The Sled Saga

 Where to even start?  Well, sledding is if anything......., an adventure.  It is most certainly a far cry from corduroy groomers and nearby ski patrol.  Sledding is about being miles from other human being and being out in the boonies, making decisions on your own, and getting freshies.  With that sometimes comes hard times, tribulations, and difficulties.  This past week Drew and I experienced the low's of sledding, but came away with nothing but more love and respect for the pursuit of riding sleds!  Long story short....., my ol (2009) sled is starting to be a liability in the backcountry due to years of hard abuse.  Over time, these high performance machines break down.  And, well, mine did just that, in a catastrophic kind of way.  We were in probably one of the more in-opportune place to experience a massive engine failure and it happened in a big kind of way.  

The ol steed, stranded where we had to leave er for two days in the middle of a massive hill climb.  We tried in vain to tow it out and above the hill in the picture above with two sleds and it didn't happen.  So, Drew and I rode out double and Steve rode out single.  We left it there for two days and pondered out possibilities, of which ranged from....lighting it on fire and claiming insurance money, enlisting a heli to haul it out, and/or using blood, sweat, tears, and good ol engineering to get er out.  

We settled on our own manpower to maneuver her more than 20 miles to the nearest trailhead.  

 Mad props to my good bud Drew.  He is the only one crazy and badass enough to spend two full days trying to help a bud out in a time of need.  Drew's brainchild, a 200ft climbing rope, 30 foot webbing, and 40 foot small cord z drag contraption that managed to work.

Shots are a bit out of order.  We did catch a sweet sunset on the way out the first stranded day.  I promise you it looked a ton cooler out of our goggles!

 So....that was the crux of our massive issue.  That is my primary clutch.  Yep, it is completely sheered off of my crankshaft and engine bulkhead.  Needless to say, that is not supposed to happen and a massive, massive, massive world of pain.

 The crankshaft, right where the primary clutch was once attached to.  WTF

 It was a painstakingly slow and tedious process to set up the z drag pulley system to get my sled up and out of the bad zone that we were in.  

 A whole lotta patience, perseverance, and a lotta love ended up getting the sled out.

 The process involved uncountable "stucks", a lot of swearing, a lot of calories, a ton of coffee, untold amount of strength, a frantic call to Search and Rescue, and minor frostbite...

 Five hours, 5 Z drags, and 400 vertical feel later, we got the sled to the top of the most troublesome hill on the way out... Ugh...  Note, it never reached 0 degrees the whole time we were out there.

The whole reason we were in this zone.  Its out of this world, although, as we always talk about, it is pretty daunting to pull a sled out of. 

 

The Teeters and us before all went pear shaped.  In the end, we got the sled out.  It involved over 24 hours of dedicated hard work.  Was it all worth it, hell yes!  My sled is now in the shop and and I am reaping the rewards of an extended engine warranty.  Chances are that I will be getting a brand new engine in the lil beast.  

Thanks again Drew, words cant describe how much you are the man!