Hopefully this march I will be headed to Colorado to Ride sled What are your tips and tricks for riding Mountains.   I have lots of miles on sleds but NO mountain riding.     My sled is a 2006 arctic cat M7 with a remapped ECM about 10 more HP then stock Program. 141 " track 8" wide floatation skies.   I have the little shovel a back pack All the riding gear.  Plush a Fresh top end on my Engine. Will be riding around tin cup and Taylor park and Monarch pass

Help a flat lander out.    

thanks

You might want to post this in the Colorado hometown forum.

I don't know much about sled riding, but I do know a fair amount about Avalanche safety and backcountry travel. I spend a fair number of days backcountry skiing in Utah. On a good year, Colorado has a complicated snow pack. This year is no exception do to the long periods without snow we've experienced. Things are much more stable now, but sleds put a tremendous amount of stress on th snowpack. Be very careful abut what sort of terrain you get on and under.  Sleds are responsible for about half of all backcountry Avalanche fatalities. Choose your terrain carefully, carry full avy gear (beacon, probe, and shovel), and know how to actually use the stuff. Other than that, have fun. The mountains make for an amazing playground.

Fuel injected?  If carb, jets for altitude.  Try not to get in a situation that you will have to drag the sled, because there is no air for exertion.

One knee on back of saddle and hold on.  Where you really want to go is Togowatee pass in Wyoming. About 40 miles south of Jackson/ Yellowstone.

You WILL break something on your sled. Be prepared for that. Don't go out alone. At very least, read up on avalanche safety.

OP, here is what you need, jet and clutch for elevation, it matters.. as for riding, watch powder videos and pay attention, in powder to turn the sled you steer opposite the way you want to go..everything is done by shifting your weight and counter steering.. both feet on 1 side is common when starting out  and when in steep/deep snow... do not ride with a knee on the seat..it is to slow to react to the sled/terrain....standing up is normal for off trail riding... at the bare minimum, read up on any safety and stay away from big open hills.....much better to take a course and rent beacons and practice with them....

I did my Avalanche 1 course there. It truly is a sled riders paradise.

Just remember you have the full support of arfcom to shoot anything that gets in your way for more than 15 seconds.

Fuel Injected clutched and piped No reverse though  I have rode Atv Up there before but no Sleds. I don't see my self doing anything to stupid.

When in doubt   duct tape  the throttle to the bar.........

Oh, don't worry you will spend 90% of your time stuck if you go off the trail, but thats good and how you learn..find a flat open clearing with untouched snow...drive straight across and as you do turn the bars either direction,notice its natural for your body weight to go the outside of the turn, that helps leverage the sled to go the way you want........practice in straight lines, then work toward going around the edge of the clearing following the natural contour..............

Now..if you leave the trail, you are going to get stuck...no biggie..but a few things to help, when you want to stop, make a circle and stop on your own tracks(or others tracks), or stop going down hill....never stop going up hill....... when you get stuck, shut the sled off, get off it, and stomp all the snow down on one  side of the sled(either side on flat ground)....once stomped down, go to the other side of the sled and flip the sled up on its side on the stomped down area...now kick all the snow from in front of the sled back to where the track was, same with all the snow from the unstopped running board side...stomp all the snow down good so when the machine is put back onto its track, it is sitting on all the snow you piled up....before starting..always make sure the throttle and the brake are clear of any snow and ice build up..always...every single time before starting...

I used to do a lot of avy work at my old job and had a few unreleased fatality videos.  Unfortunately I must have left them on my old hard drive...  Just be careful out there is all I can say I guess.  Here's an old YouTube vid just for the hell of it.







ETA:  on second thought...  the slide in this vid is pretty big.  Many of the fatals I worked were relatively small slides that pushed riders into terrain traps like trees or chutes.  Be careful OP.  

Came here expecting this...

half of all mountain riding is getting unstuck

 

buy a flotation bag backpack, we never had this tech when I rode and several friends of mine are gone due to avalanche

Yep, bad news   fresh snow, 2 people on a slope at one time and cutting marks across the slope..all great ways to experience an avalanche.....I have helped recover numerous people over the years..avalanche deaths suck because 99.9% of the time they are avoidable.....

hey, that's about an hour from my casa!
wish i could give you advise on riding but it's not my cup of tea.

be sure to run to salida and eat at moonlight pizza on 3rd and "F" street

Hell ya I will be in Salida have to stop and see Craig at the jeep rental place.  I will be staying at the ranch of the rockies where my Buddy lives.  I hope to hit Cottonwood pass to but if I get to ride everywhere I want i wont have enough time. Sucks having a 4 day drive round trip.

I came here expecting this.....

March, the snow has melted......

When you get stuck, which you will if the snow is good at all...unless you're barely stuck don't shovel yourself out or pull skis around and work yourself to death.  Just roll the sled over.  Works like a dream and you don't hurt anything on the sled or in your body.  

Always stop in an old track or pointing downhill like stated above...especially with a 141".  The throttle is your friend, figuring out good throttle control fixes a lot of problems with riding...don't be afraid to pin it.

The place I go backcountry hiking, I have to wait until mid July due to snow. Foothills here just got 3" yesterday.

Yep, people think that its no big deal, just ride it out. Getting buried is like being covered in instant set concrete, you cannot move, you cannot breath. Most people who die in avalanches are killed by trauma, not suffocation. Imagine what it would be like going through all those trees with all of that force on you.

I consider myself a pretty damn good rider But never have been in the powder like mountain riding gives you.  I hope to keep the sled in one piece and if not hope it gets totaled out for ins reasons  I just hope to learn and have fun this trip.  When in doubt throttle it out.