Until Friday. Being the type of guy that likes adventure and not one to sit in my hotel room waiting to go back home, I decided something special was in order. I talked to my partner for this flight and we decided we were going to get some skiing in, but first something more extreme was on our minds. We wanted more speed than just pointing the skis downhill, we wanted extreme speed, we wanted more thrills, more adrenaline. We decided some motor sport action was needed. So we booked ourselves a room at Daniels Summit Lodge with a snowmobile package for a whole day. OMG, OMG what a day this turned out to be. I'm still sore (all over) today from the hard work of driving these machines to the limit. High speed runs on the flat trails, high speed runs in the powder, high speed runs in the twisties, and not to be forgotten, the hill climbs, the jumps and so on.

<b>THE MACHINE:</B>

<b>The Polaris RMK 600 HO</b>. Built especially for deep powder riding with a specially designed track system this sled was equipped with the 600cc HO motor. A two cylinder liquid cooled oil injected two stroke motor producing 120 HP and 80 lbs of torque at 8000 RPM. It weighs in at 497 lbs. Folks all I can say is when you floor the gas on this thing you better be hanging on to it because it will leave you behind. I don't know how accurate the speedometer is on these snowmobiles, but I did see 90 mph on its digital read out. Now the same thing can be said when you apply the brakes, hang on or else you are going to fly over the handle bars. An amazing thing I noticed right away when I started to push the RMK 600 to the limits... <b>It understeers like our cars!</b> Come into a curve too fast and the nose pushes out. Get on the power too fast and the nose comes up the skis don't bite and it understeers. So after trying out a few things I came to the conclusion that trail braking was in order, really, like it is done in our cars. Apply the brakes prior to the turn the weight shifts forward, keep some brake pressure on while turning, the steering (skis) bite a lot more and the nose turns in. If you aplly a lot of brake the tail end will come around, wonderful oversteer! It was unbelievable.

Unfortunately for us there was no deep powder to be had except in a few places but that was fine because we manged to go faster than I thought I would go on this type of sled. We ended up doing about 140 miles that day and filling up twice. It cost us almost $100.00 in gas for the two sleds! The owner of the shop just said to us "you must be riding the crap out of these machines" to which we answered "of course, that's what we are here for". LOL. The gentleman was kind enough to give us directions to other trails that are not supposed to be used by regular customers because of where they take you... In the back country.

Let the fun begin...


Here is a picture of this wonderful machine. Yes the ugly guy getting suited up is me. LOL.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow1.jpg">


Here's a picture of that special track design for the deep powder. All I can say is, it is also very effective on the groomed trails to, excellent bite for acceleration and same for deceleration.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow2.jpg">


Here's another view of the sled. Look how forward you are positioned.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow3.jpg">


Jet Jockey learning how to master the flying technic of his new toy.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow4.jpg">


Giving the snowmobiles (and their riders) a break on top of a plateau at an altitude of over 9000 feet.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow5.jpg">


In the afternoon we went to the "back country" and enjoyed some extreme riding. More flying jumps going uphill and some goin downhill (that could be scary) and some hill climbing. Here's a shot of a hill we did climb. <b>How big do you think this hill is?</b> Answer in the next picture.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow7.jpg">


That's not a spec of dust in the picture. That's me and the sled in an attempt to get to the top! BTW, I succeeded.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow8.jpg">


Top of the world? Maybe not but we did get to the top of the highest peak at over 10,300 feet. Time for a small break before some more extremme fun. Hope you enjoyed it.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/46874/snow6.jpg">

all of the sudden Wed and not Tues like I think it is.

Did you end up going over the top? It's a fun hill to line up with others at the bottom and race up. Many times riding up there nobody can make it to the top (and I ride a modified 800 RMK with a 159" track).

Beautiful day!