BREAKING TRAIL

BY LYNN KEILLOR / EDITOR

EDITOR: Lynn Keillor

ASSOCIATE MANAGING ART DIRECTOR: Nicole Siewert

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: David Wells, T. J. Krob, Jeff Oberg, Greg Burtoft Bill Heinzelman, Linda Heinzelman, Bruce Cody

The amount, in cubic feet, of snow needed to convert the Portage Lake Lift Bridge deck into a snowmobile trail.

The pounds of gear carried by snowmobile guide Bruce Cody for just about any scenario.

The year of the Arab oil embargo, which caused turmoil for any gasoline-powered machines and sounded the death knell for snowmobile brands such as Speedway.

The word“ scrum” has become popular in business these days as a part of project management philosophy. The word comes from rugby, where players make a tight formation to gain possession of the ball.

I experienced scrums long before the word made it to the mainstream, and it happened at Snow Goer planning meetings. Once a year, we’ d chart out the contents for an entire season of magazines – and then run with our hair on fire to get it all done in a few winter months. We’ d discuss which classes of snowmobiles to feature, which products to test, who to profile and then, the grand finale, our tour stories. Each of us would pitch our best ideas and, especially with the tour stories, we’ d start to jockey for prime position of who would get to do what and go where.

The allure of the mountains was strong among the staff, with each staff member proposing something more extreme than the other. A discussion would turn into a frothy battle with everyone making their cases to go steep and deep. Well, almost everyone. There happened to be one person, a person terrified of avalanches, who stepped well away from the mayhem. That person was me.

While they fought over Cooke City or Revelstoke or Togwotee, I had the pick of the rest of the U. S. and Canada. My only real competition was Snow Goer contributor David Wells, who usually – but not always – had dibs on Quebec and his home state of New York. I may still hold a grudge that he got to write the Gaspé Peninsula story and I did not.

I took full advantage and experienced more dream snowmobile destinations than one person should be allowed – deep into Northern Ontario; looking for gangster haunts in the Wisconsin Northwoods; snowmobiling on the Iron Dog trail in Alaska; getting into the nooks and crannies of Vermont; and sneaking a Quebec tour when Wells wasn’ t looking. While the guys cornice-jumped and came home with sunburns, I made the odometer spin and put duct tape on my frostbite.

Sure, I hit some western locales and set a high mark as the most timid snowmobiler to ride the Rockies. But put me on the trails in Michigan’ s UP or anywhere in Minnesota, and I was cookin’ with gas. Saddlebag trips became my favorite way to snow-travel and to meet interesting people.

This issue contains two stories that I wish I could’ ve written – and from different perspectives of the classic snowmobile tour experience.

One is from the view of two seasoned snowmobilers who take an annual winter trip to Quebec. Snowmobiling in Quebec is a true treat. Not only are the trails maintained on a whole different level than other places, there’ s a bit of je ne sais quoi about riding in a different language.

The other piece is through the eyes of a professional snowmobile guide who leads groups in Quebec. I’ ve thought of myself as a prepared packer, but I have nothing on guide Bruce Cody’ s ultimate setup.

This issue won’ t leave the powder hounds behind. Our mountain specialist T. J. Krob gives us a full analysis of the big-bore, top-dog 2026 mountain machines from Lynx, Polaris and Ski-Doo. Krob, who lives in Montana, is the target market for these machines, which lends high credibility to his report.

February marks a half-way point in our season with days markedly longer. Whether it’ s a saddlebag tour, a mountain adventure, digging in or digging out, this is the month to really make it count.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Wayne Davis

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SNOW GOER( ISSN # 1056-4209) is published five times per year – January, February, October, November and December – by EPG Brand Acceleration, 7760 France Avenue South, Suite 810, Bloomington, MN 55435. Periodicals postage paid at Plymouth, MN 55441 and additional mailing offices. The annual subscription rate is $ 26.97 per year in the United States. U. S. funds only. Printed in U. S. A.

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