Well I am out

[Lightningmike]

This saying I found seems pretty fitting here.... " when you are dead, you don't know that you are dead. It is difficult only for the others. It is the same when you are stupid. ". We need less idiots and more knowledgable people out there. Hope you don't leave the sport.

 

[pipes]

Sad to hear that you are throwing in the towel. I wish you would reconsider. I for one am not going to give in to stupidity. I will not quit doing what I love because of a few idiots that make it bad for everyone else out there. As others have pointed out, there is "stupidity" all around us, be it snowmobiling, Skiing, boating, driving or what ever else you enjoy. Quitting is letting "stupidity" win, staying on board and showing "stupidity" the right way is our only hope of defeating "stupidity".

 

[Weirboondocking]

Truth is if sledding is in a persons blood they wont be able to be gone long... We need all the support from ethical riders that we can get. I hope to hear that all goes well for you.

 

[Depsnolvr]

Personally I will never think of quitting, ALTHOUGH, I do work full time for the recreational sledding public and get to see more than my fair share of the bad side believe me......BUT with that much exposure, I also get to see many positive things the snowmobile community does and they far out way the bad. From simple gestures of help on the mountain side, to huge gestures of help on the mountain side, to people getting involved on the club level and volunteering their time for the future of snowmobiling, to small as well as high profile groups raising funds for various causes (CAC, Lions Society, local food banks) I just had over 30 people come over 1000km round trip (on their own dime) to hike around a mountain to pick garbage in a rainstorm....really this list goes on and on. The short of it has really been stated, but unfortunately the negatives are usually more visible than the good, as those bad apples need the attention, while the real life heros do it for the inner gratitude and good will.

I don't know you and it sounds like you have made up your mind, although maybe this will reach others thinking the same way. Get involved or join a club (not directing this at anyone), believe me, we/they need as much help as we can get. You will be surrounded by positive people working simply for the greater good of our brother/sisters in the sport and the well being of our favorite pastime.

My .02

 

[gmac]

I'm still in.

 

[Mike270412]

I'm still in.

Me too

 

[Trukker]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[powderpilot]

I think there are only a few genuine reasons to give up on something you enjoy, finances, family, and physical ability are the only ones I can come up with for now. Getting negged out and bailing is totally a cop-out... Sorry. I for one hope you don't spill your attitude about sledders into the ski community, or anywhere else. The other folks have said it, join a club and get involved. If you didn't see the positives, then you can only blame yourself, not the sport, or even the drunken azzhats on the hill.

 

[Bogger]

Hey now, us drunken azzhats have feelings too..... no need to be mean

 

[Modman]

Sad to hear that you are throwing in the towel. I wish you would reconsider. I for one am not going to give in to stupidity. I will not quit doing what I love because of a few idiots that make it bad for everyone else out there. As others have pointed out, there is "stupidity" all around us, be it snowmobiling, Skiing, boating, driving or what ever else you enjoy. Quitting is letting "stupidity" win, staying on board and showing "stupidity" the right way is our only hope of defeating "stupidity".

I don't think we will ever "defeat" stupidity in sledding or in all parts of our society. If there is an "underqualified" worker on a crew who cuts their hand doing something dumb, the rest of the crew has to wear cut resistant gloves. 20 yrs ago they reprimanded you or fired your dumb ass. Nowadays everyone wants it easy and fast, and no one takes responsibility for their actions, they want babysitters. So easy to get things like information about riding areas on sites like this, people just give it all up without knowing who is openly reading it on the other side of the screen. Lots of peeps need to think about what they post, but don't. Then we hear these asshats riding in areas without nearly enough skills or out of bounds, or ripping up the trails drunk in family areas, and everyone gets up on their soapboxes. Its usually the same people that gave away the farm in the first place. The internet casts a huge shadow, and information is all too readily obtainable.

Look at the cabins for example, people never trashed cabins before because only a select few knew where they were. If someone found your cabin (by sheer luck), they respected it (generally). Not so much these days, cabin locations are all talked about mainstream, people leave empties, wipe sh!t all over the outhouse etc. Babysit them and clean up their mess or let them get drunk and burn it down and then they won't have anything to wreck next time, they'll have to sit in the cold dark forest drinking in the snow, and probably won't go back to that spot again......

Years ago, if you weren't good enough to ride an area, people didn't take you there for that reason, you were a liability. Nowadays you can't tell anyone that, you might hurt their feelings. Often times people type about all the "experience" they have, when in reality its only words on a screen and their active imagination, or their weiner talking. A while back, none of that sh!t flew, people rode with you once and knew if you had what it takes or not, before it got too involved. When they left you in the snow dust, you knew it then too....there was no fallacy about your experience level and no denying it to yourself.

The OP is right about a few things, and there are a lot of peeps these days who just don't have a clue. Fancy sled, fancy truck, all that means you're good to go up until the parking lot, after that the mountains will separate the men from the boys.

 

[g7gcbc]

Sounds kind of elitist.

 

[scotts]

Awww dude, don't go away mad.. Don't go away at all!!
i started to get the very same feelings a couple years ago, took a year off, sold sleds, trailers, house in the hills, the works!
riding had lost its appeal, I had turned it from something I loved into just another job,
i spent too much time on here arguing with morons and becoming a huge one myself..
I bet you'll find that a bit of a break and a trip back to basicville will change your thinking..
im back to a truck/deck, I like to ride midweek while the ft mactards are at work, and instead of just trying to rack up trip numbers I'm going to take fewer, yet longer trips to more remote destinations..
I'm past riding the big 3 areas, in any given location, been there done that waaaay too many times.
i just want to go for a ride and explore, I'm not into making movies, most of the time I forget my camera. As anybody who knows me will agree, I like to just disappear into the backcountry, not to make a movie, sell a calander, or empower a portion of the population!
try to cut all that crap out of the equation and maybe you'll find your passion again, I think I have again, hopefully you will too.

 

[ferniesnow]

Awww dude, don't go away mad.. Don't go away at all!!
i started to get the very same feelings a couple years ago, took a year off, sold sleds, trailers, house in the hills, the works!
riding had lost its appeal, I had turned it from something I loved into just another job,
i spent too much time on here arguing with morons and becoming a huge one myself..
I bet you'll find that a bit of a break and a trip back to basicville will change your thinking..
im back to a truck/deck, I like to ride midweek while the ft mactards are at work, and instead of just trying to rack up trip numbers I'm going to take fewer, yet longer trips to more remote destinations..
I'm past riding the big 3 areas, in any given location, been there done that waaaay too many times.
i just want to go for a ride and explore, I'm not into making movies, most of the time I forget my camera. As anybody who knows me will agree, I like to just disappear into the backcountry, not to make a movie, sell a calander, or empower a portion of the population!
try to cut all that crap out of the equation and maybe you'll find your passion again, I think I have again, hopefully you will too.

hey man you hit the nail on the head. Don't like making movies? That's fine let someone else take out the camera and get some random shots. Our back-country is a little bit of paradise and no one is around. We can get lost and not even be concerned with the idiots. But a rest or a change is always good.