Snowmobile

When it's so cold the van won't start, the snowmachine never fails. For me it is the sunny days that call out to me to go for a ride. And yes, those are the colder days. But having lived and worked in the Arctic over so many years, I am well prepared to survive the deep cold. Boots are rated to -100 deg Celsius. Imagine that it is - 52 degrees. Then let's add some wind chill factor. We could get to -64, for example. Okay, now climb aboard a snowmobile and go fast into the wind - you then increase the wind chill factor by a fair bit. I won't even venture a guess. But you see where I'm going with this. Be prepared and know what you are getting into. heated visor, heated hand grips.....

Riding in the winter is just so much fun. You can get to places that in the summer are so wet or bug infested that you can't get close. Large hills become much more approachable and long distances can be covered in a short period of time. Be careful to not go in further than what you can reasonably walk out from the same day. I can tell you many sad stories about prospectors who failed to keep that in mind.

For now I am getting used to this machine, A Panther 570, a good stable touring machine. My own machine was a racing thing and after riding it all last winter I sold it in April. So while I get the feel of this bigger, heavier beast, I am doing shorter runs after work. Darkness comes too quickly, but I am home before that. I always take my SPOT tracker and have a team of people monitoring my whereabouts.

Soon enough I'll be ready for some long day trips with this sled. I have a neighbour who goes out quite a bit, but it sounds like more in late winter and spring. I've been invited to join their group, so I will definitely check it out. I'm not an ice fishing person, but can find other things to do while they stand around. (What's that old joke?... A jerk at one end of the line standing around waiting for a jerk at the other end!!)

Okay. Time to finish cleaning the house so more riding can happen. Cheers.