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arubenstein

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About arubenstein

  • Birthday 11/16/1973

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Lake Hopatcong, NJ
  • Snowmobile
    Skidoo

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  1. I am looking to head up this week into next, but my regular group of folks can't go - anyone willing to let me tag along? experienced quebec rider.
  2. I am curious for opinions on conditions for next week. I see it is pretty warm today, and showing warm and rainy maybe Saturday too. I have been seeing great reports over the last few weeks, so I wonder if we think the base will hold up through these warm snaps and light rain? We are considering either a Gaspe loop, or a Chibougamou loop.
  3. I was a long time user 276, 278, and 476 user and was very sad when it was discontinued and then no mapping was available from garmin starting a couple years ago. I saw this introduced a couple months ago and I just got mine last week. Literally installed it on my new 1200 renegade today, and it is everything the old 276 was, but better. It's a good GPS. very fast, lots of storage. I am happy.
  4. And here is a Garmin Adventure. http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/arubenstein/2015-01-11-gaspe/#.VLp3NHuhGQw
  5. OK, I am home. Yesterday, we rode from Valga to RDL, the conditions were great. We did deal with an almost-white-out snow storm for an hour, but it is snowmobiling after all. The Spot thing will not work online after 7 days, so please find attached my KML file of my tracks broken down by day. We did 996 miles in 4.5 easy days of riding, and this is some of the best conditions I have had in a long time. More pictures uploaded. Some notes to posters along the way that I couldn't comment on (because I was posting from my phone and my fingers would have fallen off): dinobball23: Don't plan so much. Conditions, trails, re-routes, weather, sled problems, unexpected busy season (ever been to Jonquiere during the junior hockey playoffs??) - all reasons to 'fly by the seat of your pants'. My opinion, you will wind up with a much better trip. For instance, in this case on this trip I just took, we still hadn't decided gaspe vs. saguenay until we hit plattsburgh, new york. And then when we decided gaspe, we didn't decided montmagny vs. riviere du loup until we passed montreal. It always works out, and it provides you the ability to ride without have to make a deadline. I have found many times that sometimes, at 4pm, I am just done and want to be in for the night; ot, after 7p dinner, we want to ride until 10pm. It just all depends. Further, I would strongly urge you to consider small lodges and auberges run by locals that are not chains (support them, because they support the sport) whenever you can (see below and Varga). And the same for food a fuel - buy it from a club house when you can, even if it is more expensive. That extra money goes right to the club, and they need it. And buy your trail passes where you sled! im4snow: I live in Byram, NJ, 07874. I almost ONLY go to Quebec, but have been known to go to Jackman, Maine, also. A gaspe loop in February might be OK, bought March starts racing season (I road race) so probably not after 3/1. GTRider: Domaine Varga is one of those quintessential 'auberges' that you have to go to. In the woods, very nice people, awesome dog (say hi to Adele!), and a beautiful comfortable log cabin and great food. Like a cross between Pourvoirie du Lac Beauregard and Lac Faillon. This was a great find that we didn't find until 6pm that night when sitting at Jojo's in Amqui, and I am glad we went there. To everyone else: if you haven't done the Gaspe loop, DO IT. It is worth it, the scenery is out of this world and the trails are unreal. This is my third time around and it won't be my last. Next time I will spend more time on the interior trails and try to get into NB as well. 2015-01-11 Canada, Gaspe, AR-MK-BW-BW.zip
  6. Sorry for the double post. I write this from bed at Domain Varga. What an amazing place. We left Bonaventure yesterday and took a variety of local trails and TQ5, we had dinner at Jojo's in Amqui. The rode 587 and 579 to Varga. Trails were out of this world. Some of the best I've experienced in Quebec and I've put down 30,000 miles here. We lost one rider last night, his sled broke and he is getting a pickup truck ride to Universal where our truck is. This morning we ride to Universal and drive home. Domains Varga is a place worth staying at. Very nice accommodations and very nice people.
  7. More pics uploaded. Trails from Bonaventure to Carleton are pretty decent. Couple thin spots but still good. Having lunch at the Carleton clubhouse. Turned 8300 miles on my renegade 1200 and my reverse broke.
  8. More pics uploaded. Trails from Bonaventure to Carleton are pretty decent. Couple thin spots but still good. Having lunch at the Carleton clubhouse. Turned 8300 miles on my renegade 1200 and my reverse broke.
  9. I wrote this laying in bed at Grand Pre in Bonaventure. Today was overall a good day. There were a very few stretches of just a couple miles of terrible trails but they don't take away from how good everything else was. Chandler was out putting up signs at intersection of 597 and 5. 597 was extremely good, very fast. Great day. More pics posted.
  10. I write this sitting in hotel Adams restaurant. Trails remain good. If you are on the fence, jump off and get in your truck and drive up here. We are heading inland on the local and regional to Chandler now. Don't let gaspe intimidate you. More pics. more pics just uploaded.
  11. We made it to Grand Vallée last night. We dealt with about 20 miles of breaking trail which had 10 inches of powder. Overall a very good ride. Going to try for Chandler tonight. Again overall conditions are very good and having a good time. We stayed at Hotel Motel Grand Vallée and had a really good dinner. I just uploaded a panoramic pic from my room here. I've heard the trail into Perce is closed due to landowner dispute. Not sure this is still the case. But we are heading to gaspe then inland on the local then down the regional to Chandler tonight, if not further. There is no one on the trails. I think we've passed four of five other sleds in 400 miles. More people should be up here, thee is plenty of snow. And buy your trail passes here.
  12. Trip Report. I am typing this from St Anne des Monts. We drove to river du loup Sunday. Rode yesterday from Rdl to matane. Today matane to St Anne des Monts and will make Gaspe tonight. So far trails have been ranging from good to very very good. Links: Real time tracking info via FindMeSpot: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0qETee24tOIdc4j47dqvtbxhHpmKqJOCj Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/112509202456692692708/20150111SnowmobilingTrip1 ** EDIT ** EDIT ** The above FindMeSpot link will die shortly. Use the KML/ZIP file attached instead. 2015-01-11 Canada, Gaspe, AR-MK-BW-BW.zip
  13. Is it possible to do the full TQ5 loop yet, from RDL?
  14. Very late to the answer here, but my response and almost only thing I could complain about is that lack of uniformity of trail grooming. I remember last year riding TQ3 from Shawinigan to Tadoussac, and wondering how there could be such variation in trail conditions. Some clubs are good, and some, frankly, are not. Perhaps some consolidation bringing the weaker clubs into stronger clubs would be useful.
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