Results

This last weekend Team Summit made the trip from the Sierra’s to the Rockies for some real riding. Team Boondockers lead by Dan Gardiner, Phatty and Ryan Nelson showed them why Utah has the greatest snow on earth. I was able to spend one day with the entire group of 15+ riders and get to ride with some friends from Team Summit for the first time.

What a great bunch of guys. Everyone was there for one purpose and that was to see if Oberti could side hill. Actually no it was to just have fun, but we did find out that Oberti can ride, maybe it is his new sled or new sense of desire not to total this one, but he sure turned some heads. Smasher showed us he can side hill with the best of them and hopefully soon Smasher and Gardiner get the opportunity to duel it out. Jesse and Shane laid it all out on the line hitting some sick drops. Billy Goat even showed us how crazy he is as he climbed some sick shoots and showing us all up. Luckily we with the help of King and Gardiner they were all captured on film.

It was a great ride and I hope to be able to ride with them again. Everyone really made it worth it. Thanks to the entire Team Summit Crew for taking the trip out.

Wow, this winter sure has had its ups and downs thats for sure. Snow started a little late, but I was able to get a couple of rides in early. Unfortunately even though the snow was great I had problems of a different kind. Worked for months on both sleds, an 05 900 RMK and an 05 M7. Thought I had all the problems taken care off and even improved each sled slightly. It sure was a kick in the pants when things didn’t turn out like I wanted.

So I’ll let you in on my little winter roller coaster. First off the M7’s first ride was cut short about 2 miles from the truck as exhaust valve solenoid gave out. So while that was in the shop getting fixed I took the 9 out for its maiden voyage this year. That turned out to be worse than the M7’s run. Ended up taking the motor. Now I’m sitting waiting for some additional parts for the M7 to make it the sled I want and waiting for Polaris to stand behind their warranty and cover my sled that went down because of a bolt that was stripped in the crankcase.

Did that stop me from riding. I don’t think so, always have a Plan C if needs be. Luckily I’m able to be able to still be riding an 08 M8 that I have access too. I’ve been able to ride in new areas, with new people and go big. Even found some great gaps and cliffs that will be calling my name once the M7 is up for the challenge.

Its always a fathers dream to have one of his boys follow in his footsteps. I was able to take my boy on his first real ride. Boy did he have some fun. It was of course an easy ride, but one of the more fun rides I’ve been on in a while.

The little guy really held up to all the elements. It was cold and snowing, but that didn’t phase him. He just kept wanting to play in the snow. He really enjoyed getting people unstuck using dad’s shovel. He was able to experience all the joys of sledding on in one ride. It won’t be long before he is pushing his dad to be better.

All true riders have at least felt the urger to get out there and ride there sleds this year. I’ve been having this urger for about three weeks now. There was a huge storm that allowed some individuals just two hours north of me. I just about made the trip at that point, but decided to hold off and wait for another storm. Unfortunately there wasn’t another storm for quite a while and so I never hit the hill.

I just couldn’t stand it anymore I had to get on the snow. I’ve been working on an 05 M7 that I’ll be using for more of a free style sled this year. It needed a lot of work to get back into running condition and I was ready to finally test it out. Saturday I made the trip to Togwotee, WY to feed the need to ride. When we got there the snow was even better than I expected and we were able to play for a good 4+ hours in powder even.

However there was downside to the trip. Even after all the work I’ve put into the M7 it still will not rev over 5600 rpms. After messing with the sled for about an hour on the hill I ended up taking it back to the trailer and doubling up with a buddy. The good thing is I was able to find out the problem before the good snow got here, but it was a pain not being able to ride my own sled saturday.

Last year was a great year for snow, downside is we didn’t pull the camera out enough. Too busy enjoying the snow. I’ve taken what video we did gather and put together. I did this mainly for those of us in the video, but know that others would enjoy. We had some problems with the video camera throughout the year with either the battery dying early or it not recording or if it did record it had a dirty head so the recording was pretty crappy.

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I probably spent a total of 40hrs on the video over the course of the past three months. Hope you enjoy.

Amazing. I had the opportunity this weekend to get with Aaron Case who earlier that day was able to meet up with Dan Gardiner and get a copy of the semi finalized version of the new snowmobile video Boondockers aliVe. What an opportunity.

Getting to know one of the greatest riders has been an experience out of a dream. Then to be able to work with him on the so many different levels other than just riding has been even better. Dan Gardiner Films has always been some of my favorite sled videos to watch but the experience I had Friday evening topped everything.

Dan has a philosophy that a great snowmobile video is hours of footage, but an intense 45 mins of extreme powder riding with some sick drops and even better gaps. Dan has done an excellent job of take the best footage he has and seamlessly assemble it into a video that wishes you were there for every moment. Boondockers aliVe has some unique features that will make your stomach climb up your throat, your jaw drop, and leave you wanting more, so you hit play again.

My Props go out to Dan Gardiner in his efforts to produce what I have seen as the best Snowmobile Video yet. Equally is those riders that have taken the risks, became some of the best and continue to impress us every year. Whether it is new terrain, larger drops, wider gaps, or deeper powder (if you have seen any of the other Boondockers videos you might ask how they can get deeper, well get this video and you will see just how deep it can get), Team Boondockers always puts on a show.

I’ve been informed that since I have been able to watch aliVe, Dan has gone back changed some section, increased the intensity and made it even better. It is now off and being duplicated and is supposed to hit the truck for shipping August 8th. If you are trying to decide which video to get this year you might have a hard decision and there are many out there, but if you love powder and want to get a video you will want to watch over and over again I recommend getting Boondockers aliVe, oh and if that isn’t enough you will receive the first Boondockers Magazine included with every copy of the DVD. A 60 page insert telling you all about Boondockers, learn more about the riders, find out where some of the footage is filmed and the real stories behind the film.

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This year as many of you know has been a great. It has been several years since riding in the late months of April and May were so good. We were able to take a weekend and go up to American Fork Canyon for the first time. The snow at the first of the trail had us worried. However once we got up there a ways we were able to get in to some really good areas. Making it a very good ride. Luckily we were able to have a really good friend join us Evan Ehat that takes some excellent pictures. It was a good thing to since the video camera battery died before we were able to get any footage. So he put together this short film of some of the best shots taken that day.