stupe

Good idea. I didn't know Triggerhappy until he picked me up at my house on Wednesday lol. Wasn't until a couple days later I realized who he was on QR. I was talking to you about your heat exchanger too, in front of the old school house. I was on the grey XRS.

We called the dealer in Clermont (they were closer and towards the truck) but they didn't have the parts and said no dealer would have them in stock. It was late Friday afternoon and most dealers close at noon on Saturday so there was no chance of salvaging the trip anyway.

You were right, timing was perfect. Groomed trails everywhere we went. The snow got deeper the closer we got to Forestville. 50 miles from Forestville my buddies 2026 850 turbo with 1400 miles on it decided it was done. The main jack shaft bearing behind the secondary seized and generated so much heat the shaft snapped in half. We were done, trips over. Towed him about 20 miles to a parking lot where we met a nice guy who called a tow service in Baie-Saint-Paul to come get him. $1000 later he's back at my truck with his sled. We continue on to Forestville. The next morning he drives to the ferry and meets us there. Now back in NY planning a re-do for next weekend...

Oh boy - we are staying/launching from Baie-Saint-Paul Thursday night and heading up 3 in the morning from there. Have a couple rooms in Forestville Friday night. Just winging it from there. Follow the purple I suppose...

Same. Ran through there January 27th and didn't notice anything.

I'm still running the BV2S I've had for 8+ years. Its starting to get a little ratty looking though. Will probably get something new next year.

I'm using the Syphon speakers this year. I've tried them all over the years and these are the best yet. I think the sound quality is a little bit better on the Cardo system (JBL speakers) but the ease of use of the Syphon is excellent. Super easy to use with gloves and the Bluetooth works perfect. If I had a complaint I'd say the speakers are a little too thick but not too bad. Battery life is good too. I don't want communicators either. They are ok for standing around the gas station talking but on the trails in Quebec where you tend to spread out they simply don't work unless you're line-of-sight with each other.

Wow good to know. I took the Pelchat trail on Friday to Les Escoumins. One of my favorite trails. I'll consider myself lucky this time.

FYI - I spoke with Noel the other day. His brother Jack sold the place in November. Bummer. Like you said, they always did a great job.

Just got back last night from this spur of the moment loop. As you said everything was absolutely perfect and no traffic anywhere. Locals on the Southern end of the loop tell me they got 2 more weeks before things start to close down. Most areas have 4-5 feet of snow. Some of the trail signs just poking through the snow its so deep. It pretty much snowed non-stop since last Wednesday. Saw the sun for 15 minutes yesterday.

Gotcha. Thank you.

That's a gutsy move running a 17 year old sled. Congrats that you made it. I'd go play the lottery now. lol We are headed up there this Saturday to do a shorter version of that trip. What communicators did you use? I just returned the Cardo Scala Rider Packtalk because they weren't that great. Sound was good but getting them to connect was always a pain and the volume would randomly go up and down without touching them, and I'd always hear his engine noise which would stop the music. My buddy had the same issue. I know, first world problems... I just bought the U-clear but I'm hearing those aren't much better. I only use them for music because the range sucks.

Actually I'm not opposed to riding up there in big storms. We would've had to drive truck back in it! Took us 10 hours last time instead of the normal 5 hours. They shut every highway down so we had to take back-ass country roads all the way to NY in whiteout conditions. I'm told the perch is from the locals ice fishing and it's only served on Fridays for some reason. But its excellent, worth trying! Enjoy your trip!

We got the same line of questioning at the border. Looks like you stopped at the Sunoco gas station at the Champlain exit. Best chicken ever. If you get there on a Friday they have fresh perch too. We did a 750 mile loop around Lac St Jean. Started in Beaupre, drove out of the rain on Thursday. Most trails were perfect but some sloppy due to all the snow they got. We were winging it too, no issues. Although the Casino in La Malbaie was closed which we didn't know until we were already checked in. For the most part places were ignoring the vaccine passport requirement to eat which was refreshing. One place though refused to serve us because we didn't have the correct app that shows a specific QR code. Apparently Canadians use a different app than the ArriveCAN app we had to use. I probably looked annoyed and started getting dressed to leave when the manager came over and told us to calm down they would serve us. Just so nuts up there with the mandates. Definitely a different vibe than in the US. The more remote you got the less people seemed to care about masks, etc. Anyway, we ended our trip a day early because of the storm that was coming. Been there done that before.

I've run both Split Rails and Snow Trackers on a gade. They both give you that power steering feel and zero darting but the cost of the Split Rail is just crazy. I bought the Split Rails used so I didn't have to shell out the $1,000 for them new. For the price the Snow Trackers are the better buy. By the way, the Split Rails I have are for sale. They fit the older Skidoo front end (2011). I guess that's another drawback of the Split Rail. They are specific to the front end geometry, or you can buy different spindles.