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
March 10th, 2008
As you may have noticed we have new bloggers on the scene here at Outdoorzy. With snow falling in the upper elevations we have asked two people who are close to snow sports action to join our blogging team.
Blow Snow
An avid skier, skateboarder, mountain biker, and snowboarder, Blow Snow knows a few things about the trails in Colorado. He’s lived in such interesting locales as Costa Rica and Mexico, but has planted himself recently in Vail.
Mikey One Sock
We don’t quite know where he got his name yet but we do know that he was on the US Ski Team and is now fighting his way into competitive Mountain Biking in Colorado. Mikey will have some interesting stories for sure, but we are most interested in the “One Sock Saga”…
Welcome to both these guys and we look forward to their wit and wisdom!
October 18th, 2007
Winter is really here. It’s dumping outside,, not that weird October stuff we usually get down in the valley. The real deal snow. It even smells like winter. A few mountains in Summit are open already. Nothing too spectacular, but it’s still shredding. Vail set to open Nov 16, the Beav Nov 21. How am I going to make this winter work? How after 8 years of 100+ days on the mountain am I going to be able to handle this 9-5, weekend warrior deal? Especially when from my office I can see the white slopes? Guess I’ll be making the commute to Keystone a few times a week for night laps. At least my office has a “one foot rule” for pow days. This is going to be torture. From my office window it even looks like we could be open. I know there is some kid up there right now, hiking for turns. Matterhood probably has a full functioning rail jam in session as I type this.
Well last night was the sneak sneak double secret preview for the snowboard lifestyle epic “Art For Art’s Sake”. Previewed in the bedroom of Chief Filmer, Producer, Editor, Evil Genius,,, Rockin Bob Awesome. Look for it out soon, and check the “Director’s Cut” drunk commentary we laid down. Yeah I’m still bro.
October 18th, 2007
