Trying to organize a "Technical Mountain Riding School" out west...

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skeedoo

New member
Well I need another excuse to go sledding in the mountains... so here's what I am trying to do. I have contacted Chris Burandt to see what his thoughts are on this and I will let everyone know more as things unfold. After all there are schools that you can go to for just about every sport out there except a dedicated technical riding school for mountain sledders. Here's my email to Burandt:

Hey Chris,
I was wanting to organize a mountain riding snowmobile school somewhere out west (Colorado or Wyoming). I am from Indiana but go west several times a year to ride exclusively in the backcountry. Although I think my riding skills are good there is always room to improve and I think there are lots of people out there that may be thinking the same thing. So that brings me to you... I am wanting to get some of the best mountain riders together as instuctors, Mike Duffy of avalanche 1 to do an "on the snow" avy course and try to get a group of folks together for an on the snow technical riding school and maybe some classroom/video instuction. I would think everyone interested in learning more would bring there own sled. My thought is an all inclusive deal... school, lodging, meals, etc. With the power of the internet getting the word out would not be a problem. Whats your thoughts, am I barking up the wrong tree here? You are the first person I have contacted but I personally know several other riders/guides/intructors that I plan on contacting. I guess what would need to be done is decide on a location, cost, date and who can be an instuctor. Also maybe some sled maufacturers could come in as sponsors of the event. I think it would benefit everyone involved and make this sport safer for all. This could maybe become an annual event. Also I am aware that when you hire a backcountry guide they are always teaching new techniques but this would be more of a structured event. Thanks, Chris Walker

Whats everyone on the JD Forum think of this idea... any takers if its cost effective?
 
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Firecatguy

New member
Thats a great idea!!!they only thing is.....You goto Tog for 5 days a ride behind a Guide you become a better rider every time you do this....taking in everything they havce to offer is the way to go......Chirs B get 600$ a day for that!!!his calendar is booked all the way to april so I dont think it would be something he would do!!!!!
 
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skeedoo

New member
Yep I know all about his schedule and costs. I have gone into more detail on another site about why I talked to Burandt first and my reasons for trying to organize such an event. Also I am aware of the benefits of riding with guides but what I am talking about is a whole different thing. Don't forget I've been a professional fisherman since 1991 and full time fishing guide since 2002. There's still lots of other professional fisherman that could still teach me a thing or two. I'm at a Purdue basketball game right now but when I get home to my computer I'll copy and paste what I wrote and comment more on riding behind guides. Also just testing the waters to see if a " large scale" mountain riding school could actually happen. Where ya been Pat... haven't heard much from ya lately.
 
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polarisrider1

New member
[VQUOTE=Firecatguy;179703]Thats a great idea!!!they only thing is.....You goto Tog for 5 days a ride behind a Guide you become a better rider every time you do this....taking in everything they havce to offer is the way to go......Chirs B get 600$ a day for that!!!his calendar is booked all the way to april so I dont think it would be something he would do!!!!![/QUOTE]

Very true, and it comes with the pkg. Don’t Think Carter is the only game in town, he is a fantastic teacher andgets you a good mix. I mix it up. Riding with Noah you better have a saw for the thick stuff. Brett you get meadows, Justin you get steep, and back in the day with Matt Binion you got the whole Asylum. Chad stays low, like willows and riding creek beds and then the cool places to take pics. And they will all mix it up for you. Carter I like because he explains how to do it before you get into trouble, plus his heart is into it._
 
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whiteout

New member
Has anyone looked into the riding school that Dan Adams offers overin the Alpine area. Looks like he goes over more of the finer points of mtn riding.
 
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polarisrider1

New member
3 grand gets you a month at Togwotee with all the guides, meals, lodging, happy hr. Included. No brainer for me. Just need the 3 grand.
 
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Firecatguy

New member
the Chris B Backcountry adventure was a mear 5400$ per person for 5 days food,sled,bed!!!well heck that one deal there!!!!anyone have loan rates on riding class?
 
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skeedoo

New member
Damn Pat wake up and smell the coffee dude. You spend to much time on line. Talk to some people in person and maybe you'll learn you don' t have to spend much to learn a ton. Seriously I'm getting a ton of intersest in this for a very low cost so far. Wow someone (i think i know who) has you snowed!!! Someone has you thinking that sledding knowledge all of a sudden cost alot of money. Wow not sure why you think this is impossible to do but so far I couldn't be happier with the response from pro's/sponsor's. Get out and ride that's the best knowledge you can have but I live a professional sport and let me tell you what makes us tick. PAYING CUSTOMERS WILLING TO LEARN MORE, AND JUST ENJOYING WHAT WE DO IN THE OUTDOORS... EVEN FOR AN OCCASSIONAL LOSS JUST TO HELP OTHERS ENJOY WHAT WE GET PAID FOR ALL THE TIME. REALLY PAT I'VE LIVED PROFESSIONAL SPORTS A LONG TIME AND THERE'S PLENTY OF PRO'S WILLING TO SHARE THERE KNOWLEDGE FOR A VERY MINIMAL CHARGE BECAUSE WE LOVE IT!!!! LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT DUDE MORE THAN YOU KNOW!! Its getting a great response from sponsors and pro's so if your not in than fine but don't talk about something your not sure about. Don't just believe what you read online... these guys are just people like you and me. There more than happy to do events like this, its actually what keeps us sponsored. You need to just ask, these guys are as willing to help as pro fisherman just like I thought it would be. Sorry you think its impossible.
 
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Firecatguy

New member
Ok Chris im not sure what the heck you are trying to say to me, all i pointed out is Chris B get 5400 a rider for his lodge and school *** is this big rant you have pointed at me!!!!and for you to think im snowed *** are you talking about????I real happy for you and hope you go far with you school thing, great idea i know there is a ton of places to do this already out west!!!!!
 
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snoluver1

Active member
Wow, pretty touchy there Skidoo. I think the point was its already available. There are riding clinics all over the mountains. Its not exactly a new idea. If you can get it done for substantially cheaper, all the power to ya!! Have fun with it and see where it leads.
 
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polarisrider1

New member
Wow! Nobody is dissing you Chris, Pat is a fantastic guy. The idea is pricey. I am sure you will learn from the Pros, but it will not make one a Pro in a week. It is a perceived value.
 
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skeedoo

New member
My bad. No rant here just seemed like you have found every excuse why it's gonna cost a ton. I live a pro sport everyday and dude most guys are willing to share there knowledge for free. Its only because its our job that we charge. Outdoor professionals love doing what they do, period. I have used forums for fishing info since the internet started and it seems most guys on them only believe what's written online and forget that you can actually make a phone call and talk to people which usually gets you much better response. Pat you know me, let's finish this via a phone call cause I'm not sure its working on a public forum anyway and I'm still not home so quite frankly I'm sick of typing on my Droid X.
 
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polarisrider1

New member
Chris, not bad if you typed all that on a droid X, I'm doing it on a droid 2 and it has a mind of it's own. Lol. Good luck on putting the class together.
 
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kim

New member
Every rider will teach another rider something, whether it's a guide or another rider. Why re-invent the wheel? (meaning why another school, when there are plenty out there) Just my .02
 
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skeedoo

New member
O.K, I'm the first person to admit when I'm wrong and yes I think I went about this the wrong way. Let me start off by addressing my "rant" and the remarks I made (I had a few "wobbly pops" at the game and was not thinking clearly). Now that I am on my home computer and not dealing with this on my phone (obviously wasn't working out) I can see that I went slightly overboard on my presentation of some facts. I am sorry Pat!! I wasn't trying to call anybody out here. I was only trying to state the fact that I deal with events like this all the time in my fishing career and they are actually very easy to organize, very cost effective and when you get a group of Pro's together telling stories and teaching it is a friggin' blast for all involved. Yes, snowmobile clinic's/lessons are all over the mountains but they are one guy/gal teaching there one way of doing things. I do something every year called a Pro's roundtable at one of the trade shows I do. Last year it was Roland Martin, Jimmy Houston, Babe Winkleman and myself. We are all asked the same fishing related question and trust me we all give drastically different answers - our audiance learns way more than I can teach them alone. Again I am talking about a whole different thing here with this event than just hiring one pro or one guide to teach me what they know. Multiple pro's on multiple machine's showing you a variety of techniques, classroom style clinics/seminars on how to set up your machine for your particular riding style, what to have with you when riding to stay safe, avalanche training, different levels of classes to cater to the different levels of riding and the list can be endless. My thought is to have maufactures involved, aftermarket guys there talking about there products and how they can benefit you as a rider and so on. My thinking was to make this a "large scale" event that manufacturers and sponsors would love to be involved in and also help keep all costs to a minimum. Actually I'll address the cost thing... All of the costs thrown out on here are way out of hand. 5 grand for Burandt is insane. My calculations are not even close to that. Actually the dude charges less per day than I do for my fishing guide service and I am booked solid from March to November and have overflow guides taking my clients once I get booked up. People have no problem putting out some serious money for fishing so why not snowmobiling. When I do events like this for my fishing business my sponsors actually flip the bill because they know there are huge benefits for them in return with future sales. $3000 for Rasmussen is insane. Actually most of his prices are for groups of 6 to 15, but again you went on his website and picked out the highest number on there and threw it out on this forum. Split that cost up and your talking about a very minimal charge for what you get in return. These numbers are hugely inflated and are nothing like what actually can be done when you group it together in a sponsored event like this would be. Bottom line is I didn't just think of this idea in a matter of minutes and throw it up for discussion on a public forum - its something I reseached quite a bit before even talking with anyone about it. Actually I put this out for discussion on other sled forums and got very constuctive responses where nobody started to throw out how much something like this can cost, but more about who could be involved and they started telling stories of why they could use such a class and actually posted some pretty brutal pictures of some serious accidents they have had in the mountains and pics of broken bones to prove it. I think thats one reason for me getting my balls in an uproar on here cause this was the only forum that didn't quite take this as serious as others and were making it look like this would costs thousands per person when actual costs are very minimal. This would not be one person taking a week long class were talking about 2 days max - damn a week class I had better be a sponsored pro after something like that. The biggest cost/issue you have to figure out is how to get a blanket insurance policy to cover everybody's azz if something were to go drastically wrong and an attendee gets seriously hurt at the event - which will probably happen, cause like its been said many times if your not breaking sled parts or getting hurt every once in a while your not trying hard enough!! I'll copy and paste some of the comments that were on these other forums because I think everyone on here will see that yes even guys fron Alaska and B.C took this idea seriously and said if you can make it happen then get it done. They actually gave me some more ideas of how to have a forum based discussion on how to improve your riding skills and have everyone from that particular forum share there stories, talents and maybe we all could learn a thing or to. Well it seems I'm back on the "rant" thing, but thats what makes these forums interesting right... a little banter back and forth never hurt anybody. Again I am very sorry to whomever I offended and please don't hold it against me, I am very passionate about "outdoor" recreation and sometimes I go just a bit overboard. Also Snoluver1 you are right I did ask for comments about this and thank you to all that have commented!!
 
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snoluver1

Active member
So, I guess I'm still confused as to what exactly you are trying to accomplish, that hasn't already been done or isn't readily available already.
Just about every guide service offers some form of basic instruction on riding techniques and positioning, etc. Manufacturer involvement and after market vendors showcasing there products? Ever hear of Hay Days? Ever seen the Schooled video's? My point is if someone is looking for basic instruction, its out there. If someone already has the basics down, and wants to improve their skill level, there is only one way to become a better rider, and that is to ride with people that are better than you. If you can't find anyone better than you to ride with, you can pay a pro like Burandt or Rasmussen or Dan Adams to take you out and kick your but. You can go to the Polaris Assault camp, you can go to snocross riding schools, you can go to the snow shows, you can take avy courses, you can take snow stability courses out west, you can take survival courses, you can take first responder courses . Its all there for the people who want it.
Not trying to burst your bubble or squash your dreams, just trying to figure out exactly what your offering that isn't already there. Please --explain!
 
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