Report from Island Park, ID Jan 19-23

[311Hemi]

So....after riding all day Monday-Friday of last week in Island Park, ID I have determined I may need to do some mod work on the 06' 600 Renegade so I have a sled of my own capable of riding out west (or just buy a new sled!!).

This past week I was riding my FIL's 05' M7 and I had a blast using it in the terrain it was meant to be used. This was my first time riding outside of MN, but will definitely not be my last! It's definitely an entirely different game out west...and it took me a good day or two to really get comfortable to the style of riding we were doing and to the M7. I was a little edgy/nervous the first day or two about sending the sled rolling down the hill.

There was plenty of snow out there to have fun and the weather was great....too warm at times (mid 30's all week). A number of times I was soaked from sweating and only had a t-shirt on under my jacket. The snow in the trees was nice, soft, and deep.....as were certain sides of some of the mountains. The snow was set up more out where it was exposed to the sun....but still soft enough to get into trouble! They definitely could use more snow as a lot of open areas near the trails were tracked up and hard, but we were able to find plenty of areas with little to no tracks....it just took some searching. I didn't get to experience the 2-3' of powder I was hoping for....but maybe next time.

I would say roughly 70% of our time was spent riding in the tree's, with the rest of the time climbing and playing in the open areas we found. It took some time getting used to the left hand throttle and only a couple small trees suffered from me grabbing a little to much the first couple times. Only once did we travel down the side of a slope only to find our only way out was to go back up.....that was a tricky climb up with only one half way decent line (not strait), but after bouncing off a few tree's in the turns I had to make I made it on the first attempt. There were a lot more situations were the tree's got thick and we had to turn around in really tight situation on pretty steep slopes with very few lines to take....it made it interesting to say the least. Luckily we did not have any sleds rolling down the hills....and only one mechanical issue all weekend (bent steering rod)! The valley's were fun and climbing the open faces was a rush...especially turning and coming down.

We saw some avalanche areas that had slid in the past few days (see pics below)....and stayed off of those hills. Sadly one person lost their life the weekend we got out there on Mt. Jefferson (where we had seen some recent slide activity). From what we heard from a local was that the guy was at the bottom of the area watching a few others highmark (who set off the slide) and must not have been ready with an escape route in case something did go wrong..

Anyways....here area some of the pics:

[311Hemi]

[311Hemi]

[MN Mike]

Sounds like another flatlander hooked on the Mtn's, looks like you found the same conditions we did in Cooke City this weekend mostly tracked up but a few spots to get stuck and wonder why you did that!

No matter the snow conditions in the Mtns it's ALWAYS fun to be out in that terrain.

Nice pics.....

Mike

[Black_Bay]

Looks like a great time, well except digging out the sleds.

It's wild how the altitude makes easy tasks very hard.

[kdawg]

Awesome pics. How did the landing go? (pic. number 9 from the top).

[Central Bassman]

Great Report and Great Pictures!!! Makes me jealous I'm glad you had a good time, Now you know why i'm always talking about riding out west!!!!!

[311Hemi]

Awesome pics. How did the landing go? (pic. number 9 from the top).

Landings were pretty soft...there was plenty of snow to sink down into.

And yea I certainly understand all the talk about heading out west! Now it's just a matter of when I can make it out again!

Funny thing was were lucky to see another sled Mon-Wed out there.....there was no one around and it seemed like we had the place to ourselves. Thursday we saw a few more people and then Friday it started getting busier.

[lindy rig]

Nice report dude! Looks like a blast!!