Snowmobiles

I bought my Skidoo Tundra new in 2015.  For the first year or two I stored at my skylight shop.  Later, when we bought the property out at Nordegg, and built our cottage, I moved it out there.  I also still have my old 1979 Yamaha ET300 that I bought used back when I was a teen.  Recently I restored that one and had the engine and carburetor rebuilt, the seat reupholstered, and the skis replaced.

The Skidoo never saw a lot of use.  I took it out for a spin once near Battle Lake shortly after I bought it.  Then I took it out for an second spin out at the cottage.  In between all that both of the snow machines mostly remained parked at the cottage.  Some years we did not have a lot of snow, and when we did the temperature was bitterly cold.  Other years I was just too busy working on the cottage to get out riding.

On this most recent stay at the cottage I decided that both machines needed to get out for a rip.  We have quite a bit of snow this year, and I would guess there is about two feet this winter.  It melted somewhat during the warm spell in February, but then we got some fresh stuff later in the month.  That was combined with some winds, that whipped up some nice drifts.

The battery was dead on the Skidoo when I tried to start it earlier this winter.  I put a battery maintainer on it a while back and that has helped, but it doesn't seem to accept a a full charge so I think I will need to replace the battery.  But there is also a pullstart, so I'm never really stuck.

When I got it going this past week, there were only 9 miles on the Skidoo.  After getting it out on the trails a few times, it had about 27 miles on it by the time I put it away and headed back to the city.  I also got out for a couple of spins on the old Yamaha, but didn't take any snapshots of it this time.

It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing a lot more trail riding.  It may be coming to an end for this season, as it is already mid March, and the snow likely won't last much longer.  I will have to see if there is enough left to get out for another spin, then next time I head out to the cottage.