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(crows pass, Alaska) The west coast and mountain regions are experiencing a San Diego like fall, but snow in Alaska signals a proper switch to winter. The whole snow machining community is polishing their sleds and watching for snow, but the late start shouldn't be any trouble.  Typically early snow melts early anyways, so the lack of early snow shouldn't impact the snow levels at all. We will need some cool temperatures and precipitation in late October and through November to get a good base, but there is plenty of time for that. Now is the perfect time to get...

The good folks from Montana State University did a study analyzing the movements of snowmobilers through the backcountry. With more of us out in the beyond, it's helpful to know as much as we can about staying safe and away from avalanches. A data based study like this is really helpful. They used the same GPS based techniques that helped the ski touring people reduce their avi risk. Read the paper on snowmobile behavior in avalanche terrain in full by Jordy Hendrikx and Jerry Johnson. If you want to contribute to their dataset, you can add your gps tracks here: www.montana.edu/snowscience/sleds...

May 15, 2021 Announcing the Patrol Rack - New for the 2021/2022 winter season. The rack is very similar to our popular Large and Compact Racks that we have been making for a decade now... it wasn't broken, so this is not a revolution. The Patrol Rack is a modest improvement on what has been working without screwing anything up. It uses slightly less tunnel space while the snowboard and ski holder mounts remain the same width apart for stability. Installation is a bit easier, by providing slightly larger access points without weakening the rack in any way. Additional pre-drilled...

Snowmobilers rescued in Sugar Lake area Stuck sledders rescued Jon Manchester - Mar 9, 2020 / 6:28 am Rescuers reached the riders on their cellphone and encouraged them to stay with their machine and await rescue. VSAR members located the subjects’ truck after dark, and sent a team of seven searchers to find them. Conditions were cold with clear skies. There was recent fresh snowfall and an avalanche assessment showed moderate to considerable risk in the area, VSAR posted on its Facebook page Sunday night. Within two hours, the search team arrived at the subjects’ location and was surprised to find they...

Thrashing through the snow on a 200-horsepower electric sled feels pretty good. It feels like skiing, if you happened to be skiing whilst straddling a 250-kilogram rocket. The electric snowmobile from Montreal-based startup Taiga Motors looks like any other snowmobile to untrained eyes. Gently press your thumb onto the throttle and the machine is amiable and unintimidating, just as company co-founder Gabriel Bernatchez said it would be. It pulls away more smoothly and predictably than a typical gas-powered sled. The only noise is the sound of the tracks crunching snow. It makes this novice snowmobile rider feel confident and in...