PLAYHARD

Unreal horror for the 4th buddy...
 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/snow-bikes-dead-avalanche-quebec-chic-choc-mountains-1.7156889
'We assume we're all safe out there, and that's our biggest problem,' says expert 
Jack Verrecchia, the owner of the Sled Den which offers lessons and guides in the Chic-Choc Mountains, heard about the incident Tuesday evening. 
"We decided to go out there and see if we could give a hand," said Verrecchia.  "By the time we got there we knew for sure there wasn't going to be any saving."
By the time all the crews got to the site and started the recovery, he says it had been well over three hours. 
"We had nowhere near enough guys to do what we had to do," said Verrecchia.
He says the men who were out on their snow bikes likely didn't have the experience to be on that part of the mountain. 
The one person in the group who managed to avoid the avalanche, had been off to the side, filming, said Verrecchia.

Crunchy! Sleds & Jackets/etc! 
Way to go Gents!
Thanks for sharing!

Are you finding less & less of this sorta thing at the bars since the virus?

Thanks for sharing!
And OH DUDE, how freaky was that stretch with the dolls strung up in the trees?!?  Trail 3 a few clicks east of Forestville?  I don't sleep great as it is, I sure didn't need THAT on the brain!
 

Are you finding less & less of this sorta thing at the bars since the virus?

Damn.
Hate to hear that, sending good vibes that they find them AOK.
GutZ

Rescuers trying to find and save 3 sledders caught in avalanche in Chic Chocs.
Reports have SQ and search teams on site. Happened around 17:30. 
 
no other news yet

A few more pics from today  , sunny longer today than expected .  Looks like rain tomorrow  . 

att.-BkMqkDcvIpcTl3_cnXC9mpD53hhldPUQOsLPMfPpJI.mp4

Nice Place Team Yeti was also there 4 days ago!!!!!! Carry on Team Vermont!!!!!👍

Left some fun un-done a few weeks back up in the new snow  . So we return  ! 
Forestville to points west 

I been through there maybe twice in that area. I got not much info on this. 

Doesn't that area normally stop grooming by mid to late March to run the maple sugar lines across the trail? Especially with the warmer weather this year. You had to be very careful to get under them on a sled.  Some spots also had the lines go under a ramp depending on the terrain, but I didn't think they were groomer rated.

New Drop Bracket Fab.
I hoped the left and right bracket were identical, nope... I hoped the Air Ride mounts would still be mounted to the chassis, nope...
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-1.thumb.JPG.2efd63ca6553e3e7178027948bb663f4.JPG
Used 1/8th inch aluminum sheet to make the two templates that could encompass the AirRide Mounts and levers.
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-3.thumb.JPG.3ffdb327bf6f73bd5e045cbe2f2ee50a.JPG
10 test fittings later....
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-2.thumb.JPG.ba83cbaf4e8bae9e8df315a8bb6ed94d.JPG
Gave it smoother\rounded shapes to reduce the chance of stress cracks, like why airplane windows have rounded corners.
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-4.thumb.JPG.98755283b7949bc892d16d1324a99094.JPG
Transferred the templates to thicker aluminum....
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-6.thumb.JPG.174438734846584123a1c50e39a07dca.JPG
Pressed in some steel bushings to reinforce the wear points for the cross shaft
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-5.thumb.JPG.4c34ac3fa0698a1b3f83920981f08393.JPG
Now I wait for some barrel nuts, these will support the two sheets ( tunnel and bracket ) similar to a self piercing rivet and the bolt compresses the sheets together. With luck this will minimize movement and greatly increase shear strength and rigidity.
Later
GutZ
 

Next up was a bit if grinding, sanding and prep.
I found a paint that was recommend as better than the Auto Parts Store Stuff and went to town.
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-Pipe-1.thumb.JPG.02d13466303eceffde0ca6ea19aeaa99.JPG
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-Pipe-2.thumb.JPG.57f0bf83ad69ebbe8eace49674ba061a.JPG
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-pipe-4.thumb.JPG.2d27838ae125f33385aae13155c01330.JPG
Packaged it back up in the shields and reattached it to the engine. I feel it was disrupting the pipe harmonics so much  that it just would not pull the higher RPMs.... We will see!
Now while the chassis has been awaiting a revised motor we discovered that the Rear M-20\Air Ride suspension would not collapse completely, even with no Air in .... What??? This has never happened to me before... LOL.
Anyway after loosening and tightening the track more times than I care to count, I was able to determine that the larger 1.5 Lug and 8 inch rear wheel kit were bottoming out on the Top of the tunnel before allowing the suspension to completely compress. Odd since the custom tunnel has a kick up in the rear..... Soooooo... New Drop Brackets...
GutZ

BLAST FROM THE PAST!!!!!
Well, if no one noticed, this Winter Sucked.... We were able to ride with our good friends but not nearly as much we would have liked ( smiles per miles! ). So with no real damage or changes needed and an early start to the Off Season, I have some time extra time to bring this back from the dead!
After working on in the 670+ Engine I could not figure out why it would not REV past 6500 under load..... Engine was out then in, then out, checked case seal, etc.... ( Remember even with NOS it would not REV, and the NOS made it worse ).
So I pulled the y-pipe one more time, to look in the cylinders\Exhaust and see if any thing looked a-miss.... Nope....
Even flipping the shocks upside down made it no better. ( Dealership recommended it, they do it on all their New Sled Setups )
Then I disassemble the shielding on the Y-Pipe and found that there was a huge cross shaped crack right at the Y. Like any good idiot would do, I went and bought a welder, watched a YouTube or Two, then proceeded to burn a few holes in my riding lawnmower deck, in the end creating the worst weld seen by man. I did successfully weld the metal together and the lawnmower is ready for the grass... Coming off the high of melting metal together I grabbed the Y-Pipe and made the second worst weld know to man....http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-Pipe-3.thumb.JPG.c1c51954a6b9b0dc61bd0c5fb9e4862b.JPG
And burnt my thumb.... Pro Tip.... Glowing Metal is Hot, Be Careful....
GutZ

*** Update ***
With the snow last week we were able to take it out and check the performance and see if we needed to tweak anything.
It ran great!! But we only had about a 1/4 mile of field to test it in and 1/2 of it was up hill. Need more room.
Smooth in the woods, vicious when you smack the throttle.
NOS seems to work too!! LongHair was upset there was no blue flame like in the movies.
This is my general feeling when we pull it out to give a ride:
Hang on for a full test in a few weeks.
GutZ