Who do You Ride With and Where do You Go?

[thefullmonte]

I'm curious how many people still consider snowmobiling a family sport. With the current economy and ever increasing cost of sleds is our sport becoming more and more exclusive? Appealing only to those with expendable income. Do you still ride with your kids or are you more likely to just go with friends?
If you still ride as a family, what are your favorite destinations? If it's just a boy's or girl's weekend away where do you like to go? Does your riding style dictate where you go with each? Price of lodging, food etc....

 

[Tree Boss]

Me and my wife ride together every weekend in the winter, we go on a week long trip to Alpine Wy. every year! We are expecting a baby in June and I can't wait for the little one to be big enough to ride a sled and enjoy the mountains with me, wife, and the whole gang!!!

 

[eazyduzit509]

95% of the time i ride with my dad. When were at home we ride with my girlfriend and sister. My brother dosnt like sleds and my mom dosnt have one. The past years gas is ALWAYS the biggest factor in EVERYTHING we did and where we went. I'd say its definately a family sport, and expensive activity, but way to fun to give up. We all have different riding styles, so thats why i tend to ride with my dad the most.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

i ride with my dad and my girlfriend when im at home from college and my girlfriend and buddies at college.. my mom doesnt like sledding that much but comes on a trail ride or two a year and my sisters, well, there girls.

I dont go on a lot of trips, maybe 1 a year, but we live so close to good riding there is no reason to dump money on lodging and all that being in a tourist place, $$$$!

 

[overtheedge]

I ride with my Brother in law the most(almost every weekend). Sometimes with my 2 friends, but that is maybe 1-2 times a winter.

 

[The Fourth Wolf]

I got into the sport relatively late in life--in my mid 30's. I've been riding 7 years now and it is the #1 thing I enjoy most. It has actually surpassed fishing and hunting, and I've been fishing since I was in kindergarten.

I bought a second sled to get my wife into it. So far that's been kind of hit and miss. She's a pretty busy professional and did not ride with me once last season. She enjoys it, especially since it's something we can do together but her commitments last year conflicted with riding. I live in the city so I have to drive to ride. Usually just weekends and then when the conditions are right--I try and avoid boondocking in flat light.

I ride with members of my club and with other snowesters looking to split gas money or check out new areas. I ride alone too, but then I stick to well traveled areas just in case.

I agree that it's an expensive recreational choice but I don't care. I make sacrifices in other areas when needed to free up funds to ride.

 

[suitcase]

One of the first sleds I rode as a kid was a 250 bravo, I was hooked. My wife and I have a boy that is 10 now, and that is all he can talk about is sleden since it started snowing. He totaled his first sled last year, my falt. So he goes with the guys more and more. My wife rides oh I'd say 8 to 10 times a year. Should be more this year due to our son is wanting to go more with just the three of us. I ride with my buddies 80% of the time, maybe more. The family rides,we try for atleast one day on the weekend. And depending on the weather, the wife is a fair weather rider. She hates to be cold. Getting better though. My son is starting not to care what the weather is like so he will probaly go way more this yr. than in the past. As the cost of the sport, yes it is spendy. We don't travel much usally 2 to 3 big trips a yr. because we all so live so close to lots of great rideing. Even if we had to drive some to get to ride. We would still do it. I work 8 to 9 mounths out of the year just so I can take those 3 to 4 mounths off every year to sled, so you might say for those 8 or 9 work mounths I put a little money in a sock just for the snowmobileing. So for those 3 to 4 mounths every year my friends and I ride at least 4 to 5 times a week. So I get the best of both worlds, I ride with 3 good friends 3 or 4 times a week in the back country. Then I am able to go with the family 2 to 3 times a week to were ever they want to go. Love the sport and most of my free time is on a sled.

 

[sledcaddie]

who I ride with

I didn't start sledding until I was about 42 (about 14 years ago), mostly flatland riding. Then, I went to the mountains..and I was hooked big time! Ran into some people on the trail who we knew from back home. Turns out, they were in a snowmobile club to help defray the costs of traveling. I joined that club, and the rest is history! We go on a minimum of 2 trips a year to Wyoming. The first is usually the "guy" trip. The second is the "family" trip, with spouses and kids. YES! This is an expensive sport to get into, with both money and time invested. That is why a club is great, because we sled-pool and share a cabin on the mountain. It's a lot of fun. This is definitely one of my top 3 passions in life.

 

[johnny be bad]

just picked a polaris 120 up for the kids!

 

[eazyduzit509]

just picked a polaris 120 up for the kids!

Good man, now you get to watch them fight over it. I hated sharing. Being a middle child, it never seemed to be fair.

 

[plumnuts]

Most of the time it is with my wife... who is more into snowmobiling than I am now (I rather ride two wheels)... I would say that is 90% of the time.. the rest is with my middle son, or friends like CB 8...

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

I too got into sledding in my mid thirties...I used to ride every weekend(with many 3-4 day weekends in there)from the time we got 6 inches of snow(beginning of october)(running a trap line in the back of eureka)until the ice on the creeks opened in may....since I became a single parent the rides have been fewer and farther apart..I try to get the kids out 2 weekends a month and then ride with friends at least 2 weekends a month..I am blessed to ride so many great places with so many great friends...

 

[Blu Du]

family and friends don't ride like they use too. me and my buddies would ride all night when we got good snow. we all got married and have kids but they all gave it up.my kids are too young to go out west now. my dad rides a little but only has a 300 tundra for mostly heading to the fish house. i will never give it up. my kids do have a trashed 120 too. my boy will sneak over to grandpas house (just down the road)and still his 300.

 

[WYsteph]

and my sisters, well, there girls.

Most sisters are, lol.


I ride with my husband (all of the time), our friend happyfast79 (most of the time), and my family (a few times a year.) My guy doesn't like to ride without me, think he has only went once in the last 3 years without me. With my family along we might not go in the really intense areas, other then that we like to ride the same kind of terrain.

Last year we only where able to go a few times due to getting married and buying a place but are hoping to make up for it this year. We use to ride a lot with my brothers, but due to them both going to college now they don't get to ride much if at all. My dad still rides a lot and the two girls still at home and my mom always go with him.

We keep the camper up on the mountain to keep costs down and bring food. It is an expensive sport, but it is something we both love and we are willing to make the sacrifices to make it happen. Being young and no kids yet helps too.

 

[Environmentalist]

I usually ride with my family on Saturday and ride with the fellas on Sunday. I love riding with the family and it's a blast. My daughters (10 and 13 years old) really enjoy riding, and both ride their own sleds. I will ALWAYS pass riding with the guys to ride with my family!

We have no reason to travel to ride. It takes us 10 minutes to get to the trail head on Saturdays and usually an hour to get to the good stuff with the boys.

 

[theultrarider]

I started riding with my family in 1968. It was always a family thing. From about 1980 to 1988 I was away from it as I could not afford it at that time in my life. Then started to ride again. Since then it has been my wife and my son gone most every weekend. We all enjoy it. As my boy got into high school, he became more and more interrested in riding girls than his sled. My wife is getting athritists in her wrists so bad these days she rides less than she used too as well. I kills he that the mind says pin it, but she can't hang on! That leaves me riding more and more with the boys these days. With the price of everything from fuel to oil to belts, not to mention sled prices themselves, I could not afford to burn 100 gallons of fuel in the sleds each weekend like we used to as well as two tanks of diesel in the truck. It is surely an addiction!

 

[Dogmeat]

I'm curious how many people still consider snowmobiling a family sport. With the current economy and ever increasing cost of sleds is our sport becoming more and more exclusive? Appealing only to those with expendable income. Do you still ride with your kids or are you more likely to just go with friends?
If you still ride as a family, what are your favorite destinations? If it's just a boy's or girl's weekend away where do you like to go? Does your riding style dictate where you go with each? Price of lodging, food etc....

I still go ride with my parents a few times a year. They're getting on in the years these days so it's only trail riding with them, and the focus is obviously not on back country powder pounding ....

I have a few friends from Vernal I usually ride around the lower uintahs with, sometimes we head over to Strawberry, then I ride in CO with a bunch of the guys from this site ...

It'd be nice if I had a family, I'd love to teach the kids how to ride

 

[Ex-Member]

Re: Family thing
Had my parents out last year, rented two d6's and they had a blast. The snow was crap... not like we were going off the trails much anyways

Funny though, my mom's always been kind of granola, against powersports and all that... but the last email i got from them was hinting at another snow vacation/sled day for them. They're in AZ and don't see a lot of the white stuff.

Usually ride with other SnoWesters though

 

[somefear]

It's an expensive sport....no doubt. You have to make sacrifices, but in our family we definitely have made it a family sport!! My hubby and I go to the mountains with our 13 yr old, and sometimes another buddy or another couple....Our daughter who's 11 has her own sled too, but it's too small to go to the mountains (340 Arctic Cat). She figure skates, so that is her chosen sport (that is probably just as pricey as sleddin!!) We sometimes will do easy day trips on groomed trails so she can enjoy it too, especially during high avy dangers. So, yeah, we keep the groups fairly small, we find that when we have ridden in bigger groups it's really hard to keep track of everyone and riding in the more steeper areas becomes a challenge when the groups are bigger. I think if you find a couple extra really RELIABLE and trustworthy peeps to ride with it makes the day so much more awesome!!

 

[Drifter]

Who ever and were ever. I try to get out with my mom and dad and brother but that only happens now maybe once a year.