MN Mike

[Central Bassman]

Are you heading out west this winter?? Cooke City and Big Horn mountains here i come!!!

[MN Mike]

When are you headed out?

We had plans to leave the day after Christmas but those plans fell apart for me last week.

Right now, January 20th we are headed to the Big Horns if they have enough snow, if that doesn't work, Cooke City is plan B.

Plans again in Mid - Late March to go somewhere, the ' rookie ' we had with last year bought a new 2010 M8 HCR, he wants to go 4 times, he's all pumped for Mtn riding this year. He also started a ' who's going to be the best ' war in our group and one of the guys DOES NOT come in 2nd, no matter what the cost! This should be interesting !!!

I am REALLY watching the snow in Northern Colorado this year, hoping that we might be able to squeeze in a trip to Buffalo Pass and that area if possible maybe sometime in Feb, can't remember if I put this video up before but someone shot some VERY nice video from

that should put a smile on anyones face!

Cooke City has been getting dumped on in fine fashion lately too from the looks of some of the pics on snowests site.

Mike

[311Hemi]

I just got the word Thanksgiving weekend that I will be able to make the trip out with the father in law again, at least one of them. Only stipulation from the wife is that the basement needs to be done by then(I better get moving!!!). We will be heading to Colorado this year in the middle of Jan ....I forgot where he said exactly but it may have been Buffalo pass. Can't wait to get back out....but this may be my last trip for a few years since we have a little one due in March. Need to enjoy it while I can!

I will be riding his M7 (05' I believe) again, which he is in the process of updating the rear suspension and rear end to the newer style. Sold my sled.....so that will be my only riding for this winter.

[MN Mike]

Congrats on the pending new arrival Hemi, hope all goes well. One of the guys in our group just finished his basement too, so there went his ' fun money ' he spent more on his entertainment system than he has on the last 2 sleds he's bought but he's getting married next spring so you gotta do what you gotta do.

Make sure you thow us some pictures when you get back, if they have lots of snow, I'll be green with envy!

Mike

[Central Bassman]

Cooke will be in late January and the Big Horns isn's for sure yet. We might be going to Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado.

Cooke has been getting dumped on!! Looked at the web came today at work and it was snowing again. Either way i want to get out west twice this year to see how the new Assault works!!!

[MN Mike]

That Assault should be a nice ride, congrats!

One thing when you go to Cooke in late Jan / early Feb, bring a hair dryer, if you get caught in a cold snap you could see 30 below plus up there. Take the hair dryer, put some hot air on your engine for about 10 - 15 minutes and she will start like a dream compared to pulling on a 30 below engine, maybe even take a jacket or tarp and throw under the hood and over the top of the engine to insulate it for a bit, it doesn't take long.

If there's enough snow, you should be able to ride from Rabbit Ears to Buffalo Pass, there is a staked trail, you'll want to carry spare gas cans in Colorado, Cooke City you won't need to, town is only about a 10 minute ride from anywhere in Cooke.

If you haven't done so already, get signed up for the daily report at mtavalanche, helps keep you on top of the situation out there in Cooke.

[Central Bassman]

I signed up for that last year already... Or maybe two years ago? I cant remember. That assault should be alot of fun... i'm thinking of putting a pump gas turbo on it as well!!

[MN Mike]

Mitch,

If you're headed to Cooke, I don't think I would worry about a turbo yet, just try to keep it out of the trees and enjoy the ride while your sled is still in one piece Gravity is a little bigger factor in Cooke than it is in the Big Horns.

Speaking of the Big Horns...... I've only found one webcam, do you have any other links to some webcams? Where did you guys stay? I looked on Snowests' site but the pics of the Big Horns don't look very impressive right now, sounds like they got a foot in the last few days but they needed it by the looks of it.

It's sounding more and more like we are headed to Cooke that week of the 20th of Jan., do you guys know when you're going yet?

Now we have 2 new HCR's in the group and one guys is just looking for a reason, one fouled plug and we'll probably have a 3rd!

I see about 6 feet on the communications tower at Buffalo Pass in Colorado, GEEZ I'd like to squeak out a trip out there this year!

Mike

[311Hemi]

I just talked to my FIL and we are heading to Grand Lake the week of Jan 17th, not buffalo pass. Checked snowest today and it sounds like Grand Lake the is hurting for snow as of now...so I am hoping that the Jan snow comes as we already have a place rented. Sounds like Rabit Ears could have more snow so we may be trailering that way if need be.

[MN Mike]

Grand Lake looks awesome! Hope you guys get snow for your ride, if you need info on the snow areas, call up Dave at the North Park Inn & Suites in Walden, he gets a lot of riders in there over the winter that hit different areas so if your not doing too good on the snow at Grand Lake, he should know where there might be something better.

Post up some pics if you can, I'd like to hit that area some day, Walden makes a great ' hub ' for getting to many places not too far from town and that would be one of them.

Mike

Mike

[Central Bassman]

Mike,

I was looking at that same picture of Buffalo Pass this morning... Im not 100% sure when we are going. The big horns is nice but it nothing like Cooke.

The bighorns is fun just because there is so much stuff to do there.

It's not just hill climbing or boondocking it a little of everything!!! We have always stayed at Bear Lodge or the Passage. The Passage is the place to be for good food and a good bar. Bear updates the webcam so google them and the Passage seems to be lazy and never do it!!!

You don't worry about me and my turbo!! Just go and buy that HCR already!!!!

[311Hemi]

Any of you guys have any updates on conditions in the Buffalo Pass area, other than snowest info?

Sounds like Grand Lake conditions might not be all the great...and are not good in lower elevations. We may need to trailer to Rabbit Ears/Buffalo pass.....maybe even the snowies depending on what we find at Grand Lake.

Just trying to get the most info I can before leaving this Sunday. Sounds like they may get some snow next week, but have not gotten anything recently.

[Central Bassman]

Riding in Colorado right now... Will be back on monday... Details to come!!!!

[311Hemi]

Centralbass.....turns out I had the wrong weekend for our trip. We did not leave today and are leaving next Sunday....don't ask how I messed that up but I was getting packed and called my father in law and he was like we arn't leaving until next weekend.....anyways.

Please report back when you can. We are debating trying to change our reservations from Grand Lake to somewhere else because of low snow conditions. Possibly Steamboat Lake Outfitters or the Snowies.....maybe Grand Mesa. Looks like some systems are going to be coming through this week.....so hopefully they bring some of that white stuff for next week.

[Central Bassman]

We are in Clark... Snow is good... but they could use some more snow soon!!! Today was by far the best day for us. I dropped into an area that was at least 4 feet of POW!!!! Was insane!!! I busted my camera on day one when i flipped the sled....so pictures will be limited!!

[311Hemi]

CB, you back in town yet?

[Central Bassman]

Yup just got back late last night.... Snow was good... Not a lot of POW but it was fun. South of Steamboat there isn't a lot of snow from what i hear. The big horn in Wyoming doesnt have much snow at all from what people say one snowest.

[311Hemi]

I assume there was plenty of snow for off trail riding in most areas around Steamboat? It sound like they may get 8-14" after this weeks storms are through.

Where did you stay out there? Any suggestions on areas to hit if we head up that way?

[Central Bassman]

I don't know the name's of the area that we were in... This was the first time we went to Colorado. We stayed right in Clark. Almost all of our riding was off the trail!!!

[Esox_Magnum]

Cool riding, I love the Colorado Rockies and would love to ride out there but need different sled and a little more experience first.

[Central Bassman]

Mike did you go out west yet??

[MN Mike]

We left last Wed at 4 a.m. drove straight to the parking lot near Cooke City, arrived at about 6 p.m. Rode sled until late Saturday afternoon and headed for home, made it back to Fargo at 6 a.m. Sunday morning crashed at a buddies place and caught a few zzzz's before running the final stretch.

When we got to riding on Thurs, snow wasn't very good, tracked up, hard and rutted up, we figured we blew it on our timing but the forecast said it was going to snow for sure, Friday we woke up to a few flakes in town but luckily it had snowed more up top, we found about 6 - 8 inches in areas, some had more, some had less BUT it did snow all day Friday on and off and it REALLY started coming down Friday night and all night into Saturday.

Had some good snow in town Saturday morning, made it up top and it was BEAUTIFUL !! must have had a good 18 - 24 inches in areas and even more where the wind loading occurred. Anywhere from knee to hip deep.

SO our trip went from pretty poor in the beginning to absolutely GREAT by the end, just had to keep the faith!

Everybody and all sleds came home in fine fashion, even though we managed to find a few rocks to slip off of. Didn't do much for highmarking, lots of rubble and exposed stumps and logs in some areas plus the avalanche danger was still there.

Funny snow this year, if you broke thru the upper crust everything was really sugary underneath, if you broke thru walking, you went up to your hips quickly.

Got a few pics, you'll notice the snow gets deeper and deeper.

Gotta love those Ghost Riders!

HMMMM,,, Seems to be a theme in these next set of pics......

MAYBE IT'S A LITTLE TOOO MUCH BOOST !

What a screamin' machine, you HAVE to ride a turbo'd sled if you EVER get the chance. Hills we never could climb with our 600cc sleds 10 years ago are absolutely no challenge at all with this sled, you could wheelie up the side and still catch big air at the top, what a RUSH !

[MN Mike]

These next pics are from Saturday when we picked up all that snow Friday into Saturday morning, it snowed fairly good Saturday too, wish we could have stayed longer but we had some VIKING fanatics that said we HAD to be home to watch the game, ruined a perfectly good snowmobiling trip!!!

[MN Mike]

Best timing we have had in a number of years, I don't think we have seen this nice of snow in 5 years or more, we were do!

Hope to make it back out in March IF they get much more snow, I think the Snotel site said only 55" when we got there, I am fairly certain I won't be back if I ever see that low of a number again, just too many obsticles! It will be February or later from now on.

Mike

[MN Mike]

You guys have any pics from Colorado? With that storm that came from there I was really wishin' I would have been somewhere in Colorado rather than Cooke City but we turned out just fine.

The guy with the Ski Doo is from Snowmass Colorado, the way his wife talked, it didn't sound like they got a whole lot of snow there.

LETS SEE SOME PICS!!!

Mike