RIDING UPDATE: The THUNDERSTRUCK 9 season will not doubt go down into the books as being one of the most amazing seasons ever! While many snowmobilers were searching out snow and if they found snow, they had bad weather, we have been so lucky with amazing snow conditions AND amazing weather!! Although avalanche conditions have been horrible all year, we have made the best of each and every ride, staying safe but playing hard!! A few riding highlights:

EARLY MARCH: Hitting the gorgeous mountains in Wyoming again, Riley, Brad, Wes and I found another Blue-bird day with no tracks! Brad and Wes did some climbing and Riley tore up the powder. Wes did happen to crash his propane-powered Turbo Apex between the rocks but believe it or not, no damage was done and he ended up finding parts he had lost earlier in the season! And of course, Wes was fine also! Brad was sporting the 2010-2011 KLIM clothing and it looks good on the snow! And Riley was working on all the basic skills that make someone a great rider, looking good the whole time!!
BRAD on his new Polaris with the new KLIM clothing!

LATE MARCH: The FLYING SADDLE RESORT in Alpine, WY was base of operations for the week preceding the Jackson Hole Hillclimbs. We got SO lucky this year, scoring 6 days of sunshine (out of 7 days of riding). We had a huge crew and everyone played very hard. This was the true start to our hillclimbing season as avalanche danger was low the entire week!! The first day started off shaky as Brad Story hit a rock on a chute climb and wrecked his new Polaris Dragon Turbo. The rock bent his rails so bad that his track spun off the drivers and his sled rolled all the way down to the bottom. Mark Leiphemier, Brad, Wes and a few others removed the suspension completely and had Julio and John O stick the bent rails between 2 trees to try to bend them back to normal. They did a great job and believe it or not, after Brad had put the suspension back together, he rode his sled out!! As soon as he got to the parking lot, he called and ordered up some new rails!!

Poster with Dave and Jay Mentaberry Julio enters a tight one Dave with a nice re-entry

A few Canadian friends, Troy Lakusta and Tina Thomas came down on this ride also. Troy started out by almost climbing the Practice Chute and then skinning his spindles on some rocks a day later. Tina had some great moves on her 880cc REV, and she even turned out of a climb over some rocks for a crazy move that earned her much adulation from those who watched!

Julio and John O brought their Turbo Apexes to play hard and they climbed tons of stuff. Brad Story had a great week, with several first ascents and a HUGE first ascent to a knife-edge ridge! AWESOME! Doug Anderson made a climb in Smith Fork and on his way back down got sucked into the avalanche debris. The ensuing crash was crazy and violent as Doug’s Turbo Nytro decided to do the Yamaha-2-step and buck him off! He was wearing a helmet camera and let me tell you, it is a crazy crash!! Dave Schell also came and rode a few days but his 860 REV just did not seem like it was on its game. Dave did some great re-entry shots on his wife’s sled though, and his Yellow and Orange color-combo was gorgeous in the spring sun! Julie Marquart also had a rough week, wrecking twice the first day out and never really getting over the scare she went through. Towards the end of the week she pulled one of the finger chutes in Smith Fork and it was STEEP!

Philip Yribar from 208 Productions came along one day and did some filming for TS9. He has a kick-butt camera that can film at 240 frames-per-second, which means ULTRA SMOOTH slow-motion shots! Thanks Philip!!

Our week ended with some fun and games at the Jackson Hillclimbs, what a riot that was!!

EARLY APRIL: Since we rode very little powder all year and the weather forecasters last year said April would be VERY WET in 2010, I patiently waited for El Nino to carry out his plan. Sure enough, a 44 inch dump at Solitude Ski Area in Utah got my blood pumping! We found some amazing high-elevation private land and rode our hearts out through the huge snowstorm and for the first sunny day afterward! AMAZING! Doug, Travis, Wes, Brad and I had a riot in the super-deep snow! It is surely a ride we would never forget!! I never thought Team Thunderstruck could be OUT OF GAS and COMPLETELY TIRED OUT by 1:00pm but we all were! In fact, we were off the mountain just a little after 3:30pm!!! CRAZY!!

I thought this would be the best powder of the year until I was driving home and Randy Swenson called me from Canada. He said Saturday was supposed to be sunny in Revy so I left Utah and headed far north (17 hour drive!!)

Travis between the trees Doug on boost! Wes on the stocker!

Trennis jumped into the truck in Great Falls and we arrived in Revy late Friday night to reviews of a Friday ride that was DEEP. Everyone woke at 5:30am Saturday and sure enough, getting on the mountain by 7:30am was so worth it! The snow was so deep!! Cam Hicks and brother Tyler showed up to ride, Trennis and I, Brett Coupal, Randy and Rozzy (Jeff Rosner). Troy Lakusta also showed up for this amazing DEEP and SUNNY day!! Another day we will never forget, we were wore out and out of fuel early in the day!! So rest assured, the powder footage in TS9 will be BY FAR the best we’ve ever had!! And the many chutes we pulled in Wyoming have started our hillclimbing season off with a bang!

Cam descends deep powder Randy hits a windlip Rozzy going crazy! Trennis carving

Next stop, Canada!!

– April 14, 2010