hi there,,nice to see more people with the snowhawk bug...i got my 600 last winter and wow this is one of the best winter toys ever...when your in deep snow the snowhawk does straight line and jumps very much like a dirtbike but when your carving in the pow it feels a lot like riding a big 2 seater waverunner..just amazing.yes the hawk is not a fan of hard packed icy trails you can ride on just about anything but the ice and rough icy trails are more difficult the ski tends to slide in corners and rough icy trail can grab that ski and try to pull the bars out of your hand...that being said with a little practice the hawk can conqure all icy hard pakcked stuff just takes a bit more effort...i have a 2009 dragon 800 running a boondocker turbo and ive got to say that if i had purchased my hawk 1st i probably wouldent have bought the sled...snowhawks ARE that much fun....peace