1/17 adventure

[uffdapete]

We were on Dogfly yesterday and found lots of slush pockets including one that was 75 yards long and nearly did us in. Seriously only by the grace of God did we get the 2 up Summit 583 out of it. My advice is travel light, follow existing trails, maintain speed and have enough power to get through it. I did see a couple others out there - one a wheeler with tracks and he didn't seem to have any problems. I'm not one to take a lot of risks or go unprepared but yesterday violated both of those!

I was not hopeful at all about getting the sled out and was ready to concede leaving it there, getting frozen in and walking back to the truck. We nearly made it through but got stuck about 15-20 yds from better conditions. It stopped, we got off and were immediately standing in 6" of water with slush under the snow in every direction. We lifted and moved the sled on top of new snow and somehow walked it out.

[NoWiser]

Were you towing anything with the snowmobile? We hit tons of slush a couple weekends ago on Pipesone. I'd say 60% of the lake was slush. One spot was 3-400 yards long, at least. As long as we weren't pulling anything, it didn't really slow us down. We learned our first year in Canada that its not a good idea be bringing a portable. Travel light and fish outside and it will save you a lot of headaches.

How was the fishing on Dogfly? Pipestone was pretty slow for us, which was strange for January. Did you stay at Superbee's cabin? Thats a great place to base a trout fishing trip out of.

[Outfitter17]

NoWiser,

From what I read, it looks like they were riding 2up on the machine. There was alot of (we) got off and (we) lifted the machine out. The extra weight if there was 2 people on the machine certainly wouldn't have helped.

As you mentioned, it is always better to go light especially when you know slush is around.

[uffdapete]

We were towing a sled and it was too heavy and lacked sufficient clearance. There were a few lessons learned the hard way on Monday. We were pretty much okay riding 2 up although 1 up would have been better yet, but the sled is what really got us in trouble. All in all the problems can be attributed to operator error and shortsightedness.

[Fish&Fowl]

Wes,

Thanks for the report, glad to hear you guys were able to get out! I have a feeling it's gonna be one of those winters where we'll be dealing with slush on every lake for most of the season.

We're pretty much to the point where we refuse to tow anything when we trout fish, everything gets covered with snow/slush and bounces around too much.

[NoWiser]

The good thing about a trip like that is the more miserable it was, the more fun it is to joke about years down the road! Good luck.

[Eastwind]

Matt,

Would you agree that the exteme cold that we have been having this week will help freeze up some of the slush? It should at least "Heal up" the spots that others have opened up earlier.

A group of us are going up to WFB next weekend and I'm really hoping the slush has abated. We all run studs on our sleds so this should also help.

[superbee]

It will freeze up where others have drove, but it will still be slush off the trail. There is too much snow for this little bit of cold to heal it up good. This is pretty much the tone for the rest of the winter. It is just one of those years. You have to travel light without sleighs and be smart about travel or else you will end up being stuck and fighting the slush. Yesterday my Dad was walking on teh lake and fell threw. He walked across an air hole that was covered from drifting snow. Be careful out there.

[Outfitter17]

Eastwind,

As superbee mentioned, we are probably stuck with the slush we now have. We have to much snow even for -30 temps to really penitrate through. Try to stay on the trails and fish where others have fished if you want to try to stay out of the slush.

Studs will really help if you do get into some slush, once you spin down through the snow and water down to the ice, the studs will dig in and you should be able to drive right out.

With conditions like this you always need to travel in pairs and stay a good distance apart, if you do get stuck you don't want your buddy stuck right behind you. Play it safe and you should be fine.

Good luck on the trip.

[Eastwind]

Thanks for the knowledge Superbee and Outfitter 17,

On this annual late January trip, we have always had groups from five to eight people. We will split in to two groups, on occasion, but stay in sight of each other. We carry two hand held radios to stay in communication. We always travel via the trail and have tow straps along. Gets bumpy on the frozen slush spots but that beats getting stuck.

[The_Seasock]

The good thing about a trip like that is the more miserable it was, the more fun it is to joke about years down the road! Good luck.

I know a couple guys who had a real miserable trip quite a few years ago. So miserable that frostbite cost one guy all of his toes on one foot and two fingers on one hand. I can't remember one time since that they had fun joking about it.

[superbee]

It goes to show you shouldn't mess around in conditions that are not favorable. Especially if you are not used to the area or those types of conditions. Alot of the problems cn be avoided, but some people just don't know any better. Towing heavy sleighs in slush is one of them.

How did your friends manage to get in that much trouble to loose apendages? You definately have my curiousity.