Powder at Tollgate

[ttyR2]

Two friends and I were at Tollgate on Saturday (12/29/2007) and had powder like we'd never seen before. Reportedly 6+ feet deep and I was easily up to my waist when I jumped off the sled repeatedly

Being relatively new to sledding, riding powder was more fun and a LOT more work than I could have imagined. Part of the problem was figuring out where to stop and not sink in. But...when I had things going well, carving across open areas and between trees was simply sublime. The groomers hadn't been out so almost none of the trails were groomed, so we had to break new trails all over the place. Great fun as long as you were in the lead.

Were any of you guys at Tollgate over the weekend?

 

[weighttrain_2000]

We were also at Tolgate on Saturday. We started riding around 7:30 am and did not see another rider until around 10:00 am. The riding was awesome but also very exhausting. Needless to say I'm very sore today, in a good way of course.

 

[ttyR2]

Where'd you park? We unloaded at Morning Creek a little after 8AM after we got the rig unstuck when trying to park. Most of the parking lot hadn't been plowed. One fellow tried to blast his way into a parking spot through the snow and managed to punch a hole in the sidewall of a tire on another guys trailer. Boom.

We were heading to the Bone Springs hut taking the trail routeto the North and broke trail for a while, and got stuck a few times. Met a couple of great people along the way and we exchanged helping get each other unstuck a few times After getting through that trail, we were so beat we turned right back onto the road heading down instead of continuing to Bone Springs. Today, I'm more sore than I've been in my whole life.

As usually happens, we got back to the parking lot and figured we'd just go back out to a nearby hill for a little fun before calling it a day. Two of us managed to find trees in the deep powder and in my case the run-in with the tree involved me getting a handlebar into a 'vital' area. That was decidedly uncool.

I'd gone through all the front suspension on my '94 XLT as well as a bunch of other work on it and this was the trial ride. Not a single thing went wrong on the sled the whole day other than an odd bogging issue when I slowed down in deep powder. I've posted elsewhere about that issue. The suspension worked great, far better than last year.

 

[bluemtnsnoguide]

Some of the greatest powder ever, only remember 2 days even partly close to it last year, and wasnt as much snow then and had set up with in a day, still a lot roads out there with out a track, everyone is sticking to the main roads , good for me, I didnt go out till late sat afternoon , I guess everyone is afraid of a stuck fest, nice 162" days lovin it, hope the cold holds with the high pressure movin in

 

[weighttrain_2000]

I've got a buddy that has a cabin right on Landon Lake, next to Gordon Smiths cabin. We parked next to his cabin. It's possible that we may have helped each other get unstuck. We probably stopped and helped four or five people on Saturday. We planned on going to Mt. Emily tomorrow for a short ride but I'm still pretty sore.

 

[ttyR2]

I know the fellow with the cabin immediately to the right of Smith's place. Are you talking about that cabin or the one to the left?

 

[xcrash911]

I just rode up there Sunday and today. It's amazing how much the snow set up overnight, still plenty soft though

 

[weighttrain_2000]

Two cabins to the right as you face Smiths cabin. The cabin belongs to Jim and Sally Duff.

 

[m7cat]

The powder has settled or blown now but it was still good riding on Wed 1-2-08 they have most of the trails groomed and trees cleared.

 

[jenboy]

Some friends and I rode up there on Fri. Absolutely unbelievable. We rode out to the Ruckle warming hut spending most of the day within a mile of the trail. The trail was completely untracked with about a foot and half of pow on it. We broke trail the whole way there. We're not normally trail riders but didn't see much use in getting to far from it on that day!! We did not see another soul until we were about mile from the pick-up on the way home. All I can say is AWSOME!!!

 

[wazzusummit]

Anyone heading up this weekend? I was ridding halfway and sumpter this last week. It was pretty good. Halfway had more snow than sumpter but it was still real good. Ill post some pics in a bit. Let me know if anyone is headin to tollgate thanks fellas.

 

[Red Dog]

Matt Bad Cheetah and I will be @ MorningCreek snowpark Sat morning with the Rabbit,join us EH. Cheers Red Dog.

 

[xcrash911]

I am going to pass on Saturday and survey my wind damage, but I think I am going to head up Sunday and help the club clear the trails. It sounds like lots of down timber.