[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

4 hours ago, mikerider said:

Thanks RoadRunner  for posting. Enjoyed reading along of this adventure.

Any other interesting big trips planned for this season?

mike

 

Mike,

We are planning a ride to Lab City in March to be around for the Cain’s quest race. A trail ride in the Gaspe in Feb, and a trail ride , area tbd❄️❄️ ,in early January somewhere?

 

Hope we can catch you in RDL sometime this winter 

RR

[Launching out of the delta]

Also fcmq does show everything on the south side of the Saguenay as closed currently?  

[Launching out of the delta]

The snow cover in the valley was marginal when we came thru this am, we  did talk with some guys from the valley that rode up to the mountain Saturday, but rain Saturday night in the valley probably didn’t help things. 

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

11 hours ago, Pipeman said:

Thanks very much for all the post that you do I greatly enjoy following along as I’m sure everyone else does. Have you ever had issues carrying  all of the fuel and luggage on your tunnel or have you reinforced the tunnel to tolerate all that weight? Thank you

Pipe, we do purchase the long version HD rear tow bumper, that bolts into the tunnel and runs ahead of where the rear suspension bolts in.  We have not damaged any tunnels when doing this reinforcement to the tunnels.  Under the back country we have also had tunnel reinforced plates around the rear suspension bolt area.
 

The new expedition seems to have these mounts reinforced already so just the HD rear bumper, so time will tell if these are adequate.

Think snow 
 

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

10 hours ago, 800steve said:

   Sorry we missed you guys, we stopped by Tues afternoon. Saw all you guys headed down the Escomins trail, we were headed up from the clubnouse for the trail over to Portneuf. It was awsome. Went out and back to Pelchat for the nite. Not much snow close to the river. Went across the cross trail to 93 to avoid coming back up the middle of the Escomin trail, 6 inches of fresh snow covered the sand and gravel to make it ok, 93 was great. Hope to see you guys this winter. How did you like the new help at the Chappel?

Steve, Backcountry rider said you stopped by earlier in the week.  Yes we ran to Escoumin today, and also took the cross cut trail this afternoon on the way back.  Noticed the groomer was doing the Pelchat \school bus trail today, but with the traffic it must have gotten beaten down quick. Hope we can connect another time this year

Yesterday we went west to the Peribonka river and explored a  retention dam on the west side of the Pip.  Than  we went to the Peribonka, The last time we were at the Peribonka at this hydro generating dam was 2015, wow time flys.The trip is winding down fast now, we are heading back tomorrow. One of scouting crew ended up with 2500 plus miles, and a couple of us broke 2,000 miles these past nine days. 
 

With over 6000 miles collectively on the expeditions, we have no issues, which is a first for us.

 

Back out after the new year.

 

Happy trails and Think snow.

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

We had a gorgeous blue sky day yesterday, and conditions actually have improved in the high country, with several inches of snow falling since the rain. We did make it down to the Escoumin club house yesterday, the conditions down there are very hard with no lube. The Pelchat trail from the mountain is rough for most of the middle section. A good 250 mile day. The new expeditions continue to give great results and the Renegade 900T  lengthened to 146, goes very nice too! We are pleased with the sled builds this year.

A run Northwest today

 

Happy Trails

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

A perfect Blue bird day yesterday, good going, groomers on the mountain were out covering their network, they posted yesterday that they will do the 93 trail every day until further notice,  Due to high levels of use.  That made it good last night when we stopped at the yurt for a beer on our way back from our loop  Pipmuacan yesterday.  A ride to Escoumin today. 3” on new snow last night!
Think snow!

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Yesterday morning was a wash out, but A 90 mile recon ride yesterday afternoon to check out the conditions after the rain, they should recover nicely. The maintained trails will be great once they get groomed. The single track stuff should be good too, with a light crust formed on top.
 

Happy trails.

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Lots of rain overnight on the mountain, will make for some hard pack snow conditions after the freeze up. Base will be solid however. Think snow!

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Doo  right and SM,

you are absolutely right, if the crew is all in the same mind, than game on, let’s go out and enjoy the journey, 

 

Some how, we all seem to do that😀

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

29 minutes ago, mikerider said:

I cringe seeing what you put these new sleds through. Especially all the scratches from limbs and branches.

Mike, we were just commenting tonight, how it is so neat to realize that this entire group of riders enjoy doing this type of riding.  A bit bizarre at times, but nobody complains, and they keep coming back🤤.

 

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Today, it all started out easy and simple enough, we would take a ride up into the Pipmuacan, similiar area as we went yesterday, take an easy day , enjoy the ride, and explore some back roads we had been looking at on google earth.  Well, those back roads turned into some over grown roads, but we still wanted to go thru!  A fun couple of hours going, just a few miles.  Back on the good trails, we turned and headed for happy hour at La Chappel.  Always a great stop after a day of riding!  
 

Happy trails.

RR

.

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

3 hours ago, MrGutz said:

RR,

Is the Relay\Outfitter off the Pelchat Trail open with Gas this year? If you've gone out that way?

I think it is here:

Brothers and I were thinking of going from Delta to Forestville Area and wanted to make sure Gas and Lunch was available.

Thanks

GutZ

Gutz, no Le Chenail is not open this year, it’s too bad, that was a nice stop.  The trail,is no longer maintained either🙁

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

10 hours ago, mikerider said:

RR,       Hope we get to at least say hi this winter.

I assume the remote rides you do out of Mt Valin that you are not running into any outfitters etc. that are open and making you lunch or at least a coffee stop. I think most of us reading your posts are riders like myself who like a mid day destination.  If not Club Med, at least a restaurant with some food and a place to unwind and get warmed up.

Mike, you are right, we usually plan to have our water and a snack with us for lunch as none of the northern outfitters are open for food or fuel.   Yesterday , we were able to get back into Onatchaway for a late bowl of soup. We do enjoy a nice lunch spot but for these early rides many times they are not in the cards.

Happy trails

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Fuse, 15 gallons of fuel on over the rear seat and storage compartment will weigh 120 lbs.  The sleds manage to haul this weight with the driver being accountable to drive at a reasonable speed according to gallons on rear.  We dump the fuel as quickly as possible.
 

We do use heavier rear springs and install HD bumpers that reinforce the tunnel. We would not intentionally run more than 30 mph in low range. We very rarely do that unless in a very tight, rough trail. 99% of the time we are in high range.  The new chain is very smooth and much quieter than the old XU transmission was. 

Think snow

RR
 
 

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

On 12/7/2019 at 7:06 PM, mikerider said:

RoadRummer,                  Enjoying the stories, sled reports, and pictures. Thank you for taking the time  to post these reports. I really enjoy them and know many others do also..

mike

 

Mike, it won’t be long and you will be on the snow, hope to see you in RDL this winter.  Happy trails RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

4 hours ago, sledzz said:

Just curious, what is all the fuel for? Are you a guide for some long distance trips?

Thanks for the pictures and reports.

 

Matt

Matt, when we leave here and head north, we try to plan on having a 300 mile range for each sled, some of the expedition sleds can carry that fuel, but the smaller sleds cannot, so we pull sleighs for that capacity.  The added bonus is pulling he sleigh is much easier on the snowmobile than trying to carry it. But we do both.  Today we had a 285 mile ride and turned early because we were concerned with fuel range.  We enjoy these types of adventure rides.  We found good snow North and west of the base camp today, some really good going.

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

32 minutes ago, revct1 said:

Hi RR and folks,

It is great to be getting into the snow season.  It has been a long summer and seeing groomed trails brings a smile to my face.  Keep the reports and pictures coming.  We appreciate it.  You are making many riders happy.

Jack & Sandi

Revct, great to hear from you,  looking forward to seeing your posts soon!! We had a great day today on the logging roads north of KM 31. A nice 240 mile run with no traffic, as the maintained trails on the mountain this weekend are very busy, we were happy to be back for the day.

 

Happy Trails RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

6 hours ago, Kyles dad said:

Where did you get the led lights and brackets?

i bet they work well and way less expensive than OEM. 

Kyles dad, The light is a Rigid E2 10” spot and flood combo, I purchased it on Amazon with the hardware to mount, which is Ram Mount brand hardware.  We have used this light for 6 years, very pleased with it.  Comes complete with a wiring harness as well. 
 

Happy trails RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Yesterday’s rides was intended to go to Escoumin via the cut over trail in Sacre Coure, we knew it was plowed and graveled but we were hoping to find a worm hole around this section.  We spent most of the morning down here seeking but not finding that work around.  The 93 trail south out of KM 31 was near perfect, flat and fast.  Sacre Coure is low snow, so the groomer has only groomed to the sawmill.

Since Thursday. Backcountry rider sand I have logged  just over 300 miles on the new expeditions and I got to ride the 850 version yesterday as well. As I have been sharing, so far we are all very pleased with these sleds.  They handle nicely on the trail and on single track conditions, the 900t is smooth as silk, quiet, and rides awesome. The 850 has that awesome 2 stroke wallop, and is made for more aggression riding, but this sled is an absolute blast to ride,  you have to keep asking yourself, is this really and expedition. 
Running North East today to see what we have for conditions this way

Happy trails

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

On another note, We ran down 93 to the ski slope and up Bra Louis and back around on the trail system yesterday afternoon, we noted, unfortunately, that the lower 5 to 6 miles of the Bras Louis has been rerouted into the woods east of the old route, it’s twisty but smooth enough, so the lower end, Piston Alley, is not being used this year, we did not get a chance to see if they are logging here or something else is going on.  They did spend some resources for the reroute so it must be for the season or longer.  Does anyone know why the reroute?

A loop to Escoumin today, we want to see  if we can find a bypass for the plowed and graveled road that shortcuts over to the Escoumin club house.

 

Happy trails

RR

 

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

Well, kind of on schedule, after a nice greeting with the tourism coordinator in Quebec City who wanted to know where we were going in such a hurry 😉.

After that we continued on to Valin, and had a nice 75 mile late afternoon ride on the awesome groomed trails here in Valin. 
 

So far both the expedition 850  extremes. Our scouts have over 700 miles logged on them, are a big hit.
 

 The 900 t seemed very responsive too but only 75 miles on that one today , so more to come on that.  these sled will be discussed in depth as we go along..

 

The 850 extreme is putting out very  good fuel mileage( for the conditions)  and low oil consumption so far.  The engine mapping seems near perfect.

 

Happy trails

RR

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

20 hours ago, 800R MXZ X said:

We were up this past weekend, trails were great.

800R,  looks like you hit those trails in mint conditions! Must have felt great the hit the flapper in trails like that!
RR

 

 

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

3 hours ago, Trailblazer said:

A weapon you say, really happy to hear those words from the king of test pilots. All the more to expect from mine when I jump on her.

Looking forward to hearing more reports on those Expeditions in testing.

Enjoy Valin boys.

TB
the scouting crew is cranking on the miles, yesterday they were over in Onatchaway, reports were that while in the Onatchaway park there is heavy logging and plowed  and “sanded” roads again this year, the trail to Onatchaway is good and good snow cover everywhere,

Today the scouts went East, stopped at the club house in Escoumin and as of mid afternoon were in Forestville. More reports from them tonight.  They did say the shortcut trail off 93 , just north of Sacre Coure over to the Escoumin club house is plowed and sanded currently☹️.

As I mentioned earlier, the next reinforcements will be in Valin tomorrow afternoon.  
Loading the 900 Expedition this morning  and as the back up, my last years 900T enduro that has had a few summer modifications . Really anxious to give this a whirl too.
 

Enjoying both backcountry riding and trail riding we are always searching for the best cross over.  So for the enduro, we added the radiator cooling, some front reservoir shocks, and extended the R motion skid to 146 and put the 1.6 ice ripper track on it.  The extension to the r motion rails seems very robust , we did not extend the tunnel but did tilt the rear flap back a few more degrees.  This hopefully will come close to being a “4 stroke Backcountry “ 😀.  LOL.

Valin, here we come!

We will keep you updated on the” Weapon”. Trailblazer!

[North of the Wall. Valin 2019]

With the summer version Game of Thrones well over and in the history books it is time for the, “Winter Edition” to begin😊.  
 

We have a scouting crew that arrived at the KM 31 Sunday night and are reporting, as many others have, of good snow conditions for our Season opener. Not epic snow, but good snow for Dec 3!   
 

With 2 already at base camp and 5 more headed in Thursday, the games begin on Friday! 
 

We should hear back from our scouts on what roads are plowed this year and which ones are not, than our trips will begin.  As I had mentioned earlier, we have a bunch of the new 850 and 900 T versions of the new Skidoo expeditions to test. One of the scouts yesterday confirmed what the spring riders had said. His comment this morning was “The 850 expedition is a Weapon, he is very impressed”. They logged their first 160 mile ride yesterday.  More to come!
 

Think Snow

 

RR