Skis & Sleds — Weekend Adventures With Mr. Tippy

I’ve been riding and modifying “Mr. Tippy” lately. That’s the nickname I tend to use for our Yamaha Nytro snowmobile; a high-tech low-pollution 4-stroke machine that works well for ski access, but nonetheless is a bit on the heavy side and difficult to control. Seems we need to ride Mr. Tippy more, and modify him more. So this weekend we did a couple of backcountry skiing trips with sled access. Not long sessions of riding, but enough to get a feel for the changes I’ve been making. More about the sled later in this post, first a few photos of the skiing.

Lisa on West Pearl Mountain, Castle Peak to right, Elk Mountains, central Colorado.

Jordan White, same place.

As for the sled. Day one, Lisa and I did about 14 miles on the Nytro (round trip), accessing a fairly remote area in the western Elk Mountains that would normally require an overnight. Day two, we headed up to the heart of the Elks, sledding the flat approach to Pearl Basin then parking the Nytro and skinning Pearl Mountain. Despite a windy few days, we found enough boot-top powder to keep us happy. The snowmobile trails were well based so I couldn’t do any deep powder riding, but I found enough soft stuff to start testing things.

Our Nytro is getting better as we make more suspension mods and learn how to ride it. Here Lisa gives it a shot.

Challenge with the Nytro comes down to it being designed (as most mountain sleds now are) for an aggressive rider who can throw the thing around. Probably a guy who weighs more than me, and has more arm strength and WAY better technique. At slower speeds, for example breaking trail through deep powder on a narrow road in dense timber, you don’t always have the room to maneuver that way. Instead, you need stability, not extreme response to every body weight shift. In other words, given such conditions you don’t need a sled that feels like you’re kneeling on a bowling ball, but rather one that tends to track straight even when one ski submarines or the trail suddenly tilts, in the dark, with five feet of room to either side of your line.

Basic mods, shortening the limiter straps (left arrow) gives you less of that 'riding the bowling ball' feeling, while softening the rear/front suspension allows it to ride slightly lower and easier when driven by a smaller framed guy such as myself, or gal such as Lisa.

So why didn’t we get something other than a tweaky mountain sled? Simple, everyone’s advice was to indeed get this type of rig, as mountain sleds are generally lighter weight and simply more versatile than an even bigger “trail” or “work” snowmobile. They also told me a mountain sled would take some getting used to, and we’d need to at least adjust the suspension, install a bar riser for more side-to-side leverage and better ergonomics while riding in the standing position.

Fly Racing handlebar riser installed. This rig also has a pivot to adjust for/aft position of the bars, essential for fine tuning your ergonomics. I love this mod. Riding in the standing position this weekend was much more relaxing, and I could feel the powerful side leverage when I needed it.

Fine, and noticeable improvements, except the Nytro has one quirk that’s tough to deal with. If you’re moving slow on even a moderate sidehill, and turn downhill in a certain way, the sled will quickly tip over on it’s side, or even do a 1/2 roll. Sure, with room to maneuver and some speed, modern sled technique includes moves equal to ski technique, such as sidehilling using counter steering (see vid). But I’m talking situations with little room to move, basically creeping around.

Nytro rolled over on terrain this flat, despite my best efforts at preventing the roll. Righting the sled took two men -- I couldn't have done it by myself without rigging a rope system or digging a large pit to undermine the highside.

Sometimes the Mr. Tippy roll happens in comedic slow motion, with me hanging off the high side like some guy on a competition sail boat — with absolutely no effect. Other times the event occurs dangerously fast. And once you’re over, you’ve got more than 400 lbs of dead weight you’re trying to rectify. Adding insult, there will always be a snowshoer or x-c skier who’ll come by just about the time you’re standing there scratching your head trying to engineer a way to roll the thing back up.

The mods I’ve done on our Yamaha Nytro (’08) have definitely helped with the rolling problem, especially shortening the limiting straps and widening the ski stance. (Note, widening the stance has the disadvantage of making it tougher to tip back up after a roll, and also makes it difficult to sidehill by counter steering and tipping up on one ski.) But I’d still like more stability at slow speeds. To that end, I’m told that wider aftermarket skis with more “keel” and the option to change mounting position for/aft will also help with stability. That mod is on the list, but it’s pricey and might have to wait till next year. At the least, I’ll wait till we wear out our present set of ski carbides running on this spring’s asphalt patches during runs such as Maroon Creek. Looking forward to that. Nothing like shooting up to the Maroon Bells or Pyramid Peak for some world-class spring ski mountaineering (so long as I can keep my speed up and counter steer on the sidehills — just kidding, we park at the end of the road and it’s human power from there!)

Jordan White at the Pine Creek Cookhouse, he recently got a sled so fun to get out with another snowmobile instead of going solo. We stopped in for a beer, which is worth the price because of the Star Peak view, as well as prolific backcountry skier Sean Shean's presence to inform you of the amazing skiing that he and other locals have opened up in this area (including a ton of routes on that interesting peak visible through the window.)