We set out with an ambitious plan and weren’t sure where it would end up.  It started with power.  Peter ordered a shovel for the ATV.  Let me say this, if you plan on making a big rink in winter, get some power behind you.  For one, clearing all that snow to start with can really sap playing enthusiasm.  For another, every time it snows it can be a bummer instead of a blessing, and you never want to be bummed about fresh snow!

What we learned!

1) Check the thickness of the ice before starting out!… and remember, if you ever do far in the ice climb out by going back the way you came from… at some point in the past you were fully supported… there may be no place in your forward path that can lay claim to that achievement.

2) Get some power behind you if at all possible (Pic of ATV here).  By adding some extra weight to the front of the ATV were were able to scrape off some of the indents left on the ice by snowmobiles tracking over where we wanted to put our rink.

3) Location, Location, Location: Choose how close you want the rink to be to the edge of the lake.  Is the ice stable near the edge?  Have snowmobiles been using that area as an access point weakening the ice?  Do you want late night overtime games keeping the kids up?  Also, we put an outer ring for learners and those who didn’t wanted to speed skate on the outside meaning we had to move the middle of the rink another 20 feet offshore.  There is a lot of questions to answer before centering your rink.

4) Size… it always matters:  Year one we wanted to be bold so we made a rink that was 100 feet long by 50 feet wide… great if you’re in the nhl but as only 6 of us were ever playing we ended up playing side on a lot of the time!  I’d recommend 20 feet + 10 feet for every player… so if there are 4 of you then a 60 foot rink by 30 feet wide should be great.

5) Clearing the snow: It quickly became apparent that Zamboni drivers are no dummies!  By far the most effective method was to clear the middle lane and then go around in long ovals (with long straights) pushing everything to the outside.  An ATV isn’t really designed to handle this much snow.  It did fine, but some of the piles required a fair bit of speed to impact as the relatively light weight ATV was no match for them at low speeds.

6) Flooding the ice.  After clearing the snow we wanted to make a good surface to really show off our skills.  That involves a flood, by far the most effective and tricky part of the operation.  First is the easy part, cutting a hole in the ice and getting the 2″ pump throbbing.  We used a chainsaw to dig into the ice but an auger is really the tool of choice.  We were only digging into about 1 foot, had it been much deeper we could have been in trouble.

We tried many different techniques.  From spraying drops over the surface to flooding areas and waiting overnight.  The best method was to start at the far end of the ice and let as thin a layer as possible be flooded while backing the hose away from the edge and toward the water source.  Thickness of water is the enemy, as it takes longer to freeze, forms deeper cracks, and adds weight to the ice surface putting the integrity of your rink in danger.

7) Hockey Accessories – to play the game properly a few pieces of equipment help.  We brought nets, 2 by 6 for stopping pucks behind the nets, spray paint, red and blue for the blue lines and face off dots, and flood lights for some late night action.

9)

10) Fire pit on edge: Well, in our case we lit a fire in the middle of the ice - fun was had by all!

My buddy has been flying up to Haida Gwai all summer and said that the crevasses on the Pemberton Glacier weren’t even showing this summer. Hopefully that means the glaciers were receading a little bit less this year. That also means we should be in for a somewhat safer snowmobiling winter, at least in one respect.

Many credit La Nina ocean conditions for the increase in suitably snowy conditions.  So lets see what they predict we have in store for the 2012 winter season.  Now, as much as I hate weather maps that end at the Canadian border, we have a nice snowmobing forecast ahead!

With snow begining to fall and Cypress Mountain opening at a record early date of November 4th, the season is surely upon us!  Time to dust off and air out our mountain gear, it’s almost time to ride!

Here’s a quick video of how to load skis onto the snowmobile rack.  There is still room for boots or fuel inside the rack.

We’ve been getting some questions about how the snowboard holder portion of the snowmobile rack works.  If a picture is worth one thousand words then a video must be worth a billion.  Here is a quick vid of the rack in action.

Heck, it’s the type of place you could take the family and still get your vacation fuel burning, now that’s living!  Well done, we hope to come down for a visit some time.

Another lodge along the same lines but in Utal is the Beaver Creek Lodge.  They have new machines each year, which is great, but they are gear more toward the group trail rides.  Fun for sure but would depend on who was in your group.

A third great option is up in British Columbia at the Grizzly Lake Lodge.  They have real mountain sleds for rent and you can just fly in to the Kamloops airport for your trip.  There is huge terrain and snowfall in this area of the Kootenays/Caribou so be prepared to explore!

Well, turns out we got ahead of ourselves as it ended up coming in nice and fluffy instead of all wet. Almost 4 feet of fresh was waiting for us Saturday morning. The weather wasn’t quite finished with us but there was good local vis. We made it through to a nice pocket where we could see around so that worked!

We loaded the snowmobile racks with a full load of 10 gallons of extra fuel, yup that’s right, 2 full jerry cans each at 5 gallons! We were ready to blow through some powder.

Now of course all that snow is a blessing, but it’s also one that comes with a work ticket attached to it. A digging work ticket! Check out how it’s done! This is a shot of getting stuck going downhill!

Here’s another one. Mike here is heading down after a rip and had so much snow flying over the hood he couldn’t even see enough to avoid the wall of snow here. Now that’s getting yourself good and buried!

Anyways, nobody is complaining around here! A little digging is all part of a great day snow machining in the backcountry.

• Single track trails that are well established and well looked after
• Main roads, mostly to be avoided, there are Logging roads – be careful if it’s a work day
• Single track trails that people haven’t been down in years and could do with some TLC,
• Bush whacking.

Each year the Port Tack Racks R&D team set out with some destinations in mind and get there using a variety of these trail conditions – that’s what makes it so interesting.

If you’ve got the patience to watch for 10 mins, you’ll see a bunch of the trail conditions in one video.  We start out in the trail system and then break away from a family we know.  Then we head up into some single track.  Near the end we head down an unmaintained trail until we come across a fallen tree.  The question of chopping it in half or going around is always a balance.  Of course it should be an easy answer since carry our chainsaw on the snowmobile now, but follow along to see how to get that balance wrong!

While the video may not be all that dramatic it does go a good way into showing one of the greatest aspects of snowmobiling.  Whether flying up a glacier or through a forest, a snowmobile offers something almost nothing else can.  When your eye catches an opening or something of interest, you body can say, yes, lets go have a look at that.  I never felt constrained in my life while skiing until I had a snowmobile.  Now, when I look up and see something cool on skis I feel disappointed I can’t just point to it and go have a look.

This year not only did we log our riding of snowmobiles but we also figured out how to get it to look decent on google earth. For now, here is an image of the system as we have recorded so far. Now that we know we can capture where we ride though, we plan on building out the documented extent of the trails system significantly.

We have a host of visitors over the holiday season most years and not all have snow machines to ride. Luckily there are some great snowshoeing and siteseeing spots in the near vacinity as well. The red route tracks a small snowmobile loop to Crater Lake.  That’s Crater lake on the far left with the mini out-and-back leading to the entrance.

This year we hiked and snowshoe up the feeder to Crater lake. Join us on that journey here and check out the amazing frozen water falls.  The access point is open summer and winter to get to the Crater Lake lookout, we even rode right up to the edge on our snowmobiles.

From there though access is moderate single track.  The river walk is really nice, there are 3 waterfalls that can be climbed up or climbed around.  I’d recommend this route in the winter, as the brush can be pretty thick.  We walked most of it over the frozen ice and were just careful in areas where the ice seemed thin.  It would be possible to walk it in the summer too but expect to do quite a lot of bush whacking.

Where we ride the trees are quite brittle in the winter and snow falls in big bunches.  That leaves many trees fallen and blocking our path.  If the trees are still alive we’ll shake the snow off them in hopes that they’ll learn to stand up straight again after the weight of the snow has been relieved.  Very often though the trees have snapped at their bases and are not able to be saved.  For these we’ll whip out the chainsaw and let her rip.

The snowmobile rack easily accommodates a fairly big blade as well as a 2.5 gallon jerry can to keep mixed fuel in.  It’s time well spent getting off the sled to clear a trail.  Not only does it usually not cost any time to the group versus bushwacking around the obstacle but means a better ride for everyone else that follows.  Here is a link to the Port Tack Racks shop if you are looking for a snowmobile rack for your machine.

If you’re curious, you can see a couple of the jerry cans we looked at designing the snowmobile racks around before we found the one we wanted.  Up front are 6.6 gallon cans.  We liked the size but the handle was only average and the nozzle was terrible, made for very slow refueling.  On the back you’ll see a can with a huge nozzle.  This was a leading contender for a number of reasons.  We liked the super durable noddle and square size.  We also liked their line up as there was one half the size as well.  In the end though, a 3″ nozzle was just too big for refueling a snowmobile.  It would have meant including a large funnel in the package and in the end was just not worth it.

Anyways, aside from all the fuel cans loaded on the trailer there isn’t much to tell just yet.  Here is a map of the pressy lake area.

Pressy lake is in the Caribou region of BC.  It’s at an elevation of roughly 3000 feet so will be consistently below freezing through the winter.  Green lake is a very popular summer recreation area and Bonaparte Lake is about the same size though farther off the highway.  Last winter there was very little snow around Christmas, but this year there is already 18 inches on the ground.

We’ll be spending quite a bit of our time mapping the various trails in the area to load on the web for others to use.  We’ll be bringing along our chainsaws as well so that we can clear the fallen Autumn brush as well.  Some of the less passable rivers may need bridges built over them as well, we’re always looking for a challenge!

The drive up highway 1 is known as Devils Gorge and can be tricky but beautiful.  Be careful to keep your speed down at times and bring your chains… and your camera for the very best days.