Dumb Snowmobile Moments

[SkunkedAgain]

I didn't want to hijack Mike Starks thread about getting going in the slush, so here is a new one. What are some of your fondest dumb moments on a snowmobile. Let's keep this to your dumb moves, not your brother's or some guy you know.

Mine was pretty recent. Sled was stuck in deep powder in the yard. I dug everything out, hard packed some snow next to the track, cleared a path, and got ready to rock. I stood on one side, pinched the throttle, and pushed. It just barely got going but then shot out like a rocket. I hopped on just in time to turn hard right as to avoid hitting the split wood pile. No luck. I tried to bail and mostly did, but dinged my shin pretty hard on the handle bar and took a piece of wood to the cheek just below my right eye. With my limp and cut below the eye, I repeatedly had to explain at work that I didn't get beat up by some bully but by my sled!

Okay, let's hear some more dumb stories.

[Dylan33]

Almost killed myself a few years ago. At a buddys cabin with a group of guys. At about 2 am, after MANY cocktails, a few of us decided it would be a great idea to take the sleds for a ride...no helmets, and not being familiar with where we are. We drove through the backwoods roads as fast as we could. I was the last sled in the group and was going fairly slow (not knowing where I was going and not being an experienced rider) . I decided it was time to catch up, so I went at full speed up a hill to catch up to the group. The road came to a T at the top of the hill, I tried to stop and or turn- rolled the sled over the top of me and slid off the road into the ditch. My buddies came back to find me with the sled on top of me upside down in the ditch. I have not been on a sled after a cocktail since.

I escaped with a concussion and some bruises...I feel lucky, it could have been a lot worse.

[Xplorer]

Never done anything dumb on a sled, nope, not me.....never.....really....can't think of anything

Well, maybe....there was that time that I had open running water on both sides of my sled track for a bit on a river, is that dumb?? Or maybe the time I dropped my sled INTO a culvert. Guess that might not have been the brightest thing I've done, but hey I was in a hurry to pick my son up from school and was running a bit late. That ditch-banging thing has a few drawbacks I guess. Sure was glad to have reverse that day, LOL!

So really, nope, cant think of anything dumb

[LundExplorer]

Mine was on a day after a snowfall and we were the first to get to a field with some awesome looking drifts, perfect for some drift busting or so we thought. I was the first to tear off into the drift to find that it was not the soft fluffy powdery stuff, rather hard pack. My sled went nose up vertical I flew off the back at about 12' above the ground and landed so that the wind was knocked out of me - bad. Sled landed on its tail, luckily no damage. But I was in no condition to ride anymore, so that was it for me that day.

[LundExplorer]

My other one was coming back from a off-the-beaten path lake where we were doing some target shooting. It had gotten dark and I thought that hitting some moguls to get some air would be cool so I hit the first just at the right speed to kick the back of the sled up and propel me into the handlebars, through the windshield (nothing left of it afterwards), bouncing off the hood, flipping a$$ over teakettle and landing on my back in front of my sled. If the embarrassment of that was not enough the worst part was that I was carrying my 9mm Beretta in a chest pocket in my jacket and when I hit the handlebars it slammed right into my chest. I thought I had cracked ribs, very painful. Ended up being a deep bruise in the chest wall but it was painful to breathe for about a month.

Now I have a nice paddle holster I carry with in case I get the bug to hit some more moguls. But hey I found a brand new windshield on HSO-Classifieds for about $30...

[DaveSorensen]

Well while this wasn't me it was at the store. For those of you familiar with the layout of the gas pumps there is an alley that runs behind the store houses on the south side of the alley, store is on the North side. Two pump islands, snow gets plowed to the east of the store. The pump island with the diesel pump, also has a premium pump. Someone filled up their sled with premium, paid and then was not on the sled but started the sled. Throttle stuck and the machine took off, hit a snowbank and then ricocheted into one of the houses mud room and part of the kitchen. I regret not taking pictures, no one was hurt but the owner of the house was glad they weren't in the kitchen when the machine came rocketing through.

[gonefishing70]

The stupidest thing I have ever done with a snowmobile is years ago I had an Old Rupp went to go ride and I flooded it so I had my buddy help get it running. Finally after many pulls it starts, He grabs the throttle I grab the back and lift just as the engine cleans out and the track is spinning wide open it brakes and throughs a metal kleat through my left leg breaking both bones and putting them out through the skin. It took 4 surgerys and a year to heal up from that. I will never ever hold the rear of a sled again always tip it on its side or get a block. I just cringe when I see people doing it. I never did get to ride that night or the rest of the winter. This is a good thread to show every one what not to do on a sled. everyone be safe Thing can go bad really fast.

[Steve Foss]

I froze my nose when I was 12 by riding an old Arctic Cat 60 mph down the Red River without face protection. You're only 12 once. Well, hopefully.

[JerkinLips]

In the mid-70's when I was a teenager, I was driving my dad's 73 Cheetah on the railroad tracks from Soudan towards Tower. When approaching the intersection of the tracks from Babbitt, I thought that my skis would slide over the intersecting rails. The skis wedged under the rails, but fortunately I wasn't going fast enough to flip the sled. More fortunately I was very close to home so my dad could pry the sled out from the rails before a train arrived. Actually the train hardly ever ran back then, so I was just happy to free the sled before anyone saw the results of my brain-fade. My dad still likes to give me a hard time about that incident.

[finnbay]

Bringing my '69 Skidoo on a day of fishing into Ensign Lake on the last weekend you could legally ride machines up to Knife. -30 degrees all day long. Ran fine on the way in. Didn't make it to the first portage on the way out before freezing up. 5 1/2 mile walk back to the truck and down to -40.

[leech~~]

My buddy his brother and I were fishing at his cabin up on Washburn lake a few years ago. His brother not as much of a ice fisherman as a bit of a drinker had to keep running back to the cabin for more beer. My buddy and I were having a pretty good day setup on a bar trying for some Walleyes when this guy and his kid rode up on a 4 wheeler and ask us if a guy on a yellow Ski doo was with us. We said yes he is, the guy said well he is laying on the ice about a 1/4mile back down the lake and his sled is a mess! When we got over there his brother did tell us that he thought that he could jump his sled over a nice snow drift so he actually hit the gas even harder to see how far he could fly over it. I will have to say that I never seen so much bare ice from where he launched to where he came down in a heaping pile of broken plastic and sled parts all over the ice! Well he didn't have any med coverage and wanted to try and wait until he got home to go to the hospital. So, since I was the biggest guy there and being the nice guy I am "sucker" I carried him on my back in and out of the cabin so he could take a leak for two days since this happened on the first day of a three day weekend. Come to find out when he finally went to the hospital he had cracked his hip and his shoulder! So, now you know why I am not as nice of a guy as I use to be! Or as much of a "sucker"

[muskieswen]

Last week the wife and I are going to put on some miles. While she is suiting up I go out to start the sleds and get them warmed up. I cannot get my sled to start. I m looking over everything when the wife comes out and asks what is the problem. I tell her that it looks like an electrical issue. I pull the plugs and yep, no spark. I show her the coil and say it probablly is this device and she is proud of her man as he is very wise. I reach over to see if her sled will start and as I pull up on the kill switch she asks "did you pull up the red switch on yours"? I am still hearing her saying "I fixed a snowmobile, I fixed a snowmobile".

[leech~~]

Last week the wife and I are going to put on some miles. While she is suiting up I go out to start the sleds and get them warmed up. I cannot get my sled to start. I m looking over everything when the wife comes out and asks what is the problem. I tell her that it looks like an electrical issue. I pull the plugs and yep, no spark. I show her the coil and say it probablly is this device and she is proud of her man as he is very wise. I reach over to see if her sled will start and as I pull up on the kill switch she asks "did you pull up the red switch on yours"? I am still hearing her saying "I fixed a snowmobile, I fixed a snowmobile".

Dude, really! You will never live that down at home now!

[SkunkedAgain]

Nice one Swen. Done that.

I suppose that I've got one more story. Years ago after buying my first used sled, we went off trail in central MN when we saw a big, snowy farm field (note: this is where I learned not to go in fields). We were horsing around and I took off full throttle in one direction. I was only a few feet away before I noticed a huge concrete drainage ditch. I tried to jump it. The track hit the opposite lip and sent the sled and I flying. I landed off to the side after hitting the handlebars. I got the wind knocked out of me and was pretty sore, but otherwise fine. The sled came out unscathed too, but everyone told me that we both went way up in the air. I don't remember the distance, but my buddies paced out how far we went through the air from ditch to the first depressions in the snow.

At least I flew farther than the sled. Mark one for this guy.

[shamrock7]

In the mid-70's when I was a teenager, I was driving my dad's 73 Cheetah on the railroad tracks from Soudan towards Tower. When approaching the intersection of the tracks from Babbitt, I thought that my skis would slide over the intersecting rails. The skis wedged under the rails, but fortunately I wasn't going fast enough to flip the sled. More fortunately I was very close to home so my dad could pry the sled out from the rails before a train arrived. Actually the train hardly ever ran back then, so I was just happy to free the sled before anyone saw the results of my brain-fade. My dad still likes to give me a hard time about that incident.

This also happened to me only I had another machine behind me that piled into me and really wedged me in there TIGHT. Not the same tracks but the same problem.

[DTro]

2 years ago on Christmas my wife and I went for a ride just outside of Cook (forget the name of the trail), but it's basically swamp for quite a while and we got about 6 miles southwest of the Country store and the sled just dies out of nowhere.

I'm at a loss. It's getting good spark, but it's pretty cold out so I thought maybe the gas line was frozen or something as it seemed like a fuel issue. I figure if I can get it to fire a bit it might run. So I pull a plug out and go to spray some starting fluid in the cylinder. As i push down on the spray can, the nozzle pops off....and falls....right into the dang cylinder.

I don't know a whole lot about sleds, but I'm pretty sure I don't even want to pull it over now, so I immediately say to my wife, "well, start walking"

She asks me how far we have to go and I say, about a mile or so. Well at about mile 2 we were selling the sled, trailer, helmets and everything snowmobile related. At mile 4 she was filing for divorce.

It was pretty much dark now and about 5 degrees. But things really were looking up when we came upon a fresh deer kill with wolf tracks all around it.

Whatever spotty phone service we could find was used trying to call the Country Store to see if there was anyone around to come give us a hand. Finally got through and they were no help, so we just kept walking.

Got out of the woods and called my folks to come get us and got ahold of some friends the next day to come tow. Ugg what a bad deal.

Well after it was all said and done and got home, I discovered that the fuel pickup line inside the tank broke off and essentially we ran out of gas even though there was a half a tank and getting the plastic nozzle out of the cylinder was a stupid easy fix by just removing the exhaust, it just fell right out.

I try not to ride alone very much anymore....but on the bright side, I'm still married and I still have the sled.

[leech~~]

You are the Winner sir! You should be playing the lotto with the odds of dropping that in the motor! There are only parts of the state that I will drive a sled by myself and the Arrow head is not one of them! Glad to see you are still married!

[yoppdk]

A few years ago a couple friends and I were on LOW, coming back to the resort after fishing all day. I was on a somewhat pokey Panther and the other two were on much faster sleds. I and one of the others were pulling loaded Otter sleds at about 40 mph, trailing behind the guy who was running full out, unencumbered. It was twilight and visibility not so good. I came up to where the lead rider had pulled over and I assumed he was just waiting for us to catch up. So I was just going to breeze by him. But it turned out he stopped because a fissure had opened up ... and I didn't see the fissure of the heave until it was too late. So in an instant I had to decide whether to try to stop and risk stopping right on the fissure and have the Otter whack me, or gun it and hope for the best.

I'm told it was a pretty cool jump ... lots of air and the Otter and I made it to the other side without any damage. I mention it whenever anybody talks about "getting some air". I'm pretty sure that was the only time I was ever completely airborne ...

[Bandit155]

Did the same thing with my better half's wheeler this past spring. No juice-Ah Ha, battery must have froze during winter--rip half the machine apart to get to battery, breaking several plastics fender retainers while doing so--drive like crazy to get to L&M to get battery and then to get new retainers for fender before stores close--install new battery (many sparks flying) (wife watching all this not saying anything--all put back together--no juice still--wife leans over and slides kill switch to run and starts machine.I leave without saying anything--she just smiles.