Sled Dog

Found this key in my stuff after a trip. Kept it because of nice memories and its neat. I did email them asking if they want me to send it to them but never heard back. Hint: it's in Quebec and I'm surprised I didn't get charged for it!

We have stayed at auberge du Draveur for years now with no problems. Very accomadating. I think you'll need a reservation to stay at Kanawata. We've tried to stay before but they are always booked up if you call the night before.

Merry Christmas all!!

Its a start...

Hopefully you'll be able to take that new sled out for a little rip!

Very cool!!

Well said.

Riding down a ice covered road, rider was using the banks to salom back and forth, as he would come off the banks the rear of sled would slide all over (no studs). I was behind and knew what was going to happen so hung back. Sure enough, over she went! Rider was ok, brand new sled too!!!

100 miles from Joncas...hit a piece of snow covered log on the trail. After 95 miles of bending, that trailing arm was ready to snap. We called the sled frankenstein after that....

Gaspe 2012. Hit a rock off trail on powerline...50 miles into 1200 mile trip.....$1400 later we made our destination and the rest of the trip.

Great sled! I have a 2012 Renegade X 1200 with the iceripper track. 2700 trouble free Quebec miles! I'm hoping to put 20,000 miles on it. The iceripper track is great. They work very well for how they are intended. Smart of Ski Doo to have them as an option.

Congrats Jack! They seem like great sleds. The manufactures don't give a discount for loyalty so buy what YOU want!! I put a lot of miles on my Yamaha and was very happy with it but I like my 4-tec better!!! Now your going to have learn how to maintain a Ski Doo!

Happy Birthday Groomer!!!

Cuba?! Interesting. How was that? Back to a 2-stroke? Why not a 1200? Although if I had to get a 2-stroke, it would be a 600 etec. Everything I've read about them is good and they get better gas mileage than comparable 4-strokes.

Any one have any pics? I have the accessory gas can and tunnel bag and I'd like to see how they look together before I start drilling! Sled is a 2012 Renegade X 1200. Thanks!

I think I'm going to go with a PB80. I put 2700 miles on my 2012 Renegade this season, no problems with the clutch and it seems to work perfectly and doesn't rattle....But if something were to happen to it next year the $500.00 price tag on it would be cheap if I'm in the middle of nowhere in Quebec on vacation. I'm still struggling with the decision cause $500.00 aint cheap and 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it' but it seems the clutch is the weak point on these sleds. All my research shows people with the original clutch having more problems than people with the PB80. My sled is still under warranty so I may take it to dealer and have them check out clutches. Maybe I can get another year out of it!! See, I'm wavering back and forth!!!!!

Do you go to your camp in the winter at all Groomer? Is it only accessable by snowmobile in the winter? Just curious. Keep the pictures coming!!! And thanks for all your help over the years!!!

Great report!!! And great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

That would be helpful wouldn't it!!!! Its mechanical. 2012 Renegade X.

Mine works fine. 2800 miles.

Very cool! My next trip, (which will be next year) I'd like to do the Matagami loop.

Not us. We stayed in Matane and then Perce. Yeah, that was the main thing, no one got hurt. Belts had some miles on them. Both sleds have clutch kits. Maybe something to do with it? I sold my 06 Attak with 17,000 miles and it had never blown a belt. No clutch kit and Yamaha belts though.

Another great trip in Quebec. Good friends and good miles! (I posted this in the Gaspe forum also, I meant to only post in the General Discussion!! Sorry!) Day 1, 220 miles. RDL to Matane. 5 all the way. Trails were great. Had snowed Friday and Saturday before we got there. Had a solid hiccup early in the trip around 10:00. Right after the relais at Trois Pistole, missed the left hand turn for 5, no problem, cut through the deep snow to the trail. First sled (me) makes it, second makes it, third makes it but hits a rock slightly, 4th sled was turning and hit the same rock, lots of damage. Yamaha Apex. Bent the a arms so that the ski was almost twisted under the sled. We decided to go back to Trois Pistole relais station. Tried bending the a arms using a bar and heat and got them pretty good but sled was still messed up and we were only 50 miles into trip!!! After much thinking and phone calls, a guy at Trois Pistoles would drive the sled in his pickup to Mont-Joli Yamaha dealer. We continued on with the other 4 sleds and met him at the dealer. Dealer was great, P. Labonte et files. They took parts off a new sled to fix ours. When it was all said and done, it cost a father $1400.00 to fix the sled for his son!!! But what are you gonna do, trip must go on! What a Dad! At the end of the day, we still made our final destination with 5 working sleds. Day 2, 310 miles. Matane to Perce. 5 to 597 to 5. Long day. The trails were again great but the Murdochville area had lots of snow. I had my GPS out for a short while and we were seeing elevation changes of 18 feet to 1800 feet...in a matter of minutes!! Pretty cool. First time I've seen 2 groomers working together. 1 plowing the snow with no drag and the other with a drag behind it. We filled up in Murdochville and there was a groomer there. He said they had gotten 3 feet of snow over the weekend and he had just opened up part of 597. When we got where he had turned around, it was single track. Pretty fun going off into the fresh powder!! Day 3, 265 miles. Perce to Pointe-a-la-Croix. Pretty uneventful day. Day 4, 225 miles. Pointe-a-la-Croix to Amqui. 5 to 587 to 5. Trouble starting a Yamaha, changed out the fuel relay and off we went. Also had a Yamaha blow a belt which took a while to clear out. 2 of the Yamaha's blew belts...not normal for them in my experience. 587 was amazing! Great trail. At at the Albertville clubhouse, left a note for Groomer. Waitress said she would call him but we didn't want to bother him, he needs his rest for grooming!!! Rode some of the trails around Amqui, fabulous! Day 5, 220 miles. Amqui to RDL. 5 to 591 to 587 to 579 to 5. We really wanted to find the "ghost trees". We found em and they were very cool!! I highly recommend this sight. I posted pics of these on my facebook page and got lots of "likes"!!! Made it back to truck at decent hour and loaded up. Bittersweet day, tired of snowmobiling but I didn't want it to end either!!! All in all, I'd say 95% of trails were excellent. The other 5% would be considered excellent here in Central NY!!! I think we did luck out kind of. We crossed a road and there had to be a couple mile long, straight trail with a slight up hill. Easily a 100mph trail. I could see at the top some lights flashing so I only did about 40 mph up to the lights which were indeed police. They had some sleds pulled over and seemed to be either writing trail permits or tickets. When we went through, they checked our permits and waved us on. In the bar at RDL we saw a news bit on sledding and excessive speed and how they were cracking down. Not sure if what we saw was a speed trap or permit check. Done for the year, supposed to be 60 here on Wednesday. Ended the year with over 2800 miles on new 2012 Renegade X 1200. Not even a hiccup! 277 local miles, the rest Quebec. Thanks QR for all the info you guys provide!

Another great trip in Quebec. Good friends and good miles! Day 1, 220 miles. RDL to Matane. 5 all the way. Trails were great. Had snowed Friday and Saturday before we got there. Had a solid hiccup early in the trip around 10:00. Right after the relais at Trois Pistole, missed the left hand turn for 5, no problem, cut through the deep snow to the trail. First sled (me) makes it, second makes it, third makes it but hits a rock slightly, 4th sled was turning and hit the same rock, lots of damage. Yamaha Apex. Bent the a arms so that the ski was almost twisted under the sled. We decided to go back to Trois Pistole relais station. Tried bending the a arms using a bar and heat and got them pretty good but sled was still messed up and we were only 50 miles into trip!!! After much thinking and phone calls, a guy at Trois Pistoles would drive the sled in his pickup to Mont-Joli Yamaha dealer. We continued on with the other 4 sleds and met him at the dealer. Dealer was great, P. Labonte et files. They took parts off a new sled to fix ours. When it was all said and done, it cost a father $1400.00 to fix the sled for his son!!! But what are you gonna do, trip must go on! What a Dad! At the end of the day, we still made our final destination with 5 working sleds. Day 2, 310 miles. Matane to Perce. 5 to 597 to 5. Long day. The trails were again great but the Murdochville area had lots of snow. I had my GPS out for a short while and we were seeing elevation changes of 18 feet to 1800 feet...in a matter of minutes!! Pretty cool. First time I've seen 2 groomers working together. 1 plowing the snow with no drag and the other with a drag behind it. We filled up in Murdochville and there was a groomer there. He said they had gotten 3 feet of snow over the weekend and he had just opened up part of 597. When we got where he had turned around, it was single track. Pretty fun going off into the fresh powder!! Day 3, 265 miles. Perce to Pointe-a-la-Croix. Pretty uneventful day. Day 4, 225 miles. Pointe-a-la-Croix to Amqui. 5 to 587 to 5. Trouble starting a Yamaha, changed out the fuel relay and off we went. Also had a Yamaha blow a belt which took a while to clear out. 2 of the Yamaha's blew belts...not normal for them in my experience. 587 was amazing! Great trail. At at the Albertville clubhouse, left a note for Groomer. Waitress said she would call him but we didn't want to bother him, he needs his rest for grooming!!! Rode some of the trails around Amqui, fabulous! Day 5, 220 miles. Amqui to RDL. 5 to 591 to 587 to 579 to 5. We really wanted to find the "ghost trees". We found em and they were very cool!! I highly recommend this sight. I posted pics of these on my facebook page and got lots of "likes"!!! Made it back to truck at decent hour and loaded up. Bittersweet day, tired of snowmobiling but I didn't want it to end either!!! All in all, I'd say 95% of trails were excellent. The other 5% would be considered excellent here in Central NY!!! I think we did luck out kind of. We crossed a road and there had to be a couple mile long, straight trail with a slight up hill. Easily a 100mph trail. I could see at the top some lights flashing so I only did about 40 mph up to the lights which were indeed police. They had some sleds pulled over and seemed to be either writing trail permits or tickets. When we went through, they checked our permits and waved us on. In the bar at RDL we saw a news bit on sledding and excessive speed and how they were cracking down. Not sure if what we saw was a speed trap or permit check. Done for the year, supposed to be 60 here on Wednesday. Ended the year with over 2800 miles on new 2012 Renegade X 1200. Not even a hiccup! 277 local miles, the rest Quebec. Thanks QR for all the info you guys provide!

Nope. The entire peninsula had lots of snow. We left from RDL to Matane, Perce, Point a la croix, Amqui and back to RDL. Id say 90% of trails were perfectly groomed. Have a great trip!