Yellowstone Snowmobile Tour

[Becky]

Yeeeeee I'm super excited. Smossy is still eh, I think he's a robot in disguise with no emotions so pshh. I'm loving the tips and ideas, thanks all, keep it coming please!

It's a combined lodging, sleds, clothes, tour guide type thing. We choose what tours (I guess you HAVE to have a guide into Yellowstone?) or we can do free on our own trips but I don't know how that works.

Main thing I'm worried about is my body sucks at any acclimation to either direction of extreme weather (heat or cold, thank you MS) and I have something called Raynaud's syndrome. Basically an overreaction of my arteries in my fingers and toes, my hands completely seize up at any slight coldness or stress. I really want my own sled and not have to ride with Smossy, I haven't found good gloves yet though so if you know any amazing ones that keep heat best please let me know!

[quadrafire]

Probably Mittens with some hotties in them would be your best bet. Put them on top of your toes as well inside your boots. Amazing how that will keep you warm.

[dyhardhuntr]

Check with the place you are getting your snowmobiles. Most snowmobiles have heated grips on them. Wear good snow boots like sorel or kamik. Also your feet will stay pretty warm while riding just from the heat off the engine. I've ridden extensively and never had issues until I got off the sled. Most of all have a great time. Yellowstone is amazing!

[Buzz2401]

Wife and I have been talking about this for awhile.  Looks like a blast.

[Rainier10]

Probably Mittens with some hotties in them would be your best bet. Put them on top of your toes as well inside your boots. Amazing how that will keep you warm.

  Mittens for sure and hotties for your boots.


Your snowmobile will have heated hand warmers and a thumb warmer on your right throttle thumb.  You are better off driving a sled yourself, you will stay warmer driving, you will be closer to the engine with your feet as well and the windshield will keep you warmer.  Riding passenger isn't as much work so you get colder, no hand warmers for the passenger, you are more exposed to the elements as a passenger and farther away from the warm engine.

[luvmystang67]

I found high altitude to be more of a hindrance than the cold (headaches on the first couple of days).  Also, its very dry, so bring chapstick and drink lots of water.  If you're not on foot you require a guide.  The only road that is open is the one up north that takes you to lamar valley.  To get deeper into the park (where the Geysers are) you need to have a guide and/or stay at the lodge in the park.  From the lodge in the park you can go anywhere you can get on foot or ski, but any departure from that area by motor requires a guide/service.  So basically you're free to drive in from the north and see all of lamar valley and Mammoth Hot Springs and hike all of the trails off that road, but if you want to see Geysers you either get a guided tour or walk from the lodge inside the park (or ski).  If you're on sleds, you'll be on a tour.  If you're staying outside the park, you'll probably be on sleds on tour most all of the time you're in the park.  You can see more this way, but you have a little less freedom.  Still, the park will be mostly empty, which is awesome.  When I was there we walked around the main Geyser basin and saw 1-2 people a day.  Wolves were howling and hanging around the lodge because there were so few people around.

[DaveMonti]

Snowmobiling int he park is very limited relative to what it was 20 years ago.  The park allows only a limited number of sleds per day, and all must be guided with approved guide services.  Guide services are allocated permits.  They will take care of you, have good gear and be very aware of the elements and their patrons. 

SG, are you going out of West Yellowstone or Gardiner? 

[Grit dog]

Don't worry about cold hands. Good mittens and hand warmers on the sled will cook your hands.
Riding thru Yellowstone is phenomenal.
We did it a couple times back right before they closed it to snowmobiling. (Then it was opened back up to limited/guided/restricted access like it is now)
First trip was New Years, rode in East gate mid afternoon, banzai run to West Yellowstone for New Years eve party in West. 100mi ? Run in a few hours, in the dark!  Awesome and scary until you come around a corner doing 60 and there's a bison in the road!
Daytime is spectacular. Wildlife, geysers and other thermals.
Have fun. Lucky!

[Rainier10]

Snowmobiling int he park is very limited relative to what it was 20 years ago.  The park allows only a limited number of sleds per day, and all must be guided with approved guide services.  Guide services are allocated permits.  They will take care of you, have good gear and be very aware of the elements and their patrons. 

SG, are you going out of West Yellowstone or Gardiner?

It was about 20 years ago that we did it.  I got a headache on the way out at night from all the exhaust fumes.  They were talking about closing it down soon or switching to 4 stroke snowmobiles only in the park.  I think there were snocat tours at the time also.  Tracked vehicle that could haul like 15 people at a time.

[DaveMonti]

As Grit dog said, they closed it to the general public and only allow commercial guided tours.  I'm sure there is a ban on 2 strokes as well.  Several studies indicated tens of thousands of gallons of unburnt 2 stoke oil and fuel was being dumped into the ecosystem each year by the snowmobiles, and the noise was scaring a lot of animals at a time when they were vulnerable.  There were multiple lawsuits from conservation groups to snowmobile manufacturers and businesses around the park.  I think the end result of a limited number of daily trips through commercial tour operators using their approved equipment is a pretty good way to manage things.  At the peak before the limiting regs, there were 750 to 1000 sleds in the park per day on many of the peak winter season days. 

Of course, you had yahoos chasing wildlife, sledding off the roads in places that were illegal, and general poor behavior from only a few, coupled with the pollution, it's probably a good thing that it's so limited these days.

[Dan-o]

We did it about 20 years ago - before you needed a guide.

YOU WILL HAVE SUCH AN AWESOME TIME!!!!!!!!!!

[Skyvalhunter]

Do this while you can as the tree huggers are out to restrict people in the park during the winter season. There is a yearly effort by them to ban snowmobiles in the park. Have fun and take lots of pictures

[Elkaholic daWg]

 

[Becky]

Thank you all for the information, I've been making a shopping list and a packing list based on a lot of what's written here.

We have our dates set!! Sooo excited, and Smossy finally is as well  .. We are staying in West Yellowstone, the hotel is a Best Western right outside of the park entrance.

Feb 12th: Drive
Feb 13th: Check-In
Feb 14th: Old Faithful Geyser Tour
Feb 15th: Grand Canyon Yellowstone Tour
Feb 16th: Private tour to Mammoth Hot Springs
Feb 17th: Off on our own into the national forest
Feb 18th: Check-Out and start the trip home

It seems as though all the gear is included for the cold weather, we will for sure bring some hotties, is there anything that seems to be missing that we need to bring?

Snowmobile rental includes: 600cc snowmobile with electric start and reverse, 1 tank of fuel (from our gas pumps only) per rental day, complete set of our high quality outerwear rental clothing (HJC helmet with full face visor, Polar Tech face mask, mittens, one-piece FXR or Cabela’s suit and the warmest Sorrel Caribou boots).

[Becky]

As Grit dog said, they closed it to the general public and only allow commercial guided tours.  I'm sure there is a ban on 2 strokes as well.  Several studies indicated tens of thousands of gallons of unburnt 2 stoke oil and fuel was being dumped into the ecosystem each year by the snowmobiles, and the noise was scaring a lot of animals at a time when they were vulnerable.  There were multiple lawsuits from conservation groups to snowmobile manufacturers and businesses around the park.  I think the end result of a limited number of daily trips through commercial tour operators using their approved equipment is a pretty good way to manage things.  At the peak before the limiting regs, there were 750 to 1000 sleds in the park per day on many of the peak winter season days. 

Of course, you had yahoos chasing wildlife, sledding off the roads in places that were illegal, and general poor behavior from only a few, coupled with the pollution, it's probably a good thing that it's so limited these days.

Yea I think you have to have the 4 stroke engines, it reads that way all over the websites anyway.. not specifically saying it's required but it says "Guided Trip into Yellowstone National Park Includes: Guided group tour and upgrade to 4 stroke snowmobile."