I had mentioned, a few posts back, that I would not be out snowmobiling this year. I am, however, still on our club’s e-mail list. When I received a note that Arctic Cat would be hosting a spring demo event featuring their 2015 models I signed up for a 12:00 noon ride.
Arctic Cat and Yamaha are the two major players in this area that put on these demo sessions every few years. It is a good time to see (and ride) the factory-fresh models. This years’ demo was held at a lodge overlooking Vega Reservoir, part of Vega State Park, about an hour drive for me.
I am not in the market for a new sled but thought I would get out for at least one ride this season. In addition the demo rides were to be lead by Amber Holt who is well-known through the snowmobile industry as a premier back-country rider and instructor. Amber’s web page is http://www.backcountrybasics.com and she offers classes to individuals and groups with the aim of improving rider skills.
I arrived a bit early and found the rides were running a few minutes behind schedule. That was OK as it gave me a chance to talk to the AC folks about their new sleds, and particularly the models that are using a Yamaha engine. From these discussions I decided to demo ride a M 7000 Sno Pro. This upper-end unit (not top of the line) is designed for a combination of on and off-trail riding. It features a fuel-injected, 135 hp, Yamaha 3 cylinder 4-stroke engine.
Jerry on his demo-ride Arctic Cat (Photo by A. Holt)
The day was perfect, almost too warm as the snow was fairly packy. Due to some participants changing their ride times there was only myself and one other rider, along with the ride leader, on this particular run. (Each outing was scheduled to last about 2 hours.) This gave us some flexibility to ride to more remote destinations that a larger group may not have visited. After a dealer-provided lunch of Sloppy Joes and home-made cookies we headed out.
It was good to be out on the trail again. After a 15 minute trail ride we arrived at a large meadow area with some interesting side trails to explore. Given the small size of this group I approached Amber and asked if she could give me some tips on improving my cornering technique, allowing me to “carve” a corner instead of going around “flat.” She agreed to do so, and for the next half-hour she demonstrated her advanced cornering techniques. While I sort-of got the hang of it, trying to implement these tips on a new and unfamiliar sled proved difficult and I am a long way from being proficient. Still, it was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit.
After the training and playing in the snow for a couple hours we headed back to the staging area. I filled out a survey giving my impressions of the sled I rode, headed back to my truck, and drove home. It had been a very good day. I may have to renew my snowmobile registration for next winter.
Changing the subject, in a previous post I mentioned the “snow line” we often see as we commute to work. This is the point at which snow turns to rain. Here is a photo, taken near De Beque, showing a snow line on the Roan Plateau:
Snow LIne on Roan Plateau
It was raining in De Beque and snowing on the upper portions and top of the Roan. (Photo was taken on my way to work this past Friday.) It happens quite often that the weather conditions at home area quite different than conditions at work due to the 700 – 800 feet change in elevation. We have acclimatized to these changes, they are now normal for us, but these elevation changes are not common to most of our friends and family. This is just one of the differences that characterize living in Colorado from living in the Midwest.
The last of the ice has disappeared from our lawn. Grass is greening up. Today we will take the mulch off the flower beds and rake up some leaves that hit the ground after last fall’s final raking. I guess Spring is really here even though it is still below freezing at night.
Taking mulch out of the front flower bed.( Photo by P. Fields.)
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
While Spring may be “here” in the high desert, it has not arrived in the high country. We’re discussing when we can return food items, cosmetics, water etc. to The Box up at Sanderling without being concerned liquids will freeze in overnight temps when we’re not up there. We can’t move forward on machine rental for the driveway extension until such time as it’s feasible for us to RV overnight. Maybe late April is a target date this year?
Happy Trails.
I did look up spec’s & reviews for the crossover snowmobile you rode — snowmobiles certainly have changed over the years.
It’s roughly $13K cost seems to be mostly in the engine, and maybe chassis. It appears to have the “feel” of a moderately large “dirt bike”, built for cross-country/woods riding more than trails.
I’ll bet it was a fun ride! More than enough “horses” to take you through just about anything, at probably too high a speed, though it does have a moderately wide footprint for stability.
Difficult to tell the “balance” — I’d wonder if there wasn’t some wallow in deep snow & going through deep drifts…
Not much snow in the forecast for Como, with temperatures in the upper 30’s. I’d imagine closer to freezing at higher elevations.
Shouldn’t be too long until Sanderling’s clear of snow, unless storms come through after the 10 day forecast, but I’d think probably mid-April or later before overnights stay above freezing.
Larry:
The sled was blast to ride. More protection from the small windshield than I would have thought. Skis set at 39 inch spacing, good for turnning and very responsive to rider input. Balance was also very good. I nerver thought I was in a position where I could not control the sled, even with it’s higher hp.
Even though it is built for more cross-countyr the trail manners were very good. I would set the front end a little softer for trail riding (air shocks are standard) but for off-trail it was set up pretty well.
We had planned to go to Sanderling this weekend but the high country has had snow this week and various web cams in the area still indicate there is a lotof snow on the gorund.
Thanks for the note!