SNOWMOBILE · Elite Backcountry

DROPS, CHUTES AND TECHNICAL DESCENTS ON A SLED

13 min · Full library · written lesson, video in production

The point

After this lesson you can take a sled down steep, narrow and broken terrain under control, enter a chute at the right speed and attitude, and manage a drop so the machine lands on its track and keeps working.

Half the answer, free

The Technique

  1. Descending is where sledders get the most casual and the terrain gets the least forgiving. Going up, the machine's limitations stop you early and honestly. Coming down, gravity supplies the power and the sled will happily go somewhere it cannot be recovered from, which is why so many long days end with a machine in a hole at the bottom of something steep. The first discipline is the one that has nothing to do with riding: you descend the line you inspected, and you inspect it from a position where you can see the whole thing. That means from across the valley, or from a spot to the side, or on foot from the top with the sled parked. From the top of a steep pitch, you can see almost nothing, and a rollover thirty metres down will hide a cliff band perfectly.
  2. Sled body language on steep ground is the read that keeps you honest, and it is different going down. On the descent, the machine talks to you mainly through the skis and the front end. Skis that track straight and hold a light steady load mean you have surface and you have steering. Skis that go weightless mean the front end has unloaded, either because the pitch rolled away or because you moved back, and a sled with weightless skis is a sled with no steering. Skis that suddenly load heavy and pull to one side mean you have found a firmer layer or a rut and the front end is being steered by the terrain instead of by you. The tail talks too: a track that starts to come around under you is telling you the machine is trying to point downhill, and on a steep pitch that is either the beginning of a controlled descent or the beginning of a rollover, depending on whether you meant it.
Still under the glass
  • Brake and throttle together, chute entries, drop attitude, and the sideslip that controls speed
  • 6 more technique steps
  • The 5 mistakes that undo it, with fixes
  • The drill that builds the reflex
  • The safety non-negotiables

It opens when you book a trip that runs snowmobile - these are the exact drills you run with your coach out there. Your booking unlocks this whole library.

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