YEARS

WE CELEBRATE A DECADE OF PRINT PUBLICATION WITH A REFLECTION ON SOME OF THE NOTABLE DEVELOPMENTS IN MOUNTAIN SLEDDING WITHIN THAT TIMEFRAME

Arrival Of The Avalanche Airbag

Avalanche airbag technology was still in its infancy in the early 2010s, and their use was not yet common. Around the time of our first issue, airbag makers Highmark and Backcountry Access had begun to produce avalanche airbags specifically for the needs of sledders— with features like right shoulder deployment (to account for hand on throttle) and external shovel carry systems.

Today, it seems more mountain riders than not wear an avalanche airbag in the backcountry. These lifesaving tools continue to improve with new technology such as the use of advanced materials, smaller and lighter compressed gas cylinders and, most recently, battery and supercapacitor powered fan inflation systems.

Mountain Safety Becomes A Priority

Along with the proliferation of sleds specifically designed for mountain riding, came an influx of new riders who had never before had to consider the unique hazards present in the mountains. The magnified consequences of incidents there—such as injury, avalanche involvement, breakdowns and becoming lost in the mountains—started stacking up, to tragic effect in some cases. With better gear (transceivers and airbags), a focus on snowmobilers by Avalanche Canada and a trending culture that values coming home at the end of the day more than heroics, avalanche fatality rates in Canada have thankfully begun to taper off in recent years, despite still growing numbers of backcountry sledders. However, the numbers of Search & Rescue calls continue to climb in popular backcountry snowmobile destinations.

So while mountain sledders largely are entering the backcountry with more knowledge and better prepared than ever, promoting mountain safety continues to be a priority of our publication to help encourage the community of riders to be well-informed, prepared, self-reliant and ready to practice safe habits in the mountains.

From Iss 13, a story on the hazards of glacier travel.

SNOW BIKES!

Timbersled was still making snowmobile skids back in 2012, but their focus was squarely on the growing segment established by the first Mountain Horse snow bike conversion kit produced in 2010.

Sledders were beginning to discover the tight tree riding capability and sheer fun of a snow bike conversion kit. Of course, it didn’t take long before performance seeking riders started customizing their new snow bikes for maximum performance.

The manufacturers were further growing the sport by pitching their products to dirt bike riders as a way to keep their bikes going year-round.

In 2015, Timbersled was acquired by Polaris, which brought considerably more development resources and marketing capability to the small, niche market company.

The market has continued to grow to support a handful of other snow bike kit manufacturers today, including YETI SnowMX, Mototrax, CMX and, most recently, Mtn.Top Snowbikes.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Only a decade ago, calling for outside help in a backcountry snowmobiling emergency wasn’t an easy or practical option. Satellite phones and subscription plans for them were, and continue to be, prohibitively expensive. VHF radio use requires a license and there’s no way to directly contact emergency services via radio anyway. Mobile phone service in the backcountry was sparse and remains so to this day.

But two companies, SPOT and Delorme had recently emerged to change the way we communicate from the backcountry, with first generation satellite communication devices designed for recreational users. These tools allowed users to easily send a distress signal directly to emergency services from the backcountry via satellite networks.

Several iterations later, SPOT and inReach (now owned by Garmin) devices are now joined by a handful of other emergency satellite communications device options such as ZOLEO, Somewear and Bivy Stick to name a few. These devices today also offer a variety of additional functionality (such as weather forecasting and navigation) at different price levels.

ARCTIC CAT & YAMAHA PARTNERSHIP

For model year 2014 snowmobiles, Yamaha reached an unprecedented agreement with Arctic Cat to supply the chassis for Yamaha’s new SR Viper models. The SR Viper was introduced into the mountain segment for MY2015, using the M-TX designation and powered by Yamaha’s 4-stroke 1049 cc triple.

This would sunset the FX Nytro MTX—a significant model in its own right, being perhaps the most commonly adapted sled to turbo power at the time. The supply agreement is still in place, and with Arctic Cat on the cusp of introducing its next generation snowmobile platform, called Catalyst, in time for model year 2024, it will be interesting to see how the relationship continues to evolve.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE MOUNTAIN TURBO 4-STROKE

For MY2017, Yamaha juiced up their mountain offering with the release of the Sidewinder M-TX SE 162 model. The new Sidewinder, powered by the Genesis 998 Turbo 4-stroke engine, became the most powerful production snowmobile ever released.

Unfortunately, the mountain segment didn’t support the heavier 4-stroke model (powerful though it was), leading to just a three-year run. The Sidewinder M-TX was discontinued after 2019, when Yamaha briefly abandoned the mountain segment altogether.

The departure was short-lived however, and Yamaha returned for 2021 with a revival of the Mountain Max model, powered by a lighter, more versatile 2-stroke engine.

Mod Sleds And Custom Builders

You just don’t see highly modified sleds out there patrolling the big chutes of Revelstoke like you did a decade ago. We’re not talking sleds with aftermarket bumpers and a finger throttle here. Think carbon fibre chassis, titanium fasteners and water-to-air intercoolers. Huge power, chute slaying builds with price tags quite easily in the $30-40 thousand range. These exotic, custom mod sleds outperformed stock sleds of the time by a long shot. They teased tons of power, but their reliability (even from the best builders) was generally not great. These rocket ships required tuning, often leading their operators to spend more time tinkering than slaying chutes on any given day. But it was all part of the fun.

A contributor to the decline of the custom mod sled was surely the availability of user friendly, bolt-on, no tune, gas-and-go 2-stroke turbocharger kits. Many riders could install these at home in a weekend, rather than rely on a custom builder.

The tipping point may have been the 2015 Ski-Doo Summit 174” with 3” lugged track. Never before could you buy a sled off the showroom floor that offered so much uphill capability, stock.

We could point to all the improvements made to factory sleds over the past ten years that have made them lighter, better handling and more powerful. These improvements brought newer production sleds closer to (and in some ways surpassing) the performance of the mod sled of yesterday, at a fraction of the price and with infinitely superior reliability.

A collective shift in the riding preferences of mountain sledders made a difference too. The thrill of chute climbing was supplanted by a new freeriding movement that made use of the whole mountain.

But the proverbial nail in the coffin had to be the 2020.5 SkiDoo Summit 850 E-TEC Turbo.

Sure, 2-stoke turbocharger technology was nothing new at this time. But the difference—and this is a big one—is that riders were no longer required to turn to the aftermarket to add horsepower. It came that way from the factory, with stock reliability, and it came with warranty.

OWNER: Dave Micku

SLED: Custom 2011 Ski-Doo XP E-Tec

MOD BY:

TSS WATER-TO-AIR INTERCOOLER

According to Dave, the water-to-air intercooler has a signi cant advantage over its air-to-air cousin. It retains its ability to cool when there is little to no movement of air under the hood, which results in the reduced ability of a traditional intercooler to work e ectively. ere are a couple of common circumstances when this advantage plays out. One of these scenarios is the when the sled is moving slowly, such as when riding through tight, technical trees. Similarly, when the sled is hill climbing, although the track may be spinning at 160kph, the sled may only be crawling up the slope, which causes reduced air ow. Another circumstance that can hinder the air-to-air intercooler’s ability to perform is when deep snow blocks the hood vents, e ectively shutting down under-hood air movement.

Being able to provide consistent cooling is a huge advantage for the e ectiveness of the fuel control system. TSS uses the Boost-It fuel controller on this build, and keeping the intake air cool is vital to staying within the e ective working range of the controller.

The E-TEC Turbo retained the snappy engine characteristic of the naturally aspirated version, just with more power. There was no downside—it was just better.

Air that is not consistently cooled can cause the controller to work at the extremes of its range, which can result in sluggish throttle response. e water-to-air intercooler allows the fuel controller to work within its zone of comfort, producing crisp throttle response when you need it most.

Dave says he has a lot of customers buying TSS A-Arms to protect their stock sleds as well.

TURBO KITS FOR Polaris Ski-Doo Arctic Cat

Visit www.boondockers.com/ and build your turbo kit today.

POLARIS NOW OFFERS TWO DISTINCT ‘FACTORY MOD’ POWERPLANT OPTIONS—PATRIOT BOOST AND 9R.

Polaris quickly followed suit with Patriot Boost, and added their factory big bore 9R a year later.

There will probably always be demand for builders to find ways to improve or squeeze a little more performance out of factory sleds that are manufactured under the constraints of mass production and governmental regulation. Just maybe not as much as before.

Decline Of The Aftermarket

This could be lumped in with the point about mod sleds. The snowmobile manufacturers have increasingly taken note of what’s available in the aftermarket and incorporated those things into their offerings.

What were once the domain of the performance aftermarket, now come as factory options on mountain models. Options like:

• Narrower A-arms

• Reinforced running boards

• Long tracks and short tunnels

• Premium shocks

• Compact, lightweight seats

But this assimilation has not been limited to performance products. The manufacturers (BRP and Polaris in particular) have developed huge catalogues of parts, garments and accessories. You can get just about anything with a LinQ or Lock and Ride Flex attachment on it these days.