About Snowmopalooza
Snowmopalooza was started many years ago by a bunch of friends who got together to go skiing in the Northeast and decided to take one day from their skiing to go snowmobiling. Back then it was the mid to late eighties and heading to Canada for a week of skiing was cheap with record high US to Canadian dollar conversion to work with. While many of us went away to go skiing only a few of us took a day or two, to go sledding…
We didn’t have a name or a riding club back then as we were all a bunch of goofs from CT that never had a reason to have such a moniker. We all managed to keep sledding, sometimes together, sometimes apart until around 2003 or 4 when a co-worker of mine joined the team. Rob was his name… sledding was his game!!! Actually Rob never ran a machine before but he picked it up quick and really seemed to be enjoying himself. From that point on we have been sledding almost every year as a group.
On several occasions we looked into purchasing our own sleds but to be honest, we were better off not going through with it. Between the purchase, maintenance, registration, getting tags for all the states we may be possibly riding in, the trailer for either single or multiple sleds, the arguments about who wants to go where, when, why, and with who… we didn’t need the aggravation. We spent our time and money for one week a year to go someplace new, the top areas of the US were our playgrounds and we were not bound to any particular area or sled.
For many years we took whatever sleds were available in whatever regions we were sledding in. As time goes by, we all developed a personal preference for different sleds on riding style, comfort, how nimble they are in various situations/conditions, dependability, functionality, as well as fuel consumption/mileage. We have riders that love Ski-doo, Polaris, and Arctic Cat, and while we all rib each other a little on the machines we chose, we always put that aside and recognize the importance of why we are going sledding in the first place. We don’t let the brand loyalty banter get in the way and I will try my best to not let it get in the way on here either. If there are any posts that get out of hand, I prefer to let you self moderate as you are adults but I don’t have a problem deleting threads either, so play nice, bite your tongue, suck it up and realize your buddy on the sled you don’t like, may be the buddy dragging your ass home one day for a various number of reasons and at the end of the day, it is the stories you and your buddies are going to be telling, about how you did this or did that, that are of the greatest importance, and not the sled your on.
The last several years have been difficult with the sagging economy in Connecticut and hence, it has been difficult to be able to set aside the expendable income to take the vacations we usually like to take out west. We have taken a day or two and done some local rentals but it is a far cry from the large log homes with grand rooms around the fireplaces and hot tubs, the great sledding locations, the deep snow or the many places we have gone out west over the years. We all look forward to resuming the yearly gatherings at the base of the mountains and offering the snow gods a small sacrifice and a token of our appreciation for a week or more of good sledding, but until then… We look forward to sharing some great memories of times long past and smiling…
Places we have rented from in the past…
- Mont Tremblant Resort – Saint Jovite, Canada 1987 – 1996?
- Northern Outdoors – The Forks, ME. 2003 or 4?
- North Country Adventures – Bingham, ME.
- On the trail Rentals – Grand Lake, CO 2007
- Albany Lodge – Snowy Range, Laramie, WY. 2008
- Beaver Creek Lodge & Bear Lake Funtime – Logan Canyon, UT. 2009
- Crooked Creek Guest Ranch – (Union Pass)Dubois, WY. 2010
- Island Park Adventures – Island Park, ID. 2011
- Island Park Adventures – Island Park, ID. 2012
- Corina & Don – CM Backcountry Rentals – McCall, ID. and Steve, Rob & Jen – Trailside Rentals – Pittsburg, NH 2013
- Mary & Callum – Luosto, The Northern Lights at Leisure in Finland. 2014
- Northeast Snowmobile and ATV Rental, Fryeburg Maine. 2015