scottyr

Saw a couple of posts that say getting through Kap is becoming a challenge but the majority of the trails out of town are still pretty good.

Halfway Haven has to maintain 60kms of road themselves with their own equipment. No MTO crews plowing that road like the road to Base Camp. As I mentioned, I didnt have a problem making a "donation" at $4/L and probably even to $5, but when it hit $6/L a few weeks ago, that crossed the line for me and I used my Linq can.

I agree. HH could be charging $5/L and I wouldnt argue at all. There is a well maintained 2 lane highway that delivers fuel to Base Camp and the Hydro plant will need fuel constantly as well. Other than the drive itself there and back, it really isnt hard to get fuel delivered there. The guys at Base Camp are shooting themselves in the foot (and wallet) with all the chirping off they did early in the season and are now alienating a lot of customers.

As mentioned above, if the Base Camp needs $6/L gas to survive, then it should just close. Their business plan doesnt work at those prices. Gas at Halfway Haven was $3.50 when I was there the day before it closed for comparison.

The rail trail between Angliers and Ville Marie was so rock hard this am that all 3 machines were getting hot. Made it back to the truck at 1pm and loaded up on the way home now. That’s a wrap on sled season 21/22.

There is a lot of snow here but it’s supposed to be 7c here on Friday. Getting gas will be pain. The pavement is already quite dry around here. We have a short ride back to Ville Marie this am and then head back to KW. All of us have to work tomorrow.

We rode from Amos to Lasarre and then to Rouyn today. Not a big ride by any stretch but we had a late night last night. Trails were mint all day today. Like yesterday, we saw less than 10 sleds all day. I am starting to wonder if guys have quit riding for the season as there is so little traffic.

My buddy Paul called me on Sat wondering if I could go on Sunday for a quick ride to Quebec. I reminded him that I sold my 22 600XRS last week and had no sled. He was pretty quick to say that he knew that and he was offering me his spare 2019 Backcountry 850 to ride for a few days. We drove up to Ville Marie on Sunday and checked into the Motel Louise. We were the only sledders staying there last night. We hit the trails this am and headed towards Amos. Trails haven’t been groomed in a bit but have very little traffic. We rode 320kms today and met less than 20 sleds. We are checked into the Amosphere tonight. There are a few sleds but it’s pretty dead. Heading towards Rouyn tomorrow.

Sold - closes May 2

That place is becoming a joke. I just finished 1500kms up there and that station was by far the most expensive gas of the whole trip. Even more than Foleyet or places way farther off the beaten path. I will just plan on getting gas in Kap or Moonbeam from now on. And dont get me started on Smoothys. We walked out after waiting an hour for a soup/sandwich.

I will admit that I got busted about 25 years ago on the trail that runs along Hwy 11 going into Smooth Rock Falls. The cops picked me up on radar in their cruiser going 165km/h. I was on a brand new 1998 Polaris XC700 and the dumbass in me didnt think that running at warp speed along the highway was a bad idea. I now take it real slow when running on a trail that runs along a major highway. The cop was absolutely losing his mind. He didnt know what to charge me with. I finally got the standard MSVA speeding ticket but I was in the back seat of the cruiser for 45 mins while my buddies were freezing their azz off waiting for me.

Well, I could have been tricked into a new Polaris but couldnt pull the trigger. Every local dealer I talked to either was sold out of units or was playing full msrp + freight + pdi + admin game with me. I would have paid list + tax but thats it. $1000 of extra fees turned me off. I didnt even have to pay full list for my wifes Ford Bronco but I do understand that the sled dealers are getting very few machines this year. Between that and the fact that I own just about every Linq bag known to man as well as a full set of Skidoo clutch tools, I ended up ordering a 23 Renegade 850 XRS (base - no SS or gauge). My dealer treated me super fair and charged me slightly less than MSRP with no extra fees even though he could have just said full list +++.

I like to listen to the music my engine puts out. I listen to music on my street bike but have zero interest in listening to music or taking calls/texts on my sled. I guess I am just turning into grumpy old man

That sucks. How does it fall off? Either it wasnt put on correctly or the tabs broke?

What did you order?

The footprints in the snow were huge. I am 100% convinced it was a Cougar / Mountain Lion.

I will start a new thread to keep this one kind of on-track. It was an interesting experience

He always gives me a healthy discount on parts and accessories which helps ease the pain.

I can deal with list in todays market, but extra add-ons drive me mental.

Has anyone got a price from a Polaris dealer on a 23? Is it full list +++? My Doo dealer has offered me a "little" bit of a discount but nothing spectacular.

As crazy as it sounds, I just sold my 22 600XRS. I put 2000kms on it and got all my money back on it. I looked at my calendar and I only had 1 weekend available in March to get away and just said screw it and sold it. Yes. I probably could have sold it for the same amount in the fall but this way I dont have to worry about storing it and I can cancel my insurance this week as well. I can put the cash to work over the summer for me and start over in Dec. And FWIW, I will be ordering a 23 of some brand by the weekend.

That Boost Flat Lander will be the sled to beat this year. 0-100mph it will be unstoppable. The 850 NA is arguably the quickest (not fastest) machine on the snow this year. The turbo will haul azz.

We stayed at Valentine Farms. Their son is a fireman in London and took 6 weeks off this winter to look after the place. He was the one telling me that they are basically out of business with the trail closure and now HH closed. Sounds like the dad is in pretty rough shape. We never saw them at all. That being said, it was a fun spot. $60/person cash. Not fancy but did the trick and our entire group could sit around and watch the hockey game on TV.

The Turbo VR1 and Assault were accidentally leaked on Youtube and pulled down within 10 mins this am. If they keep the 4 year warranty (sounds like they are going with a 3yr though) I will be back on a Polaris next season.

I have seen a lot of Lynx This one had a big LONG tail. It was a cougar for sure.