Weird Gear 1: Rocket Sled!

March 10th, 2008 BlowSnow

When the UPS guy finally came on Friday, I felt just like this!

What did he bring me as my first piece of gear to test? Yeah, a rocket sled, from Mad River Rocket!

Not a nitro fueled, go-to-the-moon, rocket… better! A backcountry, shred-the-pow rocket.

After playing on their website (see here) a little, it was easy to see what this thing was made / designed for,,, backountry powder.  We “earned our turns” fo a while, figuring out how to manuever the sled. 

After our backcountry testing, we were anxious to show this thing off. I heard a little rumor about a hill where some of the local kids were known to race. We din’t find any competetion, but we did find the jumps they left behind for us.  (We only recommend jumping in soft snow! Jumping on hard-pack, off sketchy jumps built by 10-year-olds,  can lead to back injury.) It’s a good thing there were no kids there to laugh at us. Steering the sled almost completely goes out the window on hard icy hills. We did have to experiment a little on positioning variations as the kneeling position was a little uncomfortable for us on the hard-pack.

 While “The Rocket” could be fun on any hill, it really performes best in what it was designed for.  Keep this pointed towards fresh tracks, and leave the crowded hills to the kids.  A ride down on “The Rocket” is a perferct reward if snowshoeing for exercise is your thing. Much better than hiking up to take a ski lift down! Ludicrous, yet a very popular activity here in Vail.

For our last run of the day, we couldn’t agree on who got the last ride down. Like any two rational adults we compromised,  deciding we would ride double. (seated tandem style) After a little arguing over who had to ride in front, we shredded down to the car. This worked suprisingly well. I’m just glad no one saw us.

 www.madriverrocket.com

Entry Filed under: Blow Snow Commentary, Gear, General, Mikey One Sock Tutorials, Oddities, Snow Sports