It doesn't get much better than this...we thought we were on an old trail, ended up being a functioning railroad. The snow was so deep we couldn't tell 'til we came to a switchtrack.

This was just one of the many perfect trails we encountered in the central UP

Then on to Grand Marais....not too long of a line for gas, eh?? Heard it was much longer the weekend before...

Looking out from the pub in Grand Marais, Ken waiting for me on his ProX across the street...always had to give him a good headstart LOL JK

you were up by munising? evidently there was a good base, I have torn a couple plastic ski skins up while unknowingly ridings on railroad grades with the tracks still in place.

Me in Grand Marais, on the shore of Lake Superior...time to update my suit, I think some leathers are calling my name.

yup the lines for gas sure look familiar, although I have seen them longer.

From G.M. to Paradise...what a busy town this was.

After Paradise is when the trip went south...this can't be good!!! We were about 15 miles from Newberry, 230 miles for the day, and 150 miles from home.

I came up this hillside. The pic doesn't show it, but this is about 60 feet up from the bottom of the pit. My ski caught something sticking out of the dirt and snapped it. At least I didn't roll backwards end over end, like some guy on a Polaris about 10 minutes after this.

Catching a little air

My buddy Ken, brought along wife's new Classic 2up to break it in...do you think she would mind if she sees this......

The wreck that occurred in front of our hotel on 28. A guy on a sled did not stop when the trail crossed a side road, and he clipped the rear end of a car. Sled was torn up pretty good and the guy survived with a fractured pelvis.

Great pics Jim! Got any more? How much did the new ski end up costing you? How much down time? Just a couple hours at a shop?

Have a good day off... I only got 1-2 inches of snow today at home.

Joel

Nice pics Jim, maybe sometime we can meet up there. I love Munising but I hate that gas station. Did you stop at the brewery?

Looks like lots of snow Jim. :) and you had a great time other than your ski :sarcasm: ;) :)

I'm sitting here near Minneapolis, at my computer jealous, very jealous and envious of those images.
Looks like a lot of fun.
Pics are always great to look at. :thumbsup:

Hey Jim nice pics, I'm jealous! Too bad for the ski, you should've just parked the zr and borred the Pro X! hehe

Hey 98 EXT, lets head to the UP, I'll pick you up on my way through! :D

Nice pics Jim. Looks like a good time was had by all. Well, other than the guy who hit a car.

Joel, our trip was ended at about 3:30 that day, at 230 miles. I bought a new ski that night from someone the bartender knew for $110. The next morning Munising Pro Sports sold me both A-arms and put a new shaft in my shock for about $230...and they took care of me right away, even thought they had all the business they could handle. I didn't think that was too bad. They've gotten to know us pretty well over the last 2 years, so I guess that paid off. A couple hours in the heated garage at the hotel and I was ready to go.

Rob, we ate lunch at the brewery after getting gas. They had good food. I'll meet you whenever I can get time off.

Kim, it was one of our best trips in a few years, even with the little accident. How can you complain when your day gets cut short, and you already have 230 miles on by 3:30?

SD, I rode the ProX for a few miles one night, and it is obviously a great trail machine. I didn't put a lot of miles on it though, because I hit a curb with it and it pulled to the right hard. Got it back to the garage and couldn't see anything bent...Ken was about to write it off as the spindle having a slight bend in it. I didn't think so, so I tipped it over to look at the carbide and sure enough...the carbide was bent...took it off and straightened it, good as new.

Jeez Jim, your not riding my machine! I do enough damage to it, if you ride it she'll surelly be down for the count!!! :0: :D
Caleb

Jeez Jim: you're a hard man on equipment! :hallo1: LOL Glad you had a good trip.

thats some pretty good pics

Hey Jim, was the ski and A-arm hanging on the wall in the garage of the Alger yours?

Why, yes they are. I think Dan said someone hung them up after we left. At least we'll have a story to tell whenever we go back. When were you there?

We arrived at 3:30am on friday. Stayed at Super8 until Sunday morning and decided to stay another day. Super8 was booked so we called Alger and they had a room for us Sunday night. We are planning on going to Boulder Junction WI Jan.30-Feb2 if they have snow. If not I have a room booked at the Alger. When are you going next?

You didn't stay in room 103 (or was it 03) did you? The odor in the bathroom was Ken, I promise. LOL Dan at the Alger was very nice and helpful.

We normally go to the St Germain area too. Don't know for sure when next trip will be...March for sure, Feb if my boss is nice to me. I hate how this job thing gets in the way of sled time. Will you be making a third trip? If we can't go to St Germain, we'll be staying at Alger F.M. again.

Yes Jim are third trip is from Feb 18-22 in Baraga,MI. We have never ridden there but we wanted to try someplace new. We have a fourth trip planned for March 6-9 in Boulder Junction. For all of our trips we use Munising as a back-up just in case low snow is an issue. I hope Northern Wisconsin gets some snow soon, we haven't been there in 2 years because of the lack of snow. Looking foward to riding there again.

sorry,this is a delayed reaction,but i have never seen a ski break like that before.could it have been already damaged from before and then this was the final straw...........

Ha Ha Jim you dog,you live way south of me and got good miles this season already.I have none. Its my turn,I'm going up to Munising Feb.1-3. You can bet I will post some pics.Glad to see you had a good time despite the ski breaking.

I have a few wall hangers too. A trailing arm off the wifes 99 FZ,put a nail in the garage and hung it up,also a bumper,again from the wifes sled. :nervous:

Powderman, I've never seen anything like this either. I've never hit anything else with this sled, so the ski should not have been weakened. I know I put more and harder miles on my 96 ZRT, and those plastic skis never cracked or broke. I couldn't see anything obvious that I hit, that's why I think it was a root sticking out of the ground.

Pete, we'll get together sometime this year yet. It would be nice if your area received some snow so I wouldn't have to drive so far.

They ski may have just been very cold/britle and had a manufacturing air pockets. Combined I can see it snapping like it did.

Nice pics Jim, too bad about the damage. Glad it didn't cost you an arm and a leg to get repaired.

Great pics Jim. You are a Madman on the trails worse than Dogg by the sounds of it ;) I agree it is strange to see a ski snap like that. I have bent them before straight up but never seen one snap like that. Looks like you guys had good conditions for your trip. :thumbsup:

AWESOME pics. Bummer on the ski. It's good to see somebody getting out and having fun this winter.

I guess steel skies still have there place. You can bend them but not many break!!!!! Great pics, I hope the conditions are as good when I go in mid Feb.

Originally posted by JIM FRITCH@Jan 24 2003, 09:11 AM


Pete, we'll get together sometime this year yet. *It would be nice if your area received some snow so I wouldn't have to drive so far.
I'm all for that Jim. Hopefully we can hook up in the Vilas Co. area if they ever get a good dousing. It seems to me that it was a waste of time puting up the trails signs around here. Who knows,things have a way of averaging out. Average snowfall here is about 60",that means we will get 55" of snow the rest of the season.(crossing my fingers) ???

Originally posted by Sled Dogg@Jan 23 2003, 02:16 PM
I do enough damage to it,
I second that. Sorry Caleb, couldn't help it. :D

Pete, I'm planning for a Vilas county trip sometime in March, probably the second week or so. I really want to get my wife back up there; she hasn't been since our 4 yr old was born. I also want to introduce our boys to the area, so I'll probably take a whole week this time, since my miles per day will go down drastically with the kids along. We just have to find someone to take with us to watch the kids in case they don't like being on the trails....you don't have a daughter that I could rent for a week for babysitting do you...you could bring her along with you, or I'll swing by and pick her up on the way!! :p

At least now if the snow doesn't come to that area, the whole UP is pretty much ready to go.

BgTrk, that thought crossed my mind too about the steel skis, but I'll still take the plastic ones with all the advantages they offer.

;) Did you break your ski in the pit between Newberry and Taquahmanon???- I almost rolled the sled on one of those hills, got almost to the top of a large hill and then I couldn't go no farther! Slid all the way down the hill backwards, the hill was complete ice, lucky that all the snow piled up behing me and softened the blow :D

That was the one bagger....I might have mentioned it before, but some guy on a Polaris did roll his down the hill about 15 minutes after this.

Nice pics, Jim glad to hear ya had fun even with the damages :D

Hey Jim , what day where you in that area, I was there the 20 th and the trails where awful, ended up breaking new trails all day. :p

I guess you were experiencing what all the weekend traffic did to the trails. I was there from the 15th to the 19th and the trails were awesome. They did get rough Sat, so like you, we took advantage of the county roads and had a lot of fun on them too. Some of them had 3 feet of virgin powder...it was great.

That town sure looks sled friendly and a popular place to ride. Wouldn't want to wait in the gas line up though. I guess it would be a great place to tell stories while you are waiting. :D Nice pics

BGTRK19472.you are definitely right.but i thought the reason oem's went to plastic was:lighter weight and superior handling along with more flex leading to less breakage................maybe they just want more repeat buisiness. ;)

Originally posted by JIM FRITCH@Jan 25 2003, 08:46 AM
Pete, I'm planning for a Vilas county trip sometime in March, probably the second week or so. I really want to get my wife back up there; she hasn't been since our 4 yr old was born. I also want to introduce our boys to the area, so I'll probably take a whole week this time, since my miles per day will go down drastically with the kids along. We just have to find someone to take with us to watch the kids in case they don't like being on the trails....you don't have a daughter that I could rent for a week for babysitting do you...you could bring her along with you, or I'll swing by and pick her up on the way!! :p

At least now if the snow doesn't come to that area, the whole UP is pretty much ready to go.

BgTrk, that thought crossed my mind too about the steel skis, but I'll still take the plastic ones with all the advantages they offer.
Jim,mid March is when we take our 7 year old daughter riding.I like to go then because of less people on the trail. When Vilas gets snow,thats where I am going.I can get to Conover in under 4.5 hours :D Lets hope it snows. This is just a guess but I would say in 2 weeks it should be good in Vilas co.

I am taking the wife up to Munising this weekend,meeting some friends there,should be a good time.

Pete, that sounds good. Maybe we could actually plan for the same week in March...that way the kids could bum with each other. Is your 7 year old your only one? My boys are 2 and 4. We'll have to chat as the time draws closer on what dates you plan on being there.

P.S. How's the house-hunting going?

Jim...nice pics!!! Bummer about the ski :cussing: I was in that area the same period 17th-22nd. We had a blast with all that snow!!! Headed back up this friday afternoon(31st). Staying in Trout lake this time. Only a four hour drive from Saginaw, MI. If the snow continues and the trails hold...will go every two weeks until the gas money runs out :blahblah: If you hit the right day....the resturant in Grand Marais serves a killer prime rib....can make the ride home a little long though!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by FASTBLACK800CAT@Jan 27 2003, 03:24 PM
Jim...nice pics!!! Bummer about the ski :cussing: I was in that area the same period 17th-22nd. We had a blast with all that snow!!! Headed back up this friday afternoon(31st). Staying in Trout lake this time. Only a four hour drive from Saginaw, MI. If the snow continues and the trails hold...will go every two weeks until the gas money runs out :blahblah: If you hit the right day....the resturant in Grand Marais serves a killer prime rib....can make the ride home a little long though!!!!!!!!
[quote]

Hey, where are you staying at, I will be in the same area?

Originally posted by JIM FRITCH@Jan 27 2003, 12:39 PM
Pete, that sounds good. Maybe we could actually plan for the same week in March...that way the kids could bum with each other. Is your 7 year old your only one? My boys are 2 and 4. We'll have to chat as the time draws closer on what dates you plan on being there.

P.S. How's the house-hunting going?
Jim,we have 7 year old and a 7 month old,both girls. The youngest one would stay with Grandma for that weekend. Lets keep in touch,it would be great to hook up,now all we need is a sitter. ;)