Trail · Backcountry · Expedition

SNOWMOBILE

Elite backcountry sledding: the sidehill perfected, tree riding at pace, big climbs and the turnout under load, chutes and drops, and reading snowpack through the machine. Machine control and expedition planning sit underneath - because getting to the BC backcountry is only half the challenge. Safety and avalanche awareness run through every module.

Curriculum
36 lessons
Free Preview
21 lessons
Modules
9
Status
In production

Skills You Will Develop

Machine Control & ThrottleTrail Riding TechniqueSidehillingHigh-MarkingStuck RecoveryAvalanche AwarenessCold Weather SurvivalGroup Riding Protocol

Who It Is For

beginnerFirst time on a sled or coming from trail riding, wanting to ride safely in BC backcountry.
intermediateTrail-confident riders ready to push into powder, sidehill terrain and proper backcountry zones.
advancedExperienced riders preparing for multi-day BC expedition trips with technical terrain and remote conditions.

Gear Covered

  • Mountain sled vs trail sled: know the difference
  • Avalanche beacon, probe & shovel - on the body
  • Helmet: moto-with-goggles vs modular - the fog call
  • Monosuit vs jacket-and-bib: the honest trade-offs
  • Boots: sled-specific vs the compromises
  • Gloves & mitts, plus the spare pair
  • Satellite communicator - carried, not stowed
  • Tow strap & recovery kit
Fifteen Years In

All 36 lessons below are written, and every one of them came out of riding this terrain rather than reading about it. Film is shot on the trips we run, so each lesson is captured where it is taught. Book a trip that runs this discipline and its full library comes with your booking.

Trips that unlock this library
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Put $200 down on a trip that runs this discipline and its libraries unlock today - the deposit comes straight off the trip when you book.

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Want it coached, not just read?

We run in-person coaching in your home town before your trip - a fraction of what a day costs once the flights, hire and lift passes have started. Groups on the same trip split the travel.

Coaching for snowmobile
Train with the best
Nico Weiss · Black Tusk Snowmobile
Brohm Ridge, Squamish, BC

The guru of backcountry sled and avalanche training, riding the ridge between Squamish and Whistler. Ask us to build a clinic day into your Canadian trip.

Ask us to arrange it
Shared safety training

These lessons from other libraries apply here too. Complete one anywhere and it shows green across the whole platform - done once, counted everywhere.

Full Curriculum

Foundations
Choosing a Sled: Brand Character in Mountain Machines12 minRead freeRolling It Out, Restarting It: Sled Recovery and the Flooded Engine12 minRead freeTrack Length, Lug Depth and Gearing: Matching a Sled to the Snow12 minRead freeGear Decisions: Sled, Suit and the Kit That Rides On You12 minRead freeSled Incident Response: Burial, Machine Trauma and Extraction12 minRead freeMachine Familiarisation & Controls8 minRead freeEdging and Turning: Why You Steer Right to Go Left12 minRead freeAvalanche Safety Essentials12 minRead free
Intermediate
Powder Technique: Weight & Float11 minFullSidehilling: Lean, Edge & Speed10 minFullHigh-Marking: Risk & Reward9 minFull
Recovery & Safety
Getting Unstuck: Solo Recovery10 minFullGroup Rescue Protocol8 minFullTerrain Assessment: Go / No-Go9 minFull
Expedition
Multi-Day BC Trip Planning11 minFullNight Riding & Cold Weather Prep10 minFullRemote Communication & Emergency Plans7 minFull
Australian Crossover Prep
No Snow? The Crossover Map8 minRead freeThrottle & Balance: Dirt Bike and Quad as Sled Prep9 minFullHips & Vision: MTB and Stand-Up Jet Ski as Sled Prep8 minFull
Elite Backcountry
The Sidehill, Perfected13 minRead freeThe Hop-Over: Changing Edges Without Losing the Slope12 minRead freeTree Riding: Pivots, Wrong Foot Forward and the Tight Line13 minFullBig Climbs: Turnouts Under Load and Reading Snow at Speed13 minFullDrops, Chutes and Technical Descents on a Sled13 minFullSnowpack Through the Throttle: What the Machine Tells You13 minFullJumping a Sled: Throttle, Brake and the Landing That Breaks Faces13 minRead free
Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue
Glaciated Terrain: What You Are Actually Riding Over13 minRead freeRoute Finding and Probing on a Glacier13 minRead freeThe Sled Specific Problem13 minRead freeCrevasse Rescue: The System and What It Demands13 minRead freeMachine Recovery and the Decision Not to Go13 minRead free
Transport and Logistics
Loading a Snowmobile onto an Elevated Deck10 minRead free
Sled Craft and Ownership
Warming Wet Gloves on the Clutch Cover, and How Not to Hurt Yourself Doing It9 minRead freeWinterising and Storing a Sled12 minRead freeThe Value of a Good Shop Relationship7 minRead free

← All training disciplines

Get In Touch

LET'S BUILD
YOUR
ADVENTURE

Whether you want to surf Japan's legendary powder, ride the Old Telegraph Track to the tip of Cape York, or chase a New Zealand winter - tell us what you're dreaming about and we'll build the trip around you.

BaseAustralia · Operating Globally
Instagram@deej_ayes_an_alias

Read this before you send

These sports kill people. Not rarely, and not only the reckless - every season they kill riders who were experienced, fit, well equipped and doing everything properly. That is the honest starting position and everything else we do sits on top of it.

The mountain does not know who you are. Snow releases on people with twenty years in it. Machines roll on riders who have done that line a hundred times. Water, rock, trees and other people are indifferent to how good you have become. Every time you go out you are accepting a real chance that it goes wrong, and no amount of skill removes that chance - it only changes the odds.

What that looks like in these disciplines, plainly: avalanche burial and asphyxiation, being crushed under a machine, head and spinal injuries from falls and impacts, drowning, hypothermia, and collisions with trees, rocks and other riders.

We work in remote country, so distance is part of it. A serious injury usually means hours before a helicopter can reach you, and weather sometimes means no helicopter at all. Help being close is not a feature of any trip we run.

This is exactly why we prepare the way we do. Training before you ride, gear standards, minimum party sizes, people who know the ground, and a willingness to call a day off. All of it is about improving your odds and making the group capable of looking after itself. None of it makes anything safe, none of it makes anyone competent, and passing our training is not a qualification. Anybody who tells you they can make this safe is selling something.

Everyone out there is relying on everyone else having been honest about what they can actually do. If reading this has made you hesitate, that is worth listening to rather than talking yourself out of.

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