Published on January 23rd, 2013 | by The Powerhouse

Boulder Mountain 2013-01-20

BOULDER MOUNTAIN 2013-01-20

Sunday, January 20th brought a repeat of the Valley inversion weather system, with heavy clouds closing in the valley a few hundred feet above town. Everyone was questioning if we would get above the system again.

Same group as yesterday, minus Jim, he had tweaked his knee in one of the deep ruts dropping down the cut-blocks from Turtle yesterday and needed a day off to rest it rather than further complicate the injury. Hence we had Rob, Sean R., Sean S., Megan, Daryl, Laird and myself. We discussed riding areas and opted for Boulder as it would be easiest for Jim, Daryl and Sean’s afternoon departure for home. We knew that Boulder had been rode hard by hundreds of sledders and it hadn’t received any real amount of fresh snow in over a week. We were confident that we could find some untracked to play in as we have a few out of the way reserve areas for these occasions. We planned to high speed drive with scratcher’s down across most of Boulder, (which resembled a “parking lot” as there was no powder to be seen), West past Turbo Mountain and into the trees.

Before long we had lost the majority of tracks and started to play in the powder meadows and slopes. We took the opportunity to video some tree runs and climbs, enjoying the sun and powder. While stopped for a bit to eat, Rob suggested that we venture further West through the trees to an area we hadn’t ridden for years. Seemed like a good idea so off we went re-exploring some old terrain. Although these areas change somewhat over time, we found familiar enough landmarks and drainages to find our way back. I am sure some in the group must have thought we were lost or crazy or both, but the snow was good. We arrived at our goal and started the ascent up the last range, however, about 2/3 the way up the tree climb run, my trusty Honda developed a problem.

The Honda is of course my sled with a Honda 1000CBR R engine and six speed transmission, running 6lbs of Boost. This engine has a 2 stage fuel injector system of its own, plus I run the “Boost It” fuel system to satisfy the fuel requirements when under Boost. So, if you are keeping track that is a total of 12 injectors on a three stage system. Anyway, one of the wires from the “Boost It” fuel system had worn through on a panel, shorting to ground, which causes the system to spray the third stage injectors all the time. Needless to say it was very flooded, pumping raw fuel out the side pipe while cranking to start. It took a bit to find the fault and get it running again. As such we had lost an hour, so we abandoned our plans to reach the summit of the far west end of the Boulder Range, overlooking Three Valley Gap and Griffin Lake.

We decided to work our way back and play enroute. We definitely had some fun and further adventures climbing back up through the densely treed area. By the time we had gotten back to other sled tracks, it was dusk and getting dark fast. For the second night in a row, we came down in the dark with our sleds on fumes. Another excellent day! Who would have thought… as Boulder was a “parking lot”, hahaha….

The main Trail was groomed perfectly, just like a highway, which capped off a fine day, an enjoyable trail ride back to the staging area in the dark. Once again those LED headlights are so cool.

Cheers! Cpt. Ron