AlpineK Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 We haven't had a good smack down between skiers and snowmobilers for a while. On a recent trip up to Canada Jordop and I skied into a basin that we thought would be free of snowmobilers only to find a herd of 15 of em. They were noisy and they stunk up the whole basin. I fully expect to see snowmobiles on logging roads and other areas below tree line, but I think the high alpine environment is no place for big noisy machines. At the very least the use should be restricted to a few areas. This isn't a huge issue in Washington State, however the alpine terrain in BC is being overrun. Backcountry skiers take advantage of cars and trucks, but they leave them behind. One of the great things about bc skiing is to experience the silence of the mountains in winter. In reality there is no way that snowmobiles and skiers can use the same areas. In the case of the Whistler-Pemberton area. There are huge areas, with good bc skiing, where nobody will go skiing because they are overrun with snowmobiles. Just because you motorheads can go anywhere doesn't mean you should go anywhere. Quote
minx Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 i was recently horrified to learn that they're indoctrinating them younger than ever. They have snowmobiles my 7yr old can ride! I had no idea. Quote
freeclimb9 Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 Alpinek, granted, snowmobiles are inefficient at burning fuel. But I actually appreciate their noise. Imagine a world in which snowmobiles can silently approach at 60 mph, and you might, too. Quote
iain Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 ah yes a valuable safety feature. now I know! Quote
allthumbs Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 minx said: i was recently horrified to learn that they're indoctrinating them younger than ever. They have snowmobiles my 7yr old can ride! I had no idea. kids and sleds Quote
minx Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 yikes! that's scary. they've done it on purpose! yeah the noise, what a nice safety feature. Saftey is the first concern in the bc after all. Quote
iain Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 minx said: i was recently horrified to learn that they're indoctrinating them younger than ever. They have snowmobiles my 7yr old can ride! I had no idea. oh how the parents pressure their kids in athletics at such an early age! Figure skating, tennis, skiing, and those poor children suffering the wrath from the overbearing snowmobiling mom. All in the quest for glory: Quote
AlpineK Posted February 24, 2003 Author Posted February 24, 2003 freeclimb9 said: Alpinek, granted, snowmobiles are inefficient at burning fuel. But I actually appreciate their noise. Imagine a world in which snowmobiles can silently approach at 60 mph, and you might, too. My basic point is bc skiing and snowmobiles are incompatible. Some kind of restrictions need to be put in place in the Whistler-Pemberton area, or soon the only folks out in the mountains will be sledheads. Quote
salbrecher Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 AlpineK, I dislike snowmobiles when I go skiing so I go to places where I KNOW I won't find them. snowmobiles have every right to go into the backcountry and enjoy it as well. snowmobiling is a multi million dollar industry and does a lot more for supporting the economy and tourism than a bunch or us shopping at MEC. The Lillooet Land and Resource Managment Plan (LLRMP) is currently working on boundries where snowmobiles can and can not go. In highly used areas they may have certain months or years that snowmobiles can not use a certain area. Quote
AlpineK Posted February 24, 2003 Author Posted February 24, 2003 I'm against banning them , but they have overrun huge areas of the mountains. In the case of our recent trip, we were skiing into an area where 5 years back snowmobilers didn't go. We were not expecting them at all. Quote
salbrecher Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 (edited) This past weekend I wanted nothing more than to hear the sweet sound of a snomobile and suck it's noxious fumes. We'd just finished an 8 day traverse of the Shulaps range near lillooet and had 30 km of flatish logging road to ski back to the truck. The snow was breakable crust and powder and I wanted a damn snowmobile track ! Edited February 24, 2003 by salbrecher Quote
AlpineK Posted February 24, 2003 Author Posted February 24, 2003 Well logging roads are a perfect place for a sled. Quote
cman Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 Snowmobiles suck. even when you are riding on them they are noisy and foul smelling. every time i see one out in the backcountry i hope they break down and the lazy ass owner has to walk all the way back to their car so they can see how far it is and how annoying it is to see other snowmobiles cruising by them. let them stick to the lowlands. check out the statistics this season on avalanche fatalities on avalanche.org and you can see that many of the incidents involve snowmobiles, and very few of them have safety equipment or avalanche training. something about riding a machine makes you forget your sensibilities. Quote
allthumbs Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 cman said: Snowmobiles suck. even when you are riding on them they are noisy and foul smelling. every time i see one out in the backcountry i hope they break down and the lazy ass owner has to walk all the way back to their car so they can see how far it is and how annoying it is to see other snowmobiles cruising by them. let them stick to the lowlands. check out the statistics this season on avalanche fatalities on avalanche.org and you can see that many of the incidents involve snowmobiles, and very few of them have safety equipment or avalanche training. something about riding a machine makes you forget your sensibilities. fuck you cpuss - I'll run your ass over with my sled if I see you out there. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 This past weekend I was out snowmobiling East of Blewitt Pass on all the logging roads out by Lion Rock. The Hog Loppett XC race/trek was going on at the same time on the same roads as the 'bilers use. I felt a little bad for those skiiers. Quote
mattp Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 trask said: fuck you cpuss - I'll run your ass over with my sled if I see you out there. He DOES have a point, though. Snowmobiles DO suck. In addition to being noisy and smelly and taking people who arguably do not belong there into "our" backcountry, they break down all the time and you have to get a really expensive one if you want to be able to ride them through deep or sticky snow. Don't take one very far into the backcountry unless you have two of them along with you or you are prepared to walk home. Quote
allthumbs Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 mattp said: trask said: fuck you cpuss - I'll run your ass over with my sled if I see you out there. He DOES have a point, though. Snowmobiles DO suck. In addition to being noisy and smelly and taking people who arguably do not belong there into "our" backcountry, they break down all the time and you have to get a really expensive one if you want to be able to ride them through deep or sticky snow. Don't take one very far into the backcountry unless you have two of them along with you or you are prepared to walk home. nice troll Matt Quote
AlpineK Posted February 26, 2003 Author Posted February 26, 2003 Every time I've been on a snowmobile (3 times) the machine broke down. They do suck, unless you go 20K for a new one every 2 years. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 AlpineK said: Every time I've been on a snowmobile (3 times) the machine broke down. They do suck, unless you go 20K for a new one every 2 years. Well it is true that you need to upgrade once in a while Quote
cman Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 is that you trask? you might be ready for the x games with those kind of extreme moves. jumps in the lowlands, good - high marking in the high alpine, bad Quote
iain Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 would be much less aggressive to criticize them if they didn't park the huge horsetrailer lengthwise across 6 parking spaces in an already-small snopark. Quote
Scott_J Posted February 26, 2003 Posted February 26, 2003 Snow machines have their uses, but as 90% of you on this list are "city" boys and girls you never see them as WORK MACHINES. I've used them for hunting, fishing, approaching ice climbs that are a long distance and a machine is the best option. Those of you that disagree with this use can kiss my butt. I've also seen the misuse of the gas hogs and its shameful. A good friend of my wife's was crippled by one in Hatchers Pass about 20 years ago by an out of control sno-goer. Very sad ending. I personally would never buy one as I can spend $ on other things, but to have the hard core feeling about the machine and the people that own them is not correct either. Its like saying float planes, river sleds, air boats etc. should be banned. All machines have good and bad users(owners). I was coming back from a climb in Alaska once that had a mo-fro decent. My buddy got hurt, an avid sno-go hater. Well, a sno-go driver helped haul his ass back to the trail head. His 'tude changed after that. Quote
AlpineK Posted February 26, 2003 Author Posted February 26, 2003 vegetablebelay said: This is what I'm against. Snowmobiles on logging roads Snowmobiles in clearcuts Snowmobiles in high alpine environment Or at least banned from most high alpine areas. Quote
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