We’re not sure if the idiom “once bitten, twice shy” truly applies or not in our snowmobiling pursuits. But after last year’s debacle of a winter, when a chance arose to ride during the first full weekend of December, we weren’t going to pass it up!
So we gathered our riding gear and created a plan to leave home with an empty (yes, empty) trailer last Friday morning. We’d been told there was snow in Michigan’s glorious Upper Peninsula. It was screaming our name.
From the very beginning, things didn’t go exactly as planned, but what memory making snowmobiling adventure ever really goes as planned?
Staggered Start
The start of our 2025 sled collection process was first delayed by the dealership where our 2025 Ski-Doos were shipped. For some reason, they thought they should take care of their paying customers first rather than us freeloading media clowns?! The nerve of them. Luckily the dealership was on our way to the U.P. and adaptable to our needs. That explains why we left home with the aforementioned empty trailer. We’d grab them along the way, we decided.
The start to our drive to the dealership Friday, though, was initially delayed by trailer problems. Apparently some field mice found nibbling on our trailer’s wiring to be about as irresistible as a fresh-buttered popcorn. Thus, we arrived at our rented cabin on the north shore of Lake Gogebic in Bergland, Michigan, much later than planned and well after dark. Still, a concise night ride let us click on 42 miles before bedtime.
Then, the start to our second day of riding was ALSO delayed by falling light rain, plus some putzy friends who couldn’t nail the morning meet up time. Luckily they were good guys to ride with or they would have been left behind!
But in the end, we made it home late Saturday night with 611 fresh trailering miles on my GMC Yukon, 201 miles each on a couple of 2025 Ski-Doos, and broad smiles on our faces. For us, the season has begun!
The Sleds & Trails
The sleds broken in were a 2025 Ski-Doo MXZ X 850 E-TEC and the wide version of a 2025 Ski-Doo Backcountry X-RS 850 E-TEC Turbo R.
For the trail riding we were doing, the MXZ X was the ideal mate. Quick reacting, fun, smooth running and efficient, its many features matched the conditions well. It was clearly made for this.
Friday night we stuck to mainly twisting trails, and the MXZ X immediately showcased the benefits of its new RAS RX front suspension and Pilot RX skis. With limited roll from the new front end of the sled plus skis with a bit more keel than their predecessors, the MXZ’s handling was very precise. It couldn’t have been any easier to control. Plus, early season trail bumps, low spots and squared-off ruts were easily eaten by the rMotion skid in back.
Saturday was more of the same as we rode from Bergland to Houghton and back, with a few side adventures along the way. We did a bit more rail trail running than we normally prefer due to reports of some side trails having big water/mud holes through swampy areas. But the MXZ still shined, especially the rMotion skid when the trails got rougher toward the end of the day due to heavy sled traffic.
Somewhat sadly, we kept the Backcountry focused exclusively on trails for its break-in ride. We could see where other people were going off trail (where legal, along powerlines and such). But we could also see evidence in the tracks they were leaving behind that many of those off-trail warriors were clawing to the bottom of the snowpack in a hurry and exposing big rocks, stumps and other hazards. We want our Backcountry to last for more than this one weekend, so we kept it safe on the trails and will do our off-trail exploring later in the season, when there’s a thicker snowpack to cover all of the landmines.
The wide version of the Backcountry X-RS that we have has the same new RAS RX and Pilot RX combination that’s found on our MXZ X. That meant its trail manners were generally quite good. We could, though, feel the effects of its lengthy 146-inch track and uncoupled cMotion rear suspension. We joked trailside about it handling like a station wagon due to its overall length, but that wasn’t entirely fair or accurate. It corners very well for a longboard, but certainly not as precisely as the MXZ.
Both E-TEC direct injected sleds generally ran well, considering they were in break-in mode. That said, the 850 E-TEC Turbo R in the Backcountry used significantly more fuel than the naturally aspirated 850 in the MXZ (as in 8 gallons on one fill-up vs. just more than 5 on the 850). The Turbo R also surprisingly guzzled an entire tank of the BRP XPS Ice that is supposed to cool the intake on long, full-throttle pulls. Yes, we did push the sleds pretty hard on occasions on the rail trail, but not for great lengths of time and certainly not to the point where it should have emptied the seat-back tank. We’ll be checking with the dealership to see if there’s an adjustment to be made.
Just after sunset Saturday we made it back to the truck unscathed, despite a couple of bambi scares (including one particularly indecisive doe who stood right in the middle of the trail as we skidding right up to her). As an aside, we also came across some tallish bird in the trail that we swear must have escaped from a zoo or something. We’ve never seen anything that looks even close to this stick-legged, oval-bodied beast anywhere in the Northwoods!
We’re back in the office today, but are already planning our next escape. We’ve got Lynx and Polaris snowmobiles with our names on them getting set up at dealerships this week in our area. We just need Old Man Winter to delivery more cold and snow.
And, after the writing the opening paragraph to this story, we also now need help getting this horrific Great White song out of our head! So we decided to paste it below so you could share our affliction.
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Only 211 miles and a whole tank of BRP ICE used. Previous article here said most riders will get over a whole season (i.e. 2,500+ miles) before a fill up is needed. This something that needs to be reported on again please.
“The Turbo R also surprisingly guzzled an entire tank of the BRP XPS Ice that is supposed to cool the intake on long, full-throttle pulls. Yes, we did push the sleds pretty hard on occasions on the rail trail, but not for great lengths of time and certainly not to the point where it should have emptied the seat-back tank. We’ll be checking with the dealership to see if there’s an adjustment to be made.”