Mountain Riding at night

[cattechsummitrider]

Our group uses both led lights ( some frankensled and some plug in ) and lead dog halogen lights, the led lights are WAY brighter it is a good thing and a bad thing, when it is snowing really hard the led lights have more of a wall of light and do not pierce as far, halogen pierce the heavy snow fall better but are not as bright,,,, If you do use a light that is non plugin like frankensled extra batterys are a good idea, There have been many times that we were only going far a little while and ended coming back at dawn ( dam found awesome snow)
As for a note on your truck in parking area S&R will not usually search for a group unless you have been reported missing until morning if you go somewhere with a sign in sheet at the cabin state on the sign in sheet that you are night riding so the groomer operator knows, Let the frt desk at the hotel know that you will possibly be night riding even a quick call to the snowmobile club During the day) in the area and giving them your truck plate number and telling them what you are doing that weekend,

Have a good time

 

[Lem Lamb]

Someone ask about the what if, or let's say the what ifs in life in general.

Ifs come at us at all times, day time has it ifs, and night has its.

As I mentioned, travel with select group that works together, learn the areas by day time, using both of those tools to expand, learn, and "try" to be wize in the groups and your actions.
One can add lots of reflective tape to our gear, sled, and stuff we pack,,, lots of long lasting lights out there that we can benefit from.

They are cheap, so buy lots.

The group/ persons should ask them selves.... "What if happens." What can I/ we do as a whole to mitigate "ALL" fore see-able & non risks with night riding in the mountains, hills, creek beds, and those hidden bodies of water.

Looking at all of this in the day should make one start to think,,, what is over looked soon becomes something to think about in the dark...

Dark riding is not for every one, but those that do become good at it.

I will admit that I have run the dark side, but my spider senses started to tingle telling me that this is not a 1 dude show.

So the group of 3 became the rule, and we learned to be very selective on how, where, what, when, why we picked areas with the "least" amount of risks.

This is and was the foundation we built from.

Our team brake saying was always this.

""" If things get cross threaded, sideways, or up side down,,, we must know that we are along ways from help."""

The plan is to keep it fun with out those risks,,, those unnessery risks are not wize for me or my brothers since we work as a team till we are back in town.

Think team, add a second, and be wize.

Nothing is as it seems when we are in the dark. Only dragons confront us from head on as the Wolves follow our tracks from behind.

What I / we could do back then might be hard to repeat today,,, age has told me alot,,, maybe this is why I don't find challenging paths in life to much now.

It will be us that pick and choose our comfort zone with or without approvals from others.

If that is the case, then there would not be what we have today,,, living in the stone age sucks since life is painful living in a cold dark cave with little food and a fire that gives off very little heat.

Don't Noo since I'm here with challanges of different kinds.

Lem

 

[canuck5]

I would say a night ride heavily depends on both the group and the weather. 3-4 strong riders that have a group mentality and it's quite doable. One weak rider that's a poor communicator and you are begging to have issues I don't know how many times at the end of the day a bunch of tired guys start making bad decisions and you are begging to leave alpine by Brail have to heard them together fall in line and make way to entrance. I also think a chain saw is mandatory along with extra food and ability to create water. The weather is the biggest factor in my eyes we almost got stuck on hill late last December was -15 to 20 up top and crazy windy that would have been a cold night. On a calm full moon night with mild temps probably awesome.

 

[cattechsummitrider]

I would say a night ride heavily depends on both the group and the weather. 3-4 strong riders that have a group mentality and it's quite doable. One weak rider that's a poor communicator and you are begging to have issues I don't know how many times at the end of the day a bunch of tired guys start making bad decisions and you are begging to leave alpine by Brail have to heard them together fall in line and make way to entrance. I also think a chain saw is mandatory along with extra food and ability to create water. The weather is the biggest factor in my eyes we almost got stuck on hill late last December was -15 to 20 up top and crazy windy that would have been a cold night. On a calm full moon night with mild temps probably awesome.

Good post I think a saw is mandatory all the time (maybe not a chain saw) and also when ever you are riding your group is only as strong as your weakest link