07/02/2025
Growing up, motorsports were always a part of my life.
I was introduced to Snowmobiles and ATV’s at a very young age.
I was fortunate to be shared these things from my parents, with plenty of encouragement to try them all.
I started riding on a small red Yamaha Snoscoot. With no paddles, my Dad figured it needed to climb our “big hill” better, so he installed those heavy plastic bolt on lugs.
We had a blast, pulling toboggans, cruising laps up and down the hills of my parents yard.
I’ll never forget the crisp air, the angry buzz of the two stroke engine, and the sweet smell of the exhaust!
As much as I loved all the motorsports I was fortunate enough to do as a child, sledding has always been an escape of mine.
Just me, the machine, and the challenge in front of me. And, for some reason with sledding, I felt I couldn't get hurt.
The soft snow is like a pillow to land on. The gear, fluffy, so it felt like a cushion for a fall.
I was always a little afraid to wipe out. To get out of my head and just go for it, and I feel sledding pushed me to try harder. And with each mistake, I’d learn, get back on, and pin it again. Really put the throttle to the bar.
When I was 12, a friend and I went out sledding. We came back to my parents place after we were done bashing through fields and ditch banging for hours, although sledding never felt like hours.
We started watching some sledding videos on Youtube. And he asked if I had ever heard of Chris Burandt.
He showed me the video of Chris Burandt, dangling through the trees, doing hopovers, and big back country jumps. Just all around unreal sledding to watch. And all I could think was…
I wanna be able to do that…
I was determined that I was going to ride snowmobiles in the backcountry. I didn’t know how I was going to get there, but I was certain that at one point, I would be riding sleds in the mountains.
At this point, I was just a sledder with a dream…
Now, the challenges began…
I didn’t have a mountain snowmobile, my family didn’t ride in the mountains, and the few people I knew who did ride in the mountains, well, I couldn’t go with them because I didn’t have experience.
But, I was determined. At this point I was riding two different sleds my parents owned. A 1997 Indy Trail 500, and a 1989 Indy 500.
I preferred the Indy 500, it was lighter, and felt way more playful.
I’d spend hours on the sled, practicing riding in fields, climbing the hills in our river valley, and, with as much power as I could muster, making that Indy 500 sidehill. I wasn’t a small kid, I was really tall, and quite strong, so I felt I could handle the sled pretty well.
I had lots of wipeouts, flipping the sled over, falling off those awfully slippery running boards.
I found my first rock with the front bumper of the Indy 500. Crumpled it right to the nose pan. Luckily I had money saved up from jobs I had started working.
I bought the bumper, in the same colour because it had to match. And I fixed it myself, cause the motto was, you break it, you fix it.
Things in life started going sideways…
In the fall of 2008, we found out my Dad had cancer. It wasn’t winter yet, so the sledding escape wasn’t there, and I was starting working in the Oil & Gas Industry through a highschool program.
I would go to school for part days, work part days, and then come home with no getaway to clear my head.
June of 2008, Dad was getting better, and his cancer was apparently gone…
But in the fall of 2009, we found out his cancer came back, but everywhere, this time inoperable.
In Feb 2010, my dad passed away. A devastating thing to live through at just 17 years old. The year I was graduating.
I needed that getaway, the calming for my mind that was riding sleds again…
Shortly after I turned 18, I purchased my first snowmobile, a 2004 RMK 800 with a 144 track!
I was stoked, and I worked harder trying to side hill this machine, and practicing more technical maneuvers to the best of my abilities.
Hitting my first drop on it in some coulees, and of course, I came off the drop too slowly… Over the bars I go.
I was ready to hit the mountains, and finally the dream came true…
I finally got the chance to ride in the mountains in late April of 2011.
I rode a rental summit, at one of the most notable places, Boulder Mountain in Revelstoke.
I was hooked on mountain riding immediately, and I couldn’t stop talking about it. I finally got to fulfill my dream.
I got home from this trip, and immediately snow checked my first new mountain sled, with plans to go as much as I could.
The next dream came, and of course I wanted to build a mod sled. A turbo, with plenty of power to haul my large 6’5 frame up a mountain.
I cannot begin to tell you how many times I was told I couldnt do it, it wouldn’t be reliable, it won’t run, all of it.
Spending countless hours researching how to build my machine, what to pay attention to, and with enough knowledge to make it reliable.
In 2016, I fulfilled my next dream, a 2016 AXYS 800 163 with an Intercooled Boondocker turbo.
I wrenched on, and built it myself. With a bit of help from Erik Woog (You know VOHK?) to solve a small bottom end bog I’d get when I pinned it…
It ran flawlessly for so many miles.
Working on my snowmobiles in my shop has become an escape of mine now too. Preparing for that next big trip.
The amount of challenges I’ve faced with backcountry sledding now, and wrenching on my machines has built me into a stronger person.
Who has challenged adversity every step of the way, and pushed myself hard in my sport.
I can’t wait to get back out on the mountain again…
And that’s why I believe nothing compares to the silence in your mind when it’s just you, your sled, and the mountain in front of you.
