Sledheads get high marks in the snow

By Stephen Hlawaty
Outdoors Columnist

"Halt an," my Uncle Engelbert howled out to me in his thick German voice through bouts of laughter as we raced under a pitch black night through the dense mid-Atlantic woods of his Roscoe, N.Y., farm.

I was 7 and held my uncle's waist in a death grip as he thumbed the throttle of his Polaris and churned across a particularly steep slope. The whiney engine could have peeled the bark off of the surrounding birch trees. It was one of those special moments of childhood where fun and fear coalesce to form something uniquely memorable in a young boy's life. For me--and the rest of his nephews and nieces--Uncle Engelbert's enthusiasm bore a close resemblance to recklessness. No wonder we liked him.

It was on that night 30 years ago that I was introduced to the magical --or in this case maniacal--world of snowmobiling. Since then, I've ridden sleds throughout the mid-Atlantic and across the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevadas and the Chugach Range (where snowmobiles are known as snowmachines). While I am definitely more of an outdoor purist, relying on muscle propulsion over motorized power, there is still no escaping the thrill of straddling a 600cc engine and racing across a frozen Colorado landscape at speeds of over 75 miles an hour.

With that kind of power and speed, you definitely need to call on a variety of muscle groups to work through whatever northern Colorado's backcountry has to offer. Indeed, riders often have to shift their entire body weight when turning their sleds to counteract the resistance of the snow. This is no small feat when you consider that your sled may weigh 500 to 600 pounds. This is why it's important that you familiarize yourself with your snowmobile's handling and performance features, as individual models may vary, as well as the area in which you plan to ride.

With a total land area of 71,000 acres and 3,000 miles of maintained trails, the Colorado State Forest, roughly 70 miles west of Fort Collins on State Highway 14, offers snowmobilers a wide assortment of trails. Riding on groomed trails through mixed conifer forests, high alpine lakes and meadows, and underneath towering craggy peaks, one could actually snowmobile from the Colorado State Forest all the way to Grand Lake, one of Colorado's premier snowmobiling destinations. Which brings us to one of snowmobiling's most salient selling points: access. What would ordinarily take eight to 10 hours on skis or snowshoes to access could take snowmobilers as little as two to three hours to access.

One of the area's most scenic rides includes snowmobiling to the bowls that tower above Michigan Lakes, east of the Nokhu Crags. On the way to these bowls, snowmobilers pass through dense forests along a very negotiable trail. Once arriving at the bowls and the lakes, the stark Nokhu Crags stand in bold relief against a backdrop that is quintessential Colorado.

The creamy white bowls offer endless opportunities for high-marking, or riding your snowmobile as high up a snow face as possible without tipping over. Seasoned high-markers make wide-sweeping and high-reaching arcs in the snow, the likes of which even John Hancock would be proud. The rider with the highest mark on the slope wins. However, this technique may also trigger avalanches and should be performed with caution.

Another great place to ride is in the Snowy Mountain Range of southeastern Wyoming, roughly 100 miles from Fort Collins. The Snowy Mountains offer over 300 miles of marked, mapped, and easily navigable trails. As one heads further north into the Snowy Mountain Range, the terrain becomes quite a bit more technical, with snow faces whose slopes are greater than 50 degrees. At such an angle, tipping your sled becomes a considerable hazard. But novice snowmobilers need not fear when they have Dan Galecki, owner and operator of Spindrift Snowmobile Tours, as their guide. Dan makes it a point to emphasize safety, low-impact use and having fun while on one of his tours. He goes so far as to "lay a perimeter" within which clients must ride when accessing more technical terrain.

For snowmobile club information, call Craig Mueller of Colorado Blizzards at 970-493-7779 or visit the Colorado Snowmobile Association at www.sledcity.com.