I think it was Bluebear who had mentioned getting an HCS west trip together this year. Is that going to happen or is anyone even interested? NTBAB but, I think there should be certain groups or requirements. for example.. no kids only 18+ ... one thing is we won't bring anyone out west with out a 144" or better. If there were enough people we could group with the long track/more experienced riders and maybe a group of shorties with a guide or someone who knows the area??? Please throw out any ideas!

Hey, how about a 141"? LOL

I think we can make an exception for you! Your sled is light enough that I don't mind helping to dig yo azz out!

Dam need to get the my Sno Pro chasis with a 700 in it long tracked. Was thinking bout waiting till next year. Guess I'm not worthy enough yet.

Git er done and come riding!

I would be up for it.

Neal

I like the idea but don't think you'll need the age or sled requirements. Maybe make it 16+ and if you have a short track then you bring beer and a shovel. If there is enough interest for the get together then you can have a couple riding groups depending on experience and what type of riding they want to do.

Avalanche safety is always a big thing so if we go anywhere thats somewhat steep I'd definately reccomend avalanche gear, there will be an avy class at the Minneapolis snow show in November so maybe a get together there too?

I think location wise West Yellowstone is the easiest place to get a bunch of people together and a big enough town and riding area to suit everyone's needs.

If no formal get together happens I'm always looking for new people to ride with and willing to show people around the places I know (and follow them to places I don't!).

Chris.

Depending on the dates I would be up for a trip out there. I am kinda limited because i am a teacher, but would do my best to work things out. I would also be up for a meeting at the Minneapolis snow show. It would be a good way to get the ball rolling for a group trip.

I'd be in. But like Bluebear said we need to make sure everybody has the righ gear. Not to much fun if you get barried and no one has a becon to find you and a shovel to dig you out. That woudl be my only rule. Ive seen some shorties beat up on some long tracks. Also the chances of hitting snow where you need a long track would dose not happen that often. Have yet to go on a trip like that but I hope it happens.

Got any trips planned Chris? I'd like to get out and film another HD movie down by Keg.

Neal

How many trips you planning for this year??? I think you got that money tree to take root and you just ain't gonna share! LOL

Can we just take off from Christmas to Easter (with all of our bills paid and a Nanny type sitter in place of course!), and go ride, can we please, huh??

I agree tho about some standards, depending on what sort of trip you expect it to be I guess....shorties would have a hard time going and doing what we usually do, so if you intend on that similar kind of riding, some group division might be needed...also your experience and skill level areas.

OMG I can't wait for snow...I gotta quit reading these forums.......

F**K no I haven't got the piece of dog crap to grow.. I think that little chineese guy that I bought the seeds from took me for a ride. They are talking alot about needing me more at work for the next couple months, if I can actually SAVE the $ then I'd like to make 3 trips west, one each month. We'll see if that happens....

Such love...



Get a few dates, set some requirements and figure out an estimated cost.... they will come. Would everyone car pool? How about arrangements out west once we get there? My V8 SUV sucks for towing so hopefully some diesel guys would volunteer to use their trucks (everyone splitting the cost of course).

LOL....I would Love the 3 trips west too this year...make up for last year with my bum foot......but after the $$$ part its the off work and kid-sitter thing......gonna try for more UP trips too...weekend trips.....deal with the crowds I guess till we find some powder to practice in.

Cooke should be fairly cheap if we get the rigs and rooms coordinated to share the expenses...always helps...then I will have $$ for Margaritas and Red-headed sluts...or those yummy Bomb Pops...oooo, me likey those........

So fun trips that are not crazy spendy...thats what we need.....and some damn SNOW!!!

Get someone with a tractor trailer to pull all the sleds...

We (the Mr and I) have a Sled Deck we just got mid year last season. We had an enclosed trailer we could get 6 long tracked sleds into (144's)...but we sold the trailer...and our 2 sleds will be even longer this year, so the other set up wouldn't have worked the same anyways. We can all get our crap out there individually...its that $3 + per gallon that is the budget killer!!!

Good suggestion for big group trips tho...we have looked into it in the past......never sucessfully tho...people back out or wouldn't commit so far in advance so we always ended up doing otherwise.......

Saw a rig unload at Togwottee once from a local MN tours place (Nelsons I believe?)....pretty cool how they got sooooo many sleds into the trailer.....windshields off and taped to the seats (in black garb bags mostly)...and they were 3 high in the trailer......big ramp and they just kept sending them down...one after another....tons of them! we were glad we were leaving the next morning!!!! Had to be 50 or 60 sleds they unloaded.......crazy!!! Low snow that trip too..they needed a good dumping and it wasn't in the forecast...then all those sleds....UGH...most were likely trail people tho....still alot of bodies!

I'd be interested and usually am with Bluebear and w8ing4snow anyway as long as I can get some trips in between working on our house this winter. I agree avalanche safety needs to be a must and I don't care how short your sled is as long as you do your part when you get stuck and know your limitations. Just no triples or 4strokes that aren't boosted they are a bugger to dig out.

Yea, and the ones that are boosetd you can't go where they do and shouldn't have more than one person on those hills anyway!

Lady... When are we supposed to be going to Colorado???

Very true twilight.

Not for sure of the dates...Mr Summit needs to get those to me...gotta look at the kids school deal and all and set up the kid sitter (we are set for New Years)...but we talked about the end of February...usually the week after Presidents day is when we would go...but the kid doesn't HAVE to be in school all the days we are gone now, so?????

But thereabouts......Will let ya know when I know.......

Someone throw some dates out there, I actually have a (semi)-real job this winter so I'll need more than a 14 hour heads up to get time off of work.

I've got no problems driving and have access to a 3 or 4 place enclosed (so would probably have room for one more assuming that Casey and Bart and riding with me). Oh, and if someone wants to ride with me they should know ahead of time that ocationally I decide to drive down the icey interstate backwards!

Yeah its quite the ride. But the Chevy oh shit handles work well.

Its easier to check the trailerwhen you can just look straight out the side window and see the trailer tires as its passing you.

UMMM YEa... If you end up driving I will HAVE to be drunk the entire ride LOL... only way I could handle it...
How about the First wek in Feb for a trip?? Leave on Wed. Jan 30th come home Sun. Feb. 3rd??? Since You guys seem to know WYS, would that be a good/cheap place to go? And how long of a drive is that from Minneapolis (just for a central location). Just throwing out ideas.

hey now whats with the age thing?? jeez!!! haha j/k just because i can't drink doesn't mean i cant ride.........

we're going out to west yellowstone right after x-mas this year......bb will be gone tho??

it'll be kind of nice this year having an M7 after 3-4 years of riding short tracks out there now too..........i have gotten damn good at it tho.....i think?

Ha, drunk the entire ride.. I bet you wouldn't want to ride after being drunk for that long LOL. Those dates work for me...

It's not a problem that you aren't old enough to drink. I just don't want to be responsible for a minor. I'm sure you are a fantastic rider! I could care less if there were younger people with the group if the rents or someone else responsible were there too.



LOL You don't know me then... Ask Ladysummit... she knows how I can put 'em down, it's my Polish blood! Now, you might have to give me a night to sober up, I don't drink and ride. (Unless you count the 4 blocks or so from the Minors or Soda Butte to where ever we have a room) HA!

That was one fun drunken ride! Only time any of us ever rode under the influence (from the Bar to the cabin room we rented, which the only way to get to it is by sled....too far to walk, driving is not even an option.)....and remember Twilight, the trail was so rutted cuz the groomer hadn't been thru yet, and I had to ride bitch with the Mr cuz he was renting (his sled died at the parking lot?) and he was trying to buck me off???? OMG...We all laughed so damn hard.....that was one weird fun little trip....I fondly remember it as the New Years Slumber party trip....all 5 of us squished into that tiny cabin...clothes hanging all over everywhere...the trail ride in and out of town....we spent more time in the truck than we did on the sleds...but man, we had fun....and SOOO much SNOW!!!!!

That Polish blood makes for some drunken adventures!!! But no drinking and driving.......she makes a good drunk passenger tho!

Yea, tried hard to buck you off, good thing he didn't succeed, I would heve just thought you were another bump in the road HEHE and remember Chris thought he would bring the leftover pizza back to the cabin... by sitting on the box. LOL

Oh, tho poor Pizza...LOL...we laughed our stupid drunk asses off over the dumb pizza...then threw it out!
Yes, good thing I stayed on...or one of you fools woulda ran me over....or the MR woulda got back to the shack and said "Hey, where'd she go???"


PS...Did ya see us on Snowest??? LOL and Jimmy boy getting handled by that guy Roger we knew from the bar...big, bouncer guy, Roger???? LMAO!!!!!!!!

Here the pic from snow west...us with Anthony Oberti from TeamSummit...the California guy......
Click to view attachment

Well, sounds like its a trip. Just need to get the money next week and then buy this 151 kit for my sno pro and see if I can get some time off work to go out there with you guys. I know of one trip to the Black Hills we have lined up renting a new cabin out there. Then another one out in wyoming or west yellowstone yet. Who knows.

From Fargo to West Yellowstone its almost exactly a 12 hour drive so for Minneapolis add 3.5 hours (assuming normal traffic).

I like West Yellowstone because its easy. Lots of hotels, lots of places to eat, lots of area to ride with different riding avaliable.

If you're looking for a full service hotel I'd suggest the Kelly Inn. If you're looking for a good local place to stay check the Goldenwest motel.

Shall we start a list of people who can go?

We need to figure out $$. I wonder if the hotel would give a group discount if there were enough of us.
Pencil us in for now, just gotta come up with some more money. Is it a small town? Which place is decent to stay at but also reasonably priced?

West Yellowstone is a blast. Good night life and the snowmobiling is good also. When we go there we usually rent a house/cabin in Island Park, ID which is just down the road and across the state line. Money is a key thing here. Putting tons into my sled this year so going to be tight.

Its probably one of the cheapest towns to stay in for sledding. I think the one room we had at the Kelly a few years ago that was huge was like 55 or 65 a night.

Only advise I CAN give you DO NOT FOR ANY REASONS rent a sled from 3Bears Lodge in west yellowstone, only if you don't like your money. Good luck guys on your tip as I will be taking 1 for 9 days over christmas (to togowotee) and 1 first week of feb to island park for 10 days(just 40miles north of west yellowstone ) oh yeah and probably 1 to cooke city mt in late march.


P.S. Bring shovels if go off trail, west yellostone and Island Park have over 600miles of daily groomed trail and tons of powder riding.

so what are the dates then??

man i am so jealous, i am not goin to beable to make out west this year.

Twilight, why is it always a size thing for some people? I mean, Im nicely equipped with a 144 which puts me slightly above average. And my buddy is sporting a rather large 151. Correct me if Im wrong, and I know its really a personal preference thing, but cant a shorter track with a larger paddle be just as effective as a longer track and shorter paddle?

In all seriousness though; Do you folks do these rides out west often? Me and a couple of my buddys have been talking about a west side trip.

A 144 is good length. Drove one for a couple years before I bought the M. Not alot of diffence really. But i guess i go out 2-3 times a year and its nice to have a longer track so you can play more but not always needed unless you get there right after a storm.

Longer track will give you more floatation to stay on top of the snow....the footprint you put down makes a big difference....like a 144 inch 16 wide track (mathmatically speaking) will have more sq inches of a foot print to disperse the weight of the sled and rider/gear......your paddles won't play into this math....it all comes into play somewhere tho.

We just tend to have a minimum 144 rule for our group...or we seem to end up having issues all day with the shorties not being able to go where the rest of us can.....and our group has "upgraded" considerably this year...Twilight and her hubby just got M7's with 153 and 162's...and myself and my hubby got 154 and 163's respectively (Our hubbys are brothers...we ride together often ). Not sure if any HCS west trips have been done before....but Personally, we do a few "out west" trips every year and have for many years. We live in MN and my hubby and I almost never ride here. Twilight and her hubby do alot more tho...or have in the past anyways.....with the new rides...I guess time and snowfall totals will tell!

I am headed to Cooke City in less than a month... I'll report back how my 141" did after I get back.

I never did well with physics or algebra in school, but I get the gist
My 144 works well in the northeast. Hopefully it will do ok out west. My wife is on a short track and she's somewhat limited on the terrain, even here, so I can imagine what the powder would be like.

Snow conditions make a huge difference out west and vary widely through out the year. By the beginning of March a 121X1.5 or 2.0 will go anywhere as the snow is pretty setup. Western snow has a tendency to be fluffier especially earlier in the winter which is when the longer tracks help out. The rider makes an even bigger difference then snow conditions. I've seen some crazy stuff the few times I've ridden with locals that ride more in a winter then most of us get to in a lifetime. The biggest thing a long track gains you is you don't need the track speed making picking through the trees a lot safer then high speed boon docking with a short track.

I always love to tell the story of my brothers first trip west he was with some really experienced guys 15+ yrs experience they told him to bring his 128 1.375 F7 to Cooke City in Dec. Get out there and its been snowing a 1ft every 6hrs for the last several days and continues to the rest of there trip. So anyway not the best sled for a beginner in those conditions but he rides it as no rentals available most of the group is really nice to him but one guy with about 4yrs experience on a new KK modded to the hilt that kept telling him he should haven't brought the sled. Anyway the most experienced guy of the group decided to shut him takes the F7 and completely beats the KK that was the last comment the guy made. Yes a bigger sled would have been nicer on that trip, no those conditions aren't common to run into, yes any sled is capable with the right rider. In the last 4yrs out west with probably 30 days of riding I've never ran into a condition any were near his trip.

I agree I got an RMK, w/136" track. In 1998 that was all there was and people took them everywhere out there. I would be up for a trip out west with others from HCS, but I'm not gonna extend my track because its not a 144 just to go. Last year we were out in Island Park over Christmas break, and the only place i couldn't go as far as the 144s and 155s was when it came to high marking. Every where else I went with ease.

Don't get me wrong.....I know shorter tracks can and do great...for many years 121's were all there was! And I don't think anyone should be modifying their sled just to accommodate a certain trip...I am definitely not advocating that! All I meant was for our small group we ride with on a regular basis..we tend to have a 136 or 144 rule..depending on rider experience, any mods/motor size, blah blah blah.

I have ridden in some cruddy, HERO snow where we could go everywhere and anywhere on 144's...all set up with little fresh & fluffy to be found. But I have also been on many many phenomenal trips with several feet of fresh and fluffy.

Personally I love being able to stop while going uphill without getting stuck! LOL....between the longer track (weight disbursement...which hopefully will be more pronounced this year on my 154 vs my 144 I have had the last 4 years) and the fact that I am a woman...AND have lost weight....I have that advantage over the guys we ride with!
Both Twilight and I should do well in the floatation dept this year because of these things!!!!

OMG I can't wait for snow!

Hope I quality. Put another new track on the M6 this year! Hopefully me and the little 6 will be able to keep up with all the new iron out there like the long M7's and new XP's from the Moticello crew!

Signed out of work for Jan. 30-Feb. 4th so count me in, now I just need to either find 2 more to ride with me or fine a ride that has an open spot, let me know if you have either.

Chris.

Come help me shingle my house and then I can go bluebear. Well that is if we ever get this corn in the bin.