Backcountry Snowmobile Profile: Rob Alford

In the fall of 2013, Snow Goer magazine asked some of snowmobiling’s backcountry heroes a series of questions, so readers could find out more about what makes them tick. This profile was published in the October 2013 issue.

Rob Alford

Snowmobiling Tenure: 17 years

Current Ride: Summit X 163, stock except for Elka shocks

Favorite Riding Destination: Revelstoke, British Columbia. There’s a ton of great riding places there, so I can go just about any direction and find something fantastic.

Preferring Riding: Big drops are fun and so is carving and boondocking: That’s what’s great about the mountains, finding variety.

Tip For Western Novice: Many newcomers dress way too warm. It may be cold in the parking lot but once you get going it warms up quickly with the amount of exercise that goes into riding.

My “other” job: Own and operate a commercial fishing boat

Snowmobile jump Rob Alford
Rob Alford, doing what he does best on his Ski-Doo. Submitted image.

Dream Riding Partner: I have always wanted to go to Alaska and ride with the Turnagain crew. The pictures look awesome and they can ride pretty late in the year

Preferred Track: 163 incher. It floats well, is easy to ride and is still an easy sled to jump. A lot of guys think that’s too long, and I did too until [Carl] Kuster basically insisted I try it. The 163 works so good in December and January powder and still gets it done in late March.

Off-Season Fun: Snowmobiling ends for me April 1st and I go straight to fishing so I can pay my parts bills. Once I get back on shore in late June I have to get my land legs back and then I do lots of enduro dirt-biking, hanging with fiends, working on my lodge.

Lesson Learned: If you ever notice your rubber stopper between the ski and spindle is worn out, make sure to replace it. Mine was worn out and it caused my ski to harpoon under the snow which sent me flying over the bars like superman. It took me a minute to figure which way was up!

Rob Alford on sled

 

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