Braaping through the woods

It’s completely rare, but we left Killington this past week. We went skiing—at another resort.  We always joke that we all get this Beast365 with the Ikon attached, but rarely venture out of town to use it until our west coast vacation. I mean, there are several iKon resorts in Vermont, but you seldom hear of Killington folk making the journey.

So, while we did take a few runs at Stratton, it took us about 90 minutes to ride every open lift once. But it was just a pitstop on our much-anticipated adventure. We really went south to ride the V.A.S.T. trails maintained by the Shaftsbury SnowPilots & Woodford SnoBusters. Because snowmobiling is awesome!

I love snowmobiling. You’ve got two skis up front that carve like a dream. I ride dual carbide skis, so there are literally two metal edges grabbing the snow on each one. They carve better than any race ski I’ve ever been on; I don’t care who tuned them. The carbides dig in, and you ride those rails around the turn with no hint of doing anything but rolling over. Those skis are not going to give.

Then, you can throw the tail around as hard or smoothly as you want to. You can whip that track around or dig it in deep for a sweet carve —just like a mountain bike tire but a whole lot wider. It depends on the texture of the snow and the tightness of the turn, but man, is it super fun when you get braaping through a tight section flying up a mountain. That’s my favorite—something we thankfully have plenty of in the Tweed River Snow Travelers jurisdiction (Pittsfield).

I ride snowmobiles more vigorously than I ski, which is funny. I like to be silly on my skis, but something about snowmobiles gets my fires burning. Maybe it’s the sweet smell of two-stroke revving my own systems. Perhaps I was really supposed to be a snowmobiler who grew up skiing. It just feels right, and I am serious about business when I get that sled moving. We ride. And we ride hard.

I’m pretty sure I go faster in the turns than on the straightaways, but never faster than the 35 mph speed limit. I love manipulating that machine, throwing my body left and right to make the movements and keeping my thumb on the throttle. It’s like skiing— without the chairlift breaks. Like single-track mountain biking, without having to work hard on the uphills. Like motorcycles, because it’s got a motor and we can ride for 50-200 miles a day. But with snow!

My favorite part of snowmobiling is the adventure. We ride primarily at night because, well, you know, lift-served skiing and work get in the way. And you can see the light of any oncoming sleds through the woods. Let’s be honest, a lot of those trails are skinny fun but not quite two sleds wide. You can get to the deepest woods in the middle of nowhere. We’ve been so far deep in the woods that we can’t see any light pollution at all—nothing. It’s just the two of us on the top of a mountain like BloodRoot or Glastenbury.

I mean, it is kind of freaky being so far deep in the backcountry that if I were skiing, it would have taken me two or three days to get there. But on a sled, it only takes 2-3 hours, and you’re braaping around the entire time. But you still see so much! All the nooks and crannies between the rolling hills that you cannot access with a car or truck—so much of Vermont is hidden in the mountains. And don’t get me started on all the skiable terrain that we pass while roaring around.

I never imagined something with a motor could get me closer to nature, to these beautiful green mountains we call home. But it just feels right, rolling over and around them.  Being truly in them. There’s something special to the character of Vermont mountains that they work so perfectly well for snowmobile exploring. It’s beyond anything I could ever have imagined Vermont could be.

Thank you so much to the 128 clubs that maintain the over 5,000 V.A.S.T. trails throughout the state.  And thank you to our landowners who generously allow us to maintain trails on their properties.  This sport is amazing. We haven’t ridden every mile yet, but we still have plenty of time!  Remember, if you haven’t seen Vermont from the seat of a snowmobile, you haven’t seen Vermont!

Merisa Sherman is a long-time Killington resident, global real estate advisor, town official, and Coach PomPom.  She can be reached at Merisa.Sherman@SothebysRealty.com.