News about backcountry skiing access and fitness, the necessary stuff for ski touring.

2010 Snowmobile registration arrived in the mail with a flyer describing new snowmobile sound laws.

Your “high performance” versions of snowmobiles don’t have much in the way of utility for backcountry skiing. Cargo/ski racks, tow hitches, stuff like that; too much weight. Our Yamaha Nytro 4-stroke needed a tow hitch. It also needed a rear…

How trashed do you allow your land to get? Ask that to the USFS and private land owners up above Crested Butte, on the Kebler Pass road. We drove over there last weekend, and I was appalled at the snowmobile graveyard we drove through a few miles above the ‘Butte. We saw abandoned sleds in the creek, in the bushes, over by the forest — everywhere. It looked like the mountain version of an ATV war zone.

Snowmobiles are used for ski touring and backcountry skiing in North America, but many issues come from that.

Sorry this took so long to post today, spent the morning mounting some Dynafit FT12s for Chris Davenport — when that world traveler finally shows up at the workshop you’ve got to jump on it! More about Dav’s Reader’s Ride…