Summary: Snowmobiling can leave you stranded far away if you get injured or forget the necessary spare parts. Learn some quick safety rules from our snowmobiling expert in this free video.
Ches Rainer has been offering back country snowmobile tours for the last 9 years. He gained experience while living and working in Tahoe, CA during the winter. He specializes in taking...read more
"So in this clip we're going to talk about some of the basic rules of snowmobiling. So we've planned our route today; we have our trail map, and we know right where we're going. And we've told someone where we're going, so that's really important. And we have a time that we're going to be back by. So if we're not back, then they know that somebody needs to come look for us. And a spare belt. So this is important for your snow machine. I have a spare belt in mine. It's a spare drive belt. These have a centrifugal clutch, and to transfer the power from the engine to your main track down here, there's a belt. And these sometimes break. And if you don't have one, then you're going to be stranded. It's a two-stroke engine, so sometimes they can foul out, so we bring an extra pair of plugs and some simple hand tools so we can change the plugs out, if, for some reason, the snowmobile stops running because it loaded up. There's like a little code of ethics. I mean we're all out here to have fun, so don't be in a big hurry. And if someone else is in your way or something, just, you know, you can talk to people. And if they're in your way, you ask them if they want to move so you can get onto the trail, things like that. Basically, it's just like you're driving a car. Usually you stay to the right side of the trail, and the other person is going to be coming at you from the left side, just like you're driving on the street. And when you pass someone, you want to pass them on the left. And it's a good idea, I mean sometimes people look back, you want to make sure that someone knows that you're going to pass, because they could be swerving all over the road, the trail. So basic hand signs work too. If someone's behind you and you're going to make a left turn, you can hold your left arm out for a left turn. A right turn is like this. Stop is going to be down like that. It lets the people behind you know what's going on, if you've got a bunch of sleds behind you. "