[Eug]

Article and video

Ryan Paggett looked up and saw dozens of tracks lining a mountain slope near Valemount, B.C., a snowmobile rider's haven tucked just across the Alberta border in the Rocky Mountains.

The tracks went in arcs, each made by other riders who rode up the slope as high as they could before turning and speeding down the hill. Dubbed “high-marking,” it's a snowy competition that affords respect to those who go higher and farther than everyone else.

Mr. Paggett, a 26-year-old oil worker who was snowmobiling at the slope last Saturday, took his turn. Riding a 2008 Arctic Cat M8 that he had tuned-up himself, he hit the hill head-on, accelerating up while friends watched and recorded.

It started well. He set a new high mark by passing the other tracks, but kept going. It was with victory in sight – metres from the top of the hill – that the snow pack broke, sparking an avalanche.

I guess he won't be doing that again.

P.S. This is the classic stereotypical Canadian Bob & Doug McKenzie accent. I don't actually know anyone who speaks like this, but obviously they exist.

[Laminar]

Lucky guy.

[Phileas]

While I am glad the guy is alive, I ****ing hate snowmobiles. Noisy, polluting scourge of the earth, many piloted by total idiots.

Every time I see one of them, and jet skis too, I wish rocket launchers were legal.

[Dakar V]

Well, then.

[Laminar]

Code:
Rob:SUVs::Phileas:Snowmobiles

[Dork.]

Beauty, eh?

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Phileas 

While I am glad the guy is alive, I ****ing hate snowmobiles. Noisy, polluting scourge of the earth, many piloted by total idiots.

Every time I see one of them, and jet skis too, I wish rocket launchers were legal.

What, never been on one?

They're pretty awesome. And (unlike most jet skis) often necessary, too.

greg

[Railroader]

You guys are a bunch of hosers.

[Phileas]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

What, never been on one?

They're pretty awesome. And (unlike most jet skis) often necessary, too.

greg

In the arctic, you've got a point. For example, I've been up to Nunavut for work. There, and thereabouts, I understand the necessity. However, few people who need a snowmobile to get from A to B engage in idiotic pursuits like high-marking in avalanche country. I don't know what it's like where you live, but down here in Southern Ontario the vast majority of snowboarders are a bunch of yahoos.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Snowboarders?!? Say it ain't so....

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Phileas 

I don't know what it's like where you live, but down here in Southern Ontario the vast majority of snowboarders are a bunch of yahoos.

Not sure what that has to do with snowmobiling.

Whatever the case, while the yahoos are annoying, I actually find them much annoying than the skiers that weave in and out very slowly across all the runs with their hunched-over snowplowing. They remind me of that little old lady car driver in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

[Eug]

Article: Guy on snowmobile dies in avalanche

At about 3 p.m. PT, Valemount RCMP responded to a report of an avalanche in the Monashee Mountains, 25 kilometres south of Valemount, B.C., near the Clemina Creek snowmobiling area.

According to the RCMP, a number of snowmobilers were taking turns riding up a slope when one of them was buried by snow near the bottom of the hill.

The other snowmobilers dug the victim out and attempted to revive him, police said, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

[brassplayersrock²]

The ups and downs of this thread topic has brought shivers to me.

[Laminar]

Worst pun attempt ever.

[brassplayersrock²]