ATS diesel Chevy to ride. We unloaded and took off into the mountains for some “testing”. Chris always takes new guys out for some testing to see how much skill they have so he knows how far to take it for the day. Having a bunch of flatlanders with him we stuck to some basic stuff but still presented some challenges which we took advantage of. One thing I will say is Chris loves teaching if you’re willing to learn. The best thing to do when going riding with him is to leave any ego at home and go into with an open mind. He’s been riding his whole life and is filled with a lot of knowledge and its there for the taking if you have an open mind. Day one was filled with some nice amateur hills not too easy but nothing too extreme. Water, water, water….drink lots of water if you go out and ride with him you’ll need it. After about 5 hours of riding most of us were done and the sun dropped and so did the temps. We returned to steak fajitas that sound simple enough but Bev and Sandy took them to the next level and WOW…took everything in me to not eat until I exploded.
Day two Chris had to pull a couple raffle tickets for the local snowmobile club. They were giving away a brand new M6 and a $1000 and they wanted him to pick the winners. Alpine Motorsports was packed with ticket holders waiting to see if they won. We quickly jumped into the truck as we had customers with us and they were ready to ride. Brandon, Jake and Dax from Laramie Wyoming were joining us for the days ride. They showed up the night before and we hung out with a great bunch of guys!
Stomachs full thanks to Bev and Sandy and an awesome breakfast we suited up, filled the hotdoggers and we were off for another day of testing our limits. I was anxious to get back on the Polaris Dragon 163 with the stage 1 SLP kit on it. Snow was good down low at the parking lot, to some of us the 3 feet that we were looking at would have been epic conditions in our home states but to Chris it was still thin. At the top we were riding 5 feet of powder no problem and in some of the low windblown areas A LOT more. It was amazing watching Chris guide us through the woods with nothing more than his memory! He knows those mountains like the back of his hand and we never saw another sled once out in the trees both days. We never cut a track other than one of his from the day before. We got to hit a couple climbs that were pretty technical for our group which certainly ate up some daylight but it was a blast. Pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone can give you a high for both yourself and Chris. He really loves seeing his customers excel and learn, it gives him a certain level of satisfaction knowing he has created a new memory they may never of had otherwise. Throughout the day we had some chances to stay low and play in some fields filled with powder while those feeling comfortable enough could go and follow Chris and Sahen in the trees. A couple of us took the break and just did POW turns and jumped some smaller stuff in the meadows. The day ended with a pretty large climb (too me anyway) that we all took a half a dozen runs at. In 2 hours I’d say we had 20 stucks with Chris and Sahen being the only two making it to the top. My “last” attempt at getting to the top through the trees I got stuck AGAIN and just had enough. We got to the bottom and my buddy Jason and I both swore we were not going up that darn hill again.
Well…….we were wrong!! Chris came down and convinced us we could make it and wanted us to try once more. We both made a good run at it and we both made it further than we had before but inevitably we ended up stuck ½ was up. Chris looked at me and said “now we can go home, I just wanted you to try one more time”. I think we were both happy we tried it one more time but we were also really happy to hear we were heading for some chow.
Back at the lodge we had some beef stew waiting for us and that was a multiple helping type of meal, plus we didn’t have to ride the next day.
Day two ended with many of us being more exhausted then we had ever been. We hung out, got some business out of the way and BS’d for a while before he went home to see Stryder and Sandy.
After watching Chris dance through the tree’s on his Dragon I’m here to tell you first hand he’s doing just fine on Polaris! Proof positive that it doesn’t really matter what you’re riding its more about how you ride it. I felt right at home since I have an RMK but Chris’s exact words when asked about his Race Gas Boondockers Turbo and how he like it….”It’s the funnest sled I’ve ever ridden”
There you have it….the man loves his Polaris.
Word to those coming out, leave your ego’s at home, be in the best physical shape possible, and be ready for the ride of your life!
Thanks Chris and the whole Burandt crew, we enjoyed every minute of our stay. See ya next year.
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You lucky bastards!
