The 2010 sledding season could've been described for me in one word.... UUUUUNGH!... if not for the AWESOME final ride! Fall 2009 I had purchased a 900 Mtn Cat and visions of chute pulls began to dance in my head! October 28 FINALLY found enough snow in Lamoille Canyon, Nevada (3" on the frozen road) to start putting some break in miles on the new motor and by mid December there was 3' of baseless powder. While I know better... the fact I had just turned my 100th mile on the road (BROKE IN!) and a "fool-hearted" challenge by a Shannon Barngrover: "If you wanna try to beat a trail to Lamoille Lake, I'll follow" resulted it a wiped out right front suspension thanks to a "sled-munchin" boulder. Shannon fared no better, a-arms for all! But there was now a trail established 150yds up the hill, haha. By the end of December there was finally rideable snow all the way up the canyon though the rocks were taking their toll on the areas riders. The 900 was fixed and running at 90% as I started to lean out the rich jetting from the rebuild, but the sled still had the occasional "hiccups" and thanks to one of them I became the proud owner of a 4" sappling in mid-January that took out the nose and my SLP pipe! One month: upper/lower a-arms, shock, spindle, pipe and nose piece. But in the spirit of a true sledder, I cut back to Mac-N-Cheese and got 'er fixed again. From mid-January on the snow pack started finally adding up and it seemed as if the seaon would be great after such a rocky start. The next 30 days resulted in 150 miles of great riding in the mountains of NE Nevada and I "juuuuust about" had that darn "hiccup" gone.... but not completely. February 10th, 3:00pm... had been on the mountain all day. Made some awesome pulls and were working our way back to the trucks. No problems with the sled... "I think she's dialed in I think to myself, cool." Im making a hard pull up a slope maybe 200' above a lake and the sleds trenching, not pull it straight up so I lay her into a sidehill and angle for the top. That would be the last move I ever made on my "new" 900. She cuts out. The sled falls off the hill rolling twice before coming up onto its track running me over dead center! Only 8 forty foot pine trees stand between my sled and the lake. It nails the last one... DEAD CENTER! Totaled. Storm after storm prevented the rescue until early April. It took 2 days, 2 sleds and 12hrs to get it home. To that point my season seemed over. Until Jesse O'Rourke of Team Summit contacted me and we worked out a "loan me a sled and guide you in my mountains" deal. It was an AWESOME day. A final ride I thought couldnt be topped... I was wrong.
As a father... I dream of sharing this sport with my daughter who is now 4 1/2 yrs old and live in central California. I was able to get her a Polaris 120 for christmas, but sadly a bitter battle for visitation had allowed me only two visits since April 2009, My last being early November. It was now April 15th, 2010 and my daughter Sierra was home! It was the greatest two weeks of my life! And the highlite of it all, of my ENTIRE season... we were able to get up into Lamoille Canyon, my wounded backup sled and her 120 in tow. The session began with a slightly scared lil' girl who wouldnt try it. But some loving and reassuring words from daddy were able to convince her to climb aboard. (along with daddy, the 120 surprised me!) Thirty minutes and my little girl was "soloing" 150yds down the trail ALL BY HERSELF. The excitement, the joy... the PRIDE of riding my sled down the trail and looking down beside me to see Sierra... my daughter, right there beside me bouncing over the "whoops" was something I could never top on my BEST day in the backcountry! Sledding season 2010..... AWESOME!
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, ROCKNESTER's mom screamed all the way down
