Sledding

[Spiderman]

 

[stoney]

Great little video that sums things up pretty well. 
 

After listening to it I found myself thinking of the province of NB, never rode there but those that I know all seem to have the same comment, lots of older machines still on the trail, not sure about youth though, I believe trail help is still healthy and I thought the government is pretty involved too in their system. 
Perhaps an anomaly though in the sport based on what I hear and if actually accurate. 
But you need systems all over the place to be able to operate effectively, that I’m not so sure is possible in this day and age. 

[Blackstar]

Years back, I felt it was a huge step in the wrong direction when they took permit sales away from the clubs and put it online.

The face to face interaction between a permit buyer and a club volunteer was key.

 

[Blackstar]

The commentary in the video is good. But why is so much of the video showing mountain riding, snow cross and sled drags?

[95rxl650]

The glory days of sledding are long gone and wont be back. Modern times have sucked the fun out the industry as it always does. There's still the thrill of a 100mph toboggan but the "wild west" of it all, vanished. Boating is suffering the same fools. Everything is about liability these days. What ever happened to common sense and taking responsibility. We used to lick our wounds and fix our shyte. Now we run for the phone to see who we can blame. 

[Spiderman]

9 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Years back, I felt it was a huge step in the wrong direction when they took permit sales away from the clubs and put it online.

The face to face interaction between a permit buyer and a club volunteer was key.

 

It is.

We see the same thing in our line of business - face to face is still the #1 driver for having a happy client - the surveys support it.

[Spiderman]

1 hour ago, 95rxl650 said:

The glory days of sledding are long gone and wont be back. Modern times have sucked the fun out the industry as it always does. There's still the thrill of a 100mph toboggan but the "wild west" of it all, vanished. Boating is suffering the same fools. Everything is about liability these days. What ever happened to common sense and taking responsibility. We used to lick our wounds and fix our shyte. Now we run for the phone to see who we can blame. 

Long gone.

 

 

 

 

 

[stoney]

13 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Years back, I felt it was a huge step in the wrong direction when they took permit sales away from the clubs and put it online.

The face to face interaction between a permit buyer and a club volunteer was key.

 

with the challenges shared to get people to help, would the online not mitigate some of that burden. 
plus there was the back dating of permits that was going on that now is essentially eliminated. 
double edge sword with pros and cons. 

[stoney]

5 hours ago, 95rxl650 said:

The glory days of sledding are long gone and wont be back. Modern times have sucked the fun out the industry as it always does. There's still the thrill of a 100mph toboggan but the "wild west" of it all, vanished. Boating is suffering the same fools. Everything is about liability these days. What ever happened to common sense and taking responsibility. We used to lick our wounds and fix our shyte. Now we run for the phone to see who we can blame. 

Glory days as the story tells and the memories of before, yes are just great memories to talk and reminisce about, but the sport is still tons of fun, just on a different level with platforms that give people avenues to either complain or share those fun moments….which I did find comical that the video makes reference to those sledding forums 😂

[stoney]

13 hours ago, Blackstar said:

The commentary in the video is good. But why is so much of the video showing mountain riding, snow cross and sled drags?

My guess is showing videos of those memorable sledding events that are mostly gone or has decrease interests…other than the mountain segment. 
Sled drags on lakes are far fewer, same as round tracks on the lakes….and water crossing too, not that I think they posted those 🤪

[Sksman]

On 5/20/2026 at 8:08 AM, Spiderman said:

It is.

We see the same thing in our line of business - face to face is still the #1 driver for having a happy client - the surveys support it.

It’s interesting to hear differing opinions on the new data way vs face to face relationships driving the happy client.

 

Where I work Corporate hires now for sales managers are from outside the industry.  No product knowledge.  No customer knowledge.  But the HR is hiring data managers.  They think sales are based on number of calls and entries into a customer management system.  Push the sales guy by data numbers.
 

They give no value to knowing the business and customers.  Knowing the product or product use.  Or having personal relationships or being able to create them.  

 

 

 

 

[Mach Z]

Everything that was our recreational way of life is dying. Sleds,  seadoos, motorcycles. classic cars, boats. No one can afford it. Sleds most of all due to the short season and ROI. However the real reason is inflation and taxation. Hard to swallow a 400-dollar grocery bill for a 20-year-old and then buy toys like sleds. 

 

 

 

I disagree with a lot of that video but anything to get us all talking is a good thing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spiderman]

2 hours ago, Mach Z said:

Everything that was our recreational way of life is dying. Sleds,  seadoos, motorcycles. classic cars, boats. No one can afford it. Sleds most of all due to the short season and ROI. However the real reason is inflation and taxation. Hard to swallow a 400-dollar grocery bill for a 20-year-old and then buy toys like sleds. 

 

 

 

I disagree with a lot of that video but anything to get us all talking is a good thing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's all definetly dying.

I was golfing with a buddy recently - he has an older 5.0 convertible with the motor all hopped up - asked if he had been out in it much - he said once - the price of gas has taken the fun out of driving it.

 

We'll see how the sledding fares this coming winter with fuel prices having jumped quite a bit since last season.

 

i know the days I went out - paying for 2 ( my son ) was expensive - and we have a free place to stay and fuel up and back