Snow-X in April.....what a great way to end the season!

HorseShoe Resort is a big ski hill that becomes a great snow-x track with uphill, downhill, mogul and table top challenges.
Lots of snow, new mod sleds and old vintage on the same venue, what a great day!
Go vintage sleds go!

Vintage racing takes place in the background while the Lee Memorial Trophy awaits it's first victor's name.That's a lot of vintage muscle on the start line!

Jim Scott sure knows how to put his SRX through it's paces and he earned that checkered flag lap.
Tim, Barbara and Jesse Lee present the "Lee Memorial Cup" to Jim Scott who won the vintage liquid open class. It is in memory of Bud and Danny Lee of Barrie who raced for several decades.
Tim Lee answers questions about his brother Danny and his dad Bud who generated many exciting moments on the snow and ice race tracks.

Dave Coultis put together this fine 50th anniversary vintage Ski-Doo display with help from the Antique and Classic Snowmobile Club of Canada.
Four time Canadian Champion 4C Ric Wilson can still show the young pro's how to fly.
Ric's son Devin Wilson can also fly!

Ric and Devin "relaxing" on a sled.

Lots of fans showed up for the races.
The 4-stroke Yamaha racers really fly on this big track.

Iain Hayden ends the season with a win in the Pro-Open event. Yep, he's happy!
The next snow-x race? Dec 2009 in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario. See you then.

More SnowShoot moments

These test riders are Mike Shean from Gamma Sales, Mike Van Muyen (former cross-country racer) and Gord Avann (former ice oval and snow-cross racer).
If you zoom in on Gord's notepad you'll see what he is writing; "Phil Molto is the best sled rider I have ever had the pleasure of riding with. I am sure glad I never had to race against him!"

Being Canadians, we will always stop to help a stranger push a car out of a snowbank or dig their sled out of a tree.
Marty asking mountain guru Chris, "You're going to go where?!?!"

Just taking a break......
In the van, look who has to ride in the back seat........and no movies to watch!

SnowShoot "2010"

SnowShoot "2010", in the powder of the Rocky Mountains......
Ah the mountains, what an amazing place to try out the 2010 line of sleds.
The OEMs and the snowmobile media get together each year to review the new sleds for the upcoming year. There were tech classes for one day, and then we had four days of intense riding and evaluation on the 2010 sleds.
The road from Denver into the distant mountains......and snow...
Tech day, where we spend class time with each OEM, and here we are learning about the RUSH.
The OEM's put out a impressive line of rides, what a stable to choose from!We pick similar sleds when we ride each session, so we are comparing "apples to apples" when we switch sleds between riders. After picking up our first group of sleds, it's off to the mountians......
Fresh powder.......We ride them all, event the utility sleds. Yes, they are a lot of fun in the wilderness. Over four days of riding we ride them all in different terrain and weather conditions. The next shots are an overview of sleds and locations where the SGC and STV crew is working in the wind at 12,000 feet.
Snow moves in fast in the mountains.That's Martin Convery from STV and Bob Island from SGC. What a week of hard work. I will be adding more pic's to the blog later this week, stay tuned!

Eganville's Bonnechere Cup.

The small town of Eganville has a population of about 1200, but that grows to 5,000 on race weekend. If you want a room you need to go to a nearby town, and park amongst the many touring sledders that overnight enroute to other areas.

Friday it was +10 and raining but by Saturday morning it was -24 and everything was frozen solid. It was "go time"!

The view from the tower is great, and this is where race director Marcel keeps a watchful eye on the action.
After thirty years of watching from the stands, it was my turn to put on my old Ski-Doo leathers and hit the ice oval in vintage single cylinder racing. What a blast!

The view from the top of the hill is great, and the local trail runs right through the grounds.

Yes, those are ATVs with studded tires racing on the track. It was very popular with the crowd.

Here is a familiar name and number. The number 74 and the name Wahl are a succesful combination here at Eganville, and the Wahls have raced here for several decades.

1st Live on Skis Vintage Snowmobile Rally

Shawn Horner and his wife were host to the 1st Annual Live on Skis Vintage Snowmobile Ride on Saturday, Feb.28th The ride was held in Alliston,Ontario and though the snow was mostly absent the cold temps and some quick thinking by Shawn provided everyone with enough snow to ride their vintage iron. I counted 50 sleds in all with a good selection from the Big 4 as well as a number of brands that were popular in the 70's and 60's.




Andy Stubbert from Kingston, Ontario travelled a long way with his dad to show off his 78 Arctic Cat Eltigre 6000. This sled was in mint condition and its been a long time since I have seen one on the snow. Andy did the complete restoration himself. Thanks for making the trip Andy!



Here is a rare site! In 1972 Polaris built only two models of the TX. On the left is a TX 500 Ltd. The first production built three cylinder sled that was not a race sled, and the 72, 335 ATX. The ATX was a limited build 340 Stock racer.




This is 1969 Marshall Wells Snowmobile. They were built by Polaris Industries, Beausejour, Manitoba. Back in the mid to late 60's everyone wanted in on the snowmobile business. Polaris repainted the Colt model sleds and sold them to Eaton's under the "Viking" name, Marshall Wells Hardware Stores, and others. This is a very rare sled.


Jeff Brown brought a 63 Ski-doo Olympique. I took it for a ride and you cannot believe how far snowmobiling has come in 40 plus years. The only similarity is two skis and an endless rubber track and a Rotax Engine.



This is a 1975 Columbia. You could order this sled with your choice of suspension, hood color and other options. This sled sat in a the warehouse of Home Hardware for 20 plus years before it was discovered still in the crate.

Riding the Almaguin Trails

This past weekend I was back getting some saddle time on the 800 Dragon Switchback and F5 LXR Cat.

The trails were perfect and there was lots of fresh snow.

With just over 1000 miles now logged on the 800 Dragon, it was time to see what this baby would do on Lake Bernard outside of Sundridge.  Our test sled is bone stock and not studded.

Top speed observed was 96 mph on the lake@ 8100 rpm.   The sled delivered a solid 10 mpg on our 200 mile run. This is comparable to the 800 Crossfire we also have in our test fleet.

There is lots of places to explore on this trail system and including the ice caves and ice falls on the trails between Keaney and Huntsville. This photo was taken on the way to Sundridge.

The F5 is a ladies best friend on the trails this winter. The light wgt. plenty of wind protection and good fuel mileage has put the F5 at the top of the list of the Snowgoer fleet this winter with Carol.

Family Day Weekend.

Our family and another family spent the weekend near Dwight and Dorset Ontario. Even after a mild spell the lakes and trails were in super shape! I'll stop typing and let the pictures speak.