snowmaster2112

The club and FCMQ ,IMO, wont let a total blockage of the 3 for long. Too much revenue at stake. Expect a quick answer in the coming days. Sorry your friends are getting hosed Andy. First it's rain, then a gigantic snowstorm, now the trails are getting blocked. Come ride with us in the Lanaudiere. Dont believe you have ever been to Andre's cabin.

"trudopey"....LOVE iT !! My riding partner and I refer to the gas in Canada (ridiculously expensive) as "Justin Gas"

Pipeman....looks like we are just going to miss each other. Will be at camp on M21 tomorrow evening and most likely in Parent or 100 Lacs on wednesday. You guys will LOVE Mistissini. sent you a PM

You can carry whatever you want but if the dude (or dudette) in the booth hands you a little slip of paper and say's "see that building over there" .....expect AT LEAST a minimum one hour delay. I travel often with a buddy that has a pistol permit and they seem to zero in on him like flies on shit and bring on 1000 questions.

Good read: Sent from my iPhoner incident last weekend in the Chic Chocs. I assume most of you have already heard the general story, so I will quickly summarize that. I mostly wanted to note what we used (and wished we had) that allowed us to spend almost 40 hours in the woods at 0F and be rescued by a Canadian military helicopter. Hopefully it can help someone be more prepared than they are now. A couple guys from our group of snowbikes dropped over a ridge into a section of steep trees that would have been easily rideable if the snow was different. That day, the snow was super powdery, bottomless, and filled with buried trees. I went in to help Leon get unstuck, and quickly found that getting back out the way we went in wasn't going to be possible. We sidehilled horizontally across the mountain as long as possible, hoping to intersect the ridge and ride out the top. The tree line was super dense at the top, and riding through it wasn't possible. The tree line gradually forced us downhill into a river bed, where we decided to head for a "road" on the GPS that would lead us to an old trail, then out. We battled the creek bottom, open water, tons of stucks, trees, dead ends, etc well past dark The “road” wasn’t there. The sides of the ravine were too steep, deep and dense to get out, the way we came in was out of the question, and the way we were heading was dead ended everywhere we looked. Eventually, wet, cold, exhausted and almost out of gas, we decided to set up camp and try again in the morning. The next morning, my bike wouldn't start. Obviously a few mistakes were made that got us in there in the first place, but dozens of good choices followed that allowed us to stay the night, the next day, and half of the following night until we could be retrieved. Search and rescue had attempted to reach us by snowmobile and snowshoes for almost 24 hours and were unable to get to us. It goes without saying that you absolutely need to be able to start and maintain a fire if you expect to spend any amount of time in the woods in the winter. Besides that: The #1 most valuable asset we had was my Corona folding limb saw. I have been carrying this saw since I started riding the backcountry in 2008, and it was in someone's hand cutting almost 100% of the time. It is super efficient and durable, and easily cuts up to 12" logs. DO NOT TRUST THE SHOVEL SAWS!! They are brittle, bend, and break, and will wear you out. Fires in the snow take a surprising amount of wood to make heat. The wood is almost guaranteed to be wet and/or green. We had stockpiles of different wood and tended the fire constantly, and still froze. Don't leave home without a good saw. #2 Garmin Inreach. This is a small satellite communication device that allows you to send messages and your coordinates through text. Not only did this take the guesswork out of where we were for search and rescue, but it allowed us to communicate to our families that we were ok, etc. We all feel terrible about the worry and chaos that this situation caused our families, but it would have been much worse for them if no one knew where we were, and if we were alive, injured, lost, etc. I had just gotten the Inreach for christmas and almost didnt take it. Without it, you are limited to radio contact and old fashioned hunting. #3 Good gear. Space is limited on what we can carry every day, but we all wished we had a spare, dry layer to change out at night. We were all wet from riding/digging/working, and even the best gear takes a long time to dry out when it's 0 degrees. Even with good gear and a solid fire, we all froze all night. I was more sore from shivering and being tense all night than I've ever been from any exercise or activity. Any gear can be waterproof, but if it doesn't breathe, your inner layers will stay wet. Breathability is what drys you out and warms you up. There is a reason I wear and sell Klim. And I think we all know by now, no cotton. #4 Batteries. Almost all of our "life saving" equipment relies on batteries. Charge everything every night. Dont use it during the day if you don't need it. Keep important, small devices close to your body to keep them warm. Cold kills batteries even if they aren't being used. The equipment is only worth having if you can turn it on and use it, and chances are if you need it for an emergency, it is going to be needed for a long period of time. Carry a small recharging battery and the correct cables, and keep it warm. #5 Mental and physical aptitude. Always be thinking. Make only careful, methodical movements to make forward progress and avoid mistakes, stay calm. Panic will never help anything and is usually dangerous. Luckily we all kept calm, worked together, and were in pretty good shape (for old guys). This got really long. Huge thanks to the local Search and Rescue team, the helicopter crew, our snowbike buddies who did everything in their power to help us out, the Sled Den, and our families for not chopping our heads off when we got home... Live and learn, send and return.

I'm thinking the FML stands for "F*&CK me longtime

Good one Steve Love it

A lifelong riding partner from Vermont (rode together last week) got back home and turns out some other lady his wife works with personally knew one of these guys wives. Just got word that the helicopter bill was 30,000 grand i guess 7500.00 each is better than freezing /starving to death in the Chic Chocs

Have yourself a blast Ice hoping to make it to Gaspe sometime later this season still gotta be quite a haul for you to Matane

We have all seen “big snow” pics before but I’m thinking these win “first prize “ in my book. just god damned unbelievable

Just unreal.....feel sorry for these people By March Chapais might look like this.....LOL

Well at least your not In Newfoundland....LOL.... I am getting a little “wishy washy” this morning. Could change trip plans (don’t actually have any reservations or anything) to St Zenon area and northbound as well. Parent, 100 Lacs, Windigo etc... might be some target spots. Anyone game ???

mikerider are you at the Universal and how are the trails and weekend traffic being free weekend and all ?

I know this is with “short” notice but I am going to embark on another Northern SmackDown adventure. Any fellow trail thrashers that want to tag along (remember I never travel with more than 4 total) get ahold of me ASAP i am thinking of leaving tomorrow or very early Tuesday morning and the destination again will be Lac Tiblemont. Will launch from there and head towards Matagami via the east side trail (finally open now) . In fact I might run that sucker twice it’s such an awesome trail. From there I expect I will double back down the 396 to the 93 and head towards Chapais/Chibougamau/Mistissini direction OR head towards LaSarre and do all those trails over in the northwest corner. I don’t expect this trip to be as “fun filled” as the Christmas week ride .....but one NEVER KNOWS. plan on returning to the truck on Friday or Saturday

Exact same thing I did. Andrew Coumo gets too much of my money already.

Best wishes to them all for a joyous week!!!!!!! note to self.........plan on Abitibi FeB 23-29th

Was in Parent tuesday morning and talking to Cynthia at the store. She said Sylvie is in Trois Riviere staying with relatives right now recovering and hopes to be home soon. I think we should all try and plan some February meet in Parent and show her how much we love her. I know I will make it a point to stop by later in the season and express my utmost condolences.

DAMN.. ..we rolled into Repos at 230 and waited until 330 Just left LeCabanon and all trails very good condition s We'll catch ya on the flipper side Snobeeler

The standard and preferred meal while snowmobiling in Quebec i will be offline now until i arrive back in the states late tomorrow night

Arrived at Kanawata just before noon. Left Parent around 10 waiting for my 3 souls brothers. I never stopped. 95 miles with a 50.2 moving average

You too. If I had to guess we won’t be to Repos until 3-4 pm will be heading south from Casey/ Kanawata ill look out for the red renegade and you look out for my tan renegade (we are 4 & you 7)

Yes they are a little on the firm side but I was so exhausted last night a slab of concrete would have sufficed

Breakfast of champions i sure hope it’s not my last meal

Block temp said -14F when I hit the button this morning in Parent. We are having a nice breakfast in the Chalet and then we are going to smack down the white gold. Today is going to be a special day for me. Calculations show that very near the camp on M21 my (new this year) sled will turn 2112 miles. I am going to be pushing it today. While still having safety as the utmost priority I am going to be “hitting the wick” as hard as I physically can today. This run is for “Neil” and if I can “hit it” half as hard as he hit the drums....it will be EPIC !!!!!! its a “sea of purple” on the IMotoneige map my fellow trail shredders. GET OUT AND RIDE

Just now in Parent