I took those photos last winter/spring during a hill climbing contest (which was pretty cool to see) and in talking to some of the participants, they said attendance was down by about half from last year due to gas prices, which applies to towing the sleds more than actually running them.

Perhaps it is a broad brush, but it only takes a few bad ‘bilers to ruin it for everyone, and it is that user group that really needs to police itself. For instance, I have a friend who publicly swears he’s a responsible sledder, yet in private he mentions how he cuts down trees, high marks, poaches, etc.. And when sled go 60+ mph on the flats, forget about catching them, let alone getting their registration numbers.

Fences, signs and barricades reduce the poaching, but are basically mountain litter that has to be put up just to stop other mountain litter from happening. Do we need put “Do Not Cut” signs on every tree, or “Do Not Shoot” on every cow? Aren’t some things just obvious?

Ideally, sledders would learn the rules and obey them, and if they don’t, they only have themselves to blame when they lose the right to ride two-strokes in places like Yellowstone.

http://www.dongshow-productions.com

I sure wish there was some enforcement here where I now ski in the California Sierra. Its quite common to see snowmobile tracks crossing clearly posted boundaries, and tracks up fragile ridges.

I am tempted to rage, or worse, at snowmobile users who ride deep into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It is also frustrating to see lame Enforcement of snowmobile Wilderness trespass. However I will compliment some recent increasing USFS Enforcement near my home. That Enforcement is perhaps in part a result of documentation and complaints form many of us. To their credit USFS was on the ground near here last winter asking questions near a well-known Wilderness trespass cut-trail entry point. I was also told of a Citation issued elsewhere in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, hooray!

To the credit of mainstream snowmobile riders, the snowmobile Closure signs that I assisted posting for USFS were effective. Last winter I saw snowmobile tracks turning around from recently posted Closure signs where I had seen Closure Violation previously. I decided to help aside from my complaining, and it seems to have had a positive effect. So personal, but civil, involvement seems to be worthwhile.

The key issue is being responsible. Sleds in the backcountry are almost impossible to control as they are so much faster than anything else, and adding more sleds to try and catch the bad sleds is not the answer either.

My beef with sleds is when they poach wilderness/private property, or when the owners bust out the saws to trim a few trees out of the way on PUBLIC land so they can ram their machines up a ridgeline.

Unfortunately, rogue snowmobiliers can’t be relied on to police themselves,

Reality: Loud, wilderness poaching, law breaking, smoke belching, rebels.”

Hmmm. Labeling all snowmobilers, Andrew? Obviously the law breakers and inconsiderate or destructive snowmobile users deserve derision or arrest, but your words sound like a broad brush. Are self-powered recreationists morally superior to others? If so, why?

That finger pointing, thing…rhetorically, I would ask, ‘how much jet fuel, or gas for the car, have you and your companions burned in order to fly or drive to pristine and exotic wilderness locations in order to ski on high tech gear made from resins, plastics, etc…?’ I find it interesting that snomo-haters, often from over in the city, drive their cars for hours through the mountains then speak derisively about snowmobile riders as if the snowmobile alone, but not their car, is destructive. Oh, I forgot, carbon emissions from certain hybrid cars make one morally superior also.

I am a snowmobile rider, it is a tool used to access powder snow for randonnee skiing. I also have worked with USFS to enforce motorized Closure Boundaries. I have met many very considerate and friendly snowmobilers, and have been helped by snowmobile riders several times after my beater sled broke down miles from the trailhead. In fact, on the whole my experience has been that the snowmobilers that I meet when I ride out with skis strapped on are often friendlier and more interested than self-powered skiers, too often with their scowls and attitude as illustrated here. Too bad, I offer tows and rides to friendly skiers to the goods sometimes…