Burandt's Backcountry Adventure

[barefooter]

I promised a few guys a couple of years ago that I would post the pics I took on my trip to Burandt's back then. Well life get's in the way........ LOL

So, this morning I braved the freezing rain at 4am (Suck it up buttercup - as my wife so beautifully said when I left) to get on the flight to Denver to pick up my new sled and trailer from Chris. So - I thought I would make a concerted effort to post a few pictures this time around...

 

[barefooter]

Flight from hell. One hour waiting on tarmac in Calgary. Another hour on ground in Denver.

ANd get out of plane on tarmac - it is like 60 degrees. No snow. Bunch of Harleys run through the cab stand. WTF?!?

So last night Chris tells me it would help out if I could grab a rental instead of grabbing a ride with his uncle Buck. Hey no problems.... Until I tried to rent one.

Now I rent a lot of cars in my line of work. It never occurred to me the entire rental fleet in Denver would be sold out. Duh. Holidays?? So I pull out the Budget Platinum card......

I get two choices. A Camaro. Or an AWD Subaru hybrid. I choose the hybrid... I am so ashamed. What self respecting Alberta oilman wants to be seen in a hybrid?

On the way out I see I line of F350s. I ask why can't I have one of those. Girl behind the exit booth says "Saving those for the Texans". Damn Mericans....


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Take a different way driving to Buena Vista through the National Forest. A little fun through the pass, and finally start to see snow. Then it gets desolate. Like what God forsaken country is this? Who would live here? - the wind is like 100 mph, not a tree around and the cows all have legs shorter on one side from leaning into the wind. There must have been better places to stop when they were coming through here in the 1850's..... Kinda like Saskatchewan.

Subaru hybrid turns out to be like dating the chubby girl with the fantastic personality. You are having a great time, but you are always looking over your shoulder to see who is watching you. (joking, just joking).......


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Finally get to Chris's new shop. This is every sledder's wet dream. Some of the nicest sleds you will ever see. And you get to rent them all..... I will show some more pics in the am.

Grab a Monster out of the fridge, and Ryan helps me with taking some stripped bolts out of some parts from my kid's Polaris. Chris is still on the mountain, so I sign my waiver, pick up some Burandt swag and head out.


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

I have been teased with pics like this for weeks on my build. I am like a kid in a candy store when I am in the shop. Ryan tells me that Chris has my sled out for the day for "on snow testing".

Likely story. Damn Mericans.


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Best thing about Buena Vista is there are 1.7 Mexican restaurants per person. I go to Paridiso for lunch. You can't really tell, but this is a flaming maragarita. They hollow out the end of the lime, fill it full of tequila and light it on fire! If you can drink it before the flame goes out, you get it for free. I try three times before I determine it may be impossible. Plus, it appears they made the margarita by merely allowing the tequila to look at the lime, and not much else. My focus is starting to slip, so I head for the lodge.


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

The lodge. Beautiful place.


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Well - I was going to take a bunch of pics of the lodge, but that was interrupted by a 2 hour nap. And it was dark..... Tomorrow.

Great part of the day is the food. Chris's mother in law Bev does all the cooking, and you will not go hungry. Fun part is everyone sitting around for a while talking about sledding. Lots of digs how many trees my new sled found today..... Boys in the lodge tonight are all from North Dakota and Wyoming.

Chris is always around for dinner - then will head down about 7 or 8pm to see his kids. Sahen was wrenching on his new Boondocker, so he didn't come up this evening. So make it and early evening. Gotta try out new toy tomorrow.....


It's not the years, it the mileage........

 

[Shadam]

this is quite the thread ...

where's the rest ???






Sssooooo ... all you "individuals" that like your gaye wraps with pink n stuff ...

would you put those colors on your jacked up truck ???

just sayin ...

 

[adamg]

Good cliffhanger!

 

[Pawel]

Pretty cool! Thanks for sharing

 

[ferniesnow]

Awesome and a great story teller!

Thanks for the great job!

"It's not the years, it's the mileage"............hahahahaha

 

[4mcntrls]

Ok let's see some snow and your new sled not in a tree!

 

[C of Red]

Great thread, let see some more pic's.

 

[barefooter]

OK. Scored an upgrade back home on United in First Class. Righteous. Little elbow room to finish a post.

First day. Left home fighting a cold, and wake up today looking for the bus that ran over me. Not a great start. Finally get myself out of bed to go have breakfast.
One thing about Chris's, do not go there expecting you will be leaving at first light. Breakfast is at 8am. Then head down to the shop. There will be some issues there, so lucky if you roll out at 10am. Likely, n the snow at 11am. Funny watching the guys who have not been through the drill before almost blowing a gasket with impatience. 12 guys on the ride this am, so two full trailers.

I ride with Chris and a buch of guys from Wyoming. Having gone through the Burandt dril before, he starts off and everyone (who is now totally impatient) nipping at his heels. He turns off into the trees, into a little ravine sidehill, and waves the gang on. Within seconds, they are buried. Having fallen for this trick mant times before, I graciously do not accept the challenge and instead follow the "Burandt line" he takes after everyone is stuck. Everyone gets unstuck, impatience is gone and everyone starts listening.

Guys today are pretty good riders, so it is a day of "follow me" with Chris. About 2 hours into the day. I manage to stick a 12" cut-off branch into my seat on a nasty off camber turn. At 1;30, the cold and the altitude have hit me (we are at 11 - 12K ft), and I can barely breathe. I bow out, as I can barely make a line without taking 5 minutes to revover my breath. I head down to the trailer, and once I get lower, I start feeling a lot better. I play in a couple of drainages for a while getting used to the new sled, finally - bout 3:30 I head back to trailer, turn on the heat and curl up in a ball in the nose of the gooseneck. Next thing I know, it is 6:00, and the guys are back.
WE head back for dinner. Bev makes a great beef stew. One glass of wine - and I am headed for bed.

Standard modeous operendi is that Chris shows up and has breakfast and dinner with everyone. Sits around and BS's for a while about riding, hunting, whatever and by about 8pm, he is off. He has two really cute kids and a pretty hot wide Sandy , so do not expect that he will be your drinking buddy for the night. Sahen or Ryan on the other hand....



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It's not the age, it's the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Ok. Pic BEFORE new seat..

This thing has turned out to be a beast. Best snowmobile I have ever ridden.

So as a bit of explanation, I got introduced to sledding by St. Onge, so I have bled brp from day one. Have a couple of buddies who are BRP dealers and have fed the habit. This is my first Polaris.

After riding with Chris a couple of years ago, I was a convert to tree riding. This was built to be a technical sled. I can't believe how well it turned out. What really surprised me was how well it handles downhills. No matter how much work I did to the clutching, I could never get rid of the "Skidoo freewheel" effect on my ETECs. That always kept me nervous on technical downhills. It is so easy to keep the clutches engaged on this thing. Plus, when you shut down the turbo after spooling it up, it is amazing how the backpressure on he turbo keeps you under control. I was going downhills with real confidence that would have been butt puckering on my Doo.

Best sleeper build too. It looks and sounds stock. I am even going to keep the big-azz stock windshield

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It's not the age, it's the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Kinda like a Suncor safety meeting. If nobody moves, nobody gets stuck.... (just kidding to all the Suncor guys)



________________________________
It's not the age, it's the mileage........

 

[barefooter]

Coolest thing about riding up here is the old mining infrastructure that comes out of nowhere. Way different from Canada. I would love to take an American tree hugger through the lower 48, where "wilderness" really doesn't exist, and then show them Canada, where 15 minutes off a major highway we can show you places that are still unspoiled.

By the way - did I ever tell you I hate neauvo hippy, tree huggers?

Before sledding Saturday, I head off to a little coffee shop to have a caffeine injection (coffee is not one of Bev's strong points ) Of course, I pick the place in town full of Columbia wearing, dreadlock sporting, granola crunching wilderness poseurs. All wearing headbands. Damn - it looked like "townie" place. I walk in wearing a Klim ballcap and a "I use trees for traction T-shirt". First giveaway is the smell. Don't these people ever bathe? My grandfather fought on the front lines in WWII in Europe, and I am sure he took more baths in a week during that tour than these people take in a month. And why wear all the wool? There is a reason you don't go near sheep in a rainstorm.

As I sit down after ordering coffee from what would otherwise be an attractive girl, except for the dreads and the 6 facial percings, one of the hoard just can't resist. "Are you a snowmobiler?" ""Yes I am. What gave it away, my devilish good looks or debonair charm?" His girlfirend giggles, and of course this makes Mr. Nature Boy pissed off . The war of words begins. Suffice it to say - not my best effort at trying to win over a room. But once Naure Boy realizes he came to a battle of wits unarmed, he skulks away flipping me the bird as he leaves and slams the door. Guess he did not figure a sledder would know words that were bigger than 3 syllables. Too bad, his girlfriend was really cute and I was just starting to enjoy myself....



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It's not the age, it's the mileage........

 

[Pawel]

That there ^ made me laugh pretty hard!

 

[Russell P]

This is a great thread. Tons of information and funny as hell. Keep it up. :d