Sled the East

gotta have the mid 90s 2pac.

Really sorry for the poor quality on this one guys. Youtube really dropped the ball. They muted the video b/c of copyrighted material. come on now…its one of hundreds of thousands of videos with copyrighted material…the link is beneath the video if you want to get creative and play the metacafe one and watch the HD youtube one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2HcCXNabpQ

The 2010 Pats Peak Snowmobile Hill Climb Event in Henniker, NH on April 3rd was well attended. There were well over 400 sleds racing at Pats Peak this year. There were many different classes to race in, from the small ZR120s for the kids, all the way up to fully modified open class. Men and women of all levels and experience could race. I raced in the 800 liquid and 800 modified class. Our buddy, Steve Vilela, raced in the 4-stroke class, 800 liquid, 800 modified, and open class. One of his sleds was a 4-stroke Yamaha with a supercharged 1000cc putting out 388HP. Needless to say he took 2nd place in the 4-stroke class with this sled. Nice work! The factory reps were also there providing demo rides up the mountain on 2011 sleds.

We arrived at 8am and the races started at around 10am and they didn’t finish until 7pm. It was a long day, but there were other things to do to keep you busy. There were helicopter rides, demo sled rides, radar run, vendor booths, vintage sled display, beer tent area, tunes jamming, and good times with friends watching sleds climb the mountain. The day definitely got more interesting as the faster sleds hit the hill.

I finished 11th out of 81 sleds in the 800 liquid class with a time of 29.50 seconds. Didn’t do as well in 800 modified class because I hit a huge rut up at the top of the hill at 80mph and it sent me to the right side of the trail. They didn’t really check sleds too closely if you entered stock, so it was kinda funny as people entered the race at tech inspection and the guy would ask…”is it stock?” and people would say “yes” and then the inspector would say “ya…right…everyone here says they are stock”. Word has it next year there will be a series of hillclimbs with a point race to determine winners. We’ll keep you posted as information becomes available.

Check out www.patspeak.com for more information, results, and photos. You can also click on the following links to see the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzAeoTiwDM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onlb_pFu0TU

A BIG congratulations goes out to Matthew Manning from Sandown, NH for managing to snag a great photo in the very depressing month of March. The photo was taken around the Boundery Pond Area of Pittsburg, NH.

And the runner-up position goes to Michael Eddy from Colebrook, NH, doing some trench digging in Maine.

Had a terrific trip up to Jay Peak Resort in Jay, VT on saturday for the 4th Annual Battle for Burlington, a slope-style snowboarding/skiing competition among local colleges; UVM, Champlain and St. Michaels. Struck up some good conversations with other freeride snowmobilers, had some beers, cooked some dogs and enjoyed the bright sunshine. Special thanks going out to Kevin for taking some great photos, and Rob for the on-hill transportation. All in all a great closing to the 2010 season.

Planet Snowmobile - 2009 Full from Mikael Berntsson on Vimeo.

Now I know I’m going against the grain of Sled the East but location aside, it was epic snowmobiling. I recently made a trip out to Utah and set aside a day (wish it was everyday i was out there) to visit the Wasatch State Park. It truly was an unbelievable day with perfect snow, cold temps and very thin air at 11,000ft.

After the poor trail conditions towards the end of Feb, it took alot of willpower to hit it again this weekend. Im sure glad I did! The weather was perfect, maybe a touch warm. The snow in town was non existent, but outside of the mecca, we were able to find snow 3-5 feet deep (thats not a typo)

Snodeo was the place to be Friday. The SDR crew out did themselves with beautiful trails and organizing the Snodeo. The manufacturers brought out the new and improved, although the backcountry and mountain sled showing was lacking. Arctic Cat and SKi Doo had no mountain sleds to show, we were all hoping to see the new Summit Freeride (Ski-Doo, its New England! we love crossovers!)  Only Yamaha and Polaris brought out the long tracks in the form of the Phazer MTX and the new-blue RMK from Polaris. On the way back we found some amazing clear cut hillsides. The snow was perfect for hill climbs!

Saturday was all off trail, all day! What started as a leisurely ride up to Boundry Pond, lead into fullblown woods riding. The border slash was the place to be apparently. Never have we seen more sleds on the cut! The hill climbs and drops were very technical. After a wienie-roast luch we got away from the border and bushwacker our way through Maine back into NH.

All in all, amazing weekend. The off trail claimed a few nuns/tunnels. Nothing a chain and come-along can’t fix! We met some new friends, spread a little STE swag, and met some people we only knew virtually. Let’s pray for more snow!

Congratulations to Scott from Berlin, NH for winning February’s Powder Shot of the Month. This photo comes from the Errol, NH area and sure looked like a fun day. Nice picture Scott.

And the runner-up photo goes to Kevin riding the Randolph Mtn area.