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March 27, 2006: Rental sleds
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After adding up what 2 weeks of heli/cat skiing cost me, I realized I could have bought, well, lots of things, but the comparison I was thinking was a mountain sled. I haven't been on a sled since way back when I lived where the world was flat. Sledding looks pretty easy, even the mountain stuff I'd seen. We were about to learn just how hard it is. Luckily, I decided to rent before I bought, so my last days on the mountain for the year were spent with Blair at Kootenay Mountain Adventures on their rental sleds.

Located in the tiny village of Ymir, which makes places like Benito look normal, we were sure to pay cash and provide fake names. Insurance? Nah, we won't be needing it.

It was definitely a learning experience. The weather cooperated, snow was good, and the sketchy dude from KMA was nice enough to point us in the direction of a cat ski operation that was closed for the season. In other words, we could trespass on it. This was a huge bonus - someone else had figured out access and even laid down these nice cat roads for us to sled on.

Trail head - after driving in the truck for a few miles, we unloaded here. Blair's ready. Time to hit the trail. Driving a sled on a trail is easy. And boring. I can't imagine people who do nothing but trail ride on their sleds. Top of the trail and entering the Wild Horse cat ski area. You can just see the top of the cat, where they presumably park it for the summer? OK, so riding off trail in powder is a bit harder. Lesson #1 - digging out your sled sucks Playing with my pilot toy. It makes for a really expensive altimeter...that's 6762 feet ASL +/- 5.4meters You'd think I'd have learned after the last crash? Nope. Blair and I were settled in, shuttling each other down this short run. Rather than taking the route back down with the sled that we'd been using, I figured I'd straight line it. Lesson #2: Sleds can't turn very well going down hill, especially not when driven by a novice.Lesson #3: Sleds are heavy. Getting them un-stuck off a tree is way harder than digging them out. After a lot of heavy lifting we managed to upright it. And push it downhill, where it sat here for an hour or two until it unflooded itself and finally started. Lesson #4: Buy a sled with electric start Here's what it looks like when it's not crashed or stuck. Speaking of stuck, lesson #5: Reverse isn't for backing up, it's for getting stuck worse! Just look at all that terrain. The Nelson area is amazing. Some day I will retire here and ride every day. Maybe sooner than you think - Freedom 37 is the current plan Blair and I taking a break. We got about 3 runs in on this face. Some really good snow and trees here. Made up for the headaches of earlier in the day. Lesson 6: Doubling up steep hills takes huge balls, balance, and brawn I think that the peak behind us is the same one you see from Whitewater's parking lot

Here's a couple videos from that face. Really good snow for the time of year. Blair:


Wade:

 

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