After all my issues with my red viper that had the bog issue which I was able to correct finally, thanks to the great TY's here, I almost destroyed it!
So, I had my brothers out with their families, rented a cabin up near the ski-hill and had a grand ski, sled, snowmobile trip planned. Everything was going great and then one trip with my brother we decided to follow a power line out to an area (which I knew went along the top of a "hill climb" bowl). We stayed to the right going out avoiding the steep drop off to the left. On the trip back I decided to let my brother lead since he could use the power line almost all the way back to the cabin. Mistake! Good intent but poor execution on my part! At dusk, my brother is following the power lines fine but he goes to the right side of them. And this happens to be the lee side (downwind side for non-nautical) and some of the patches of trees have formed 7 to 9 foot drifts that he's going thru. So my brother is flirting with a (unknown to him) steep bowl on his right, dealing with some pretty tricky drifts, and it's dark out. So I decide to get past him on the right side (closer to the steep bowl) to head him off. I got in front of him. However the last backside of the last drift was almost vertical and myself and the machine lawn-darted! My handlebars rotated forward, and I got thrown over the right front of the machine. When, I got to my feet, in the 2 1/2 to 3 feet of powder I noticed my machine had bounced out and was slowly moving away from me. However, just fast enough that I couldn't catch it in the snow that was almost waist deep. You guessed it! It arced to the right and the last thing I saw was the reflector on my grab bar disappear into the steep bowl. And knowing this bowl, I knew there were mostly groups of trees at the bottom that you had to miss on the descent when riding the machine down. So after, talking to the world and slapping the snow like a 13yo having a fit, I told my brother what happened and we proceeded to go around to a more gradual descent to end up at the bottom. I fully expected to be retrieving my machine with milk cartons in the following days. Low and behold there it was! Upright, idling, without a scratch, and it had passed the trees. After a slight temporary adjustment to the handlebars, we rode back to the cabin. My brother reminded me that I should go buy a lottery ticket! I know I should have but I was greatfull enough that night! I've come to think that this sled is better at riding without me then with me. I've also come to theorize that it must have caught the ski groves from another sled that had come up or down that bowl which allowed it to miss the trees.
Anyways, I'm one lucky mo this year.
So, I had my brothers out with their families, rented a cabin up near the ski-hill and had a grand ski, sled, snowmobile trip planned. Everything was going great and then one trip with my brother we decided to follow a power line out to an area (which I knew went along the top of a "hill climb" bowl). We stayed to the right going out avoiding the steep drop off to the left. On the trip back I decided to let my brother lead since he could use the power line almost all the way back to the cabin. Mistake! Good intent but poor execution on my part! At dusk, my brother is following the power lines fine but he goes to the right side of them. And this happens to be the lee side (downwind side for non-nautical) and some of the patches of trees have formed 7 to 9 foot drifts that he's going thru. So my brother is flirting with a (unknown to him) steep bowl on his right, dealing with some pretty tricky drifts, and it's dark out. So I decide to get past him on the right side (closer to the steep bowl) to head him off. I got in front of him. However the last backside of the last drift was almost vertical and myself and the machine lawn-darted! My handlebars rotated forward, and I got thrown over the right front of the machine. When, I got to my feet, in the 2 1/2 to 3 feet of powder I noticed my machine had bounced out and was slowly moving away from me. However, just fast enough that I couldn't catch it in the snow that was almost waist deep. You guessed it! It arced to the right and the last thing I saw was the reflector on my grab bar disappear into the steep bowl. And knowing this bowl, I knew there were mostly groups of trees at the bottom that you had to miss on the descent when riding the machine down. So after, talking to the world and slapping the snow like a 13yo having a fit, I told my brother what happened and we proceeded to go around to a more gradual descent to end up at the bottom. I fully expected to be retrieving my machine with milk cartons in the following days. Low and behold there it was! Upright, idling, without a scratch, and it had passed the trees. After a slight temporary adjustment to the handlebars, we rode back to the cabin. My brother reminded me that I should go buy a lottery ticket! I know I should have but I was greatfull enough that night! I've come to think that this sled is better at riding without me then with me. I've also come to theorize that it must have caught the ski groves from another sled that had come up or down that bowl which allowed it to miss the trees.
Anyways, I'm one lucky mo this year.
Last edited:
Yamaha4life3
New member
Wowwww"!!!
pretty awesome luck there!