Snowmobile updates 07-08

1/16/2008 We went up on the Flat tops, cold day. Sludge, Sarah, Simone and Ratz. We were expecting cold weather, but we couldn't change plans due to Simone (the other Italian) having that Wed. off from work. 60-65 miles. It was a rough trail going up but still manageable. Had to fight keeping the hands and feet warm the whole day. On the pics below we had our helmets on because it was too cold to take them off. Sarah found her first tree. Had to get the saws out to free the snowmobile. Great snow in places but my neck sure hurt after the days ride from all the bouncing.

Click on photos for full size
Sludge finally gets stuck

Simone gets stuck (click for larger) Is that sled smoking?

Sarah finds a tree, poor tree

Reminds me of riding with Todd Moyer..."get out the saws!"
Sludge supervises the sawing.

Yeah, you. Lucky nothing busted (on the sled, that is)

01/08-09/2008 Went up to Steamboat lake. 38 miles first day and 60 miles the second day. Good snow but a bit rough trails when trying to get out. The roads to Wyoming were smooth and deep. Dutch Creek lodging was wonderful. Would love to stay there again except riding along the road to get to the trails.

01/02/08 We've gone snowmobiling more than this blog has listed this season but today is the first day in awhile that we took a decent amount of pictures/movies. And what a day it was. 60 miles up in the Flat Tops. Great snow and they groomed the night before. Did tons of carving in the powder. Sarah really got the carving down after awhile. Sleds performed great. Our backs and arms will sure hurt tomorrow.

Click on photos for larger size


Click on photos for larger size

12/25/07 White Xmas for sure. Powder day and Sarah and I got out for an hour or two. Deep powder. Sarah worked on her carving but had some difficulty. One good stuck on a hill. Base is really getting there. Can start riding anywhere almost.





12/18/07 Great day with Sludge and the ball and chain. Testing out the new sled a bit. Red and White area. Nice snow in some valleys.



12/05/07 Finally got out (below, click on photo for larger size), just under 30 miles. Took forever to get the Ski-doo started. M7 ran good all day. Trails were nice and smooth, but we need snow before we can get off trail. We still did a bit and Sarah put it in a creek. Latest start to the sledding season that I've ever had. Last year we were out at the end of Oct.
But snow predicted through this weekend at least. The 800 Doo isn't holding RPMs in the deep snow. Starts at about 7500 and then drops to almost 6000. I think it is the clutch springs. We dropped it off at Marshals for new springs in both clutches, coolant hose, and a hole shot cover for the busted belly pan. Still a fun day. Hoping for more snow. Sarah was ordering all sorts of new items. Marshall loves her.


12/3/2007 Still haven't been out due to lack of snow. However, we might be going this coming Tues or Wed for a little road ride.

Vail snow 07-08

The Antlers employees have an almost daily blog on the Vail snow conditions The Antlers Blog. Updating it almost daily.

November 2007

Still a little too busy. Did a couple of trips to Rabbit Valley. One for mountain biking and the other for motor biking. Motor biking with Charlie E. was a blast. Did 64 miles but was hung over the whole day from too much drinking the night before. Imagine That.

New project.... working on some graphs of the snow water content of Vail mountain the last week. Due to the lack of snow I was sort of curious of the history of the snow depths up on Vail mountain. Hope to get some of the graphs up on this blog one of these days.

Don't cut the trees!

Some pics from trip to Europe 2007, they actually cut trees there. Amazing. Seems like virtually every town (not always) has a sawmill to process trees. Outside every town there were trees stacked up for future processing. Trucks on the roads hauling trees. Sounds of chainsaws in the woods here and there cutting trees. And the forests looked great.

October starting the ratzco blog

Starting entries October 13th, (hey happy birthday sister!)

We might get some snow tonight in Vail, Colorado. I don't expect much but others sure do.

Helicopter flights

Now it is time to get POLITICAL.....Hey, later in the day Sarah clued me in on this story. A Tucson hospital is selling Birth packages to Foreign Nationals. Basically saying to come on over and have the baby here and instant citizenship for the baby! Anchor baby. Aren't you glad you spent all that money on getting your citizenship Sarah ?
Here is the link
Another from the Arizona Daily Star

Here is my favorite topic. Illegal immigrants going on helicopter rides. We sure are mean and nasty here in America. You can step into this country without a nickle, then you get yourself messed up, and WHAM, excellent intensive care and helicopter ride thrown in. (Do they even bother sending them a bill?) Yeah right. You gotta laugh when people say 40 million in this country don't have access to health care. Complete nonesense. In 15 minutes of search on "illegal immigrant and helicopter and hospital" I came up with these just recent stories.


Aug 23, 2009
July 29, 2009
July 20, 2009 a
July 20, 2009 b
July 20, 2009 c
July 19th, towards end of article

July 15, 2009

July 1, 2009

Can you imagine how many of these things happen in a year? I'd get you more links, but hey, I gotta get to work so I can buy someone a helicopter ride. Do your own search.