Big Mountain Snowmobile Basics: LESSONS LEARNED AT CKMP
CARL KUSTER INGREDIENTS FOR GOOD SLED RIDING
(in order of importance): Throttle, Sled Weight, Body Weight, Muscle, Momentum
FIND YOUR BALANCE
The key to staying in control, just like on a motorcycle, is for your neutral riding position to be slightly forward over the sled and over the ball of your feet on the outer rail of each running board. Don’t hang off the handlebars, but instead be balanced over your feet and ready for the sled to move around under you and for you to move around the sled as needed, staying balanced and forward.
Remember to keep your weight centered over the sled, so even when you transition to both feet on one side of the sled you move your foot on that side forward and your back foot just behind where your center was in order to keep that balanced center point.
BODY WEIGHT TRANSFER
The hardest thing to learn is that making the sled go where you want is mostly about weight transfer, both the sled’s weight and your body weight. In order to get the most leverage, you’ll want to put your feet on the outer edge of the running boards.
A trick when you’ve got both feet transitioned to one side of the sled is to put just the ball of your feet on the rail, and have your heel out away from the sled. This offers the most leverage possible.
TURNING
Turing on hard groomed trails is relatively easy, similar to turning an ATV. However, turning in deep snow is tough. Counter steer and then lean hard the direction you want to travel. It’s all about weight transfer and less about muscle or steering angle.
Steering angle does matter, however, and a good trick to think about is keeping the handlebars parallel with your hips. The farther you lean and transfer weight towards the side of the sled you want to turn towards, the more your hips rotate and the more you’ll counter steer if you keep the bars parallel with your hips.
FINDING TRACTION
Sometimes you’ll feel the track start to dig a hole in deep snow or bounce a bit after landing a jump. The key to settling the sled down and gaining controlled forward momentum again is to use the brake as you would a clutch on a motorcycle to find traction. While it’s not intuitive to grab some brake when you want to accelerate, brake modulation is key to keeping control of the sled in soft off-trail conditions.
SIDE HILLING
When you want to traverse a steep slope on the same elevation you are at and/or climb across the hillside, you’ll need to learn how to side hill. Side hilling takes some practice and mastery of the weight transfer and counter steering skills noted above. You’ll want to make sure that you’re counter steering the entire time you’re traversing the hillside, so as not to fall down the fall line of the hill.
BONUS TIP
Get in shape! You use nearly every muscle in your body when riding a snowmobile in the backcountry. It’s exhausting, but extremely rewarding for your effort.