Latest news with #snowmobile
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I visited Europe's largest wilderness - where it's illegal to go outside without a weapon and seal is on the menu
Improbable, measureless and beautifully sinister, Svalbard is a natural film set - it's no wonder parts of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning were filmed here. The size of Ireland, the Norwegian archipelago is the largest wilderness in Europe - just 400 miles from the North Pole. Most of it is rock and ice and only one island, Spitsbergen, is inhabited, home to 2,600 souls in five tiny settlements. I'm here for a week - joining a snowmobile expedition. Here's how it went... Ultra cold at base camp Svalbard never thaws and is frozen to a depth of more than 330ft (100m). At the heart of this icy world is Longyearbyen, a former coal mining town. In spring the temperature hovers at about -15C. This is the world's most northerly town, featuring the most northerly library, pub, schools and a handful of 'Scandi cool' hotels. Seal features on menus. Snowmobiles are sold at the Co-op. Reindeer patrol the tundras. It's illegal to leave Longyearbyen without weapons. 'Polar bears can appear anywhere,' warns our guide, Elise, who carries a rifle. The previous week a group was stalked (luckily, without incident). Typically they're 7ft-plus and can weigh more than 100 stone (630kg). There are more than 3,000 in Svalbard. You can spot stuffed bears all over town: in the airport, pub and even the church. Out on the ice there are six in our group, each with a snowmobile. For eight hours we ride up frozen rivers, through ice fields and on to glaciers, the temperature dropping to -27C. We're wearing polar suits and the handlebars are heated. For sustenance we have freeze-dried curry. The size of Ireland, the Norwegian archipelago is the largest wilderness in Europe - just 400 miles from the North Pole After Longyearbyen we see no one else. It's an unforgettable ride, with mountains as white as clouds below a cobalt-blue sky. Cliffs arise in the distance looking like stacks of iced pink coins. On one occasion, at Horbyebreen, we enter a natural tunnel beneath the glacier. The silence is enormous. After 84 miles we reach the improbably stylish Nordenskiold Lodge, with leather armchairs, panoramic windows and even a sauna. Here we're looked after by a proper Arctic couple: Trond, a former trapper, and his partner, Ragna, who served up a superb reindeer stew. Plumbing is tricky in the tundra, so men have to pee outside. Doing so involves taking an armed guard (Trond) who keeps an eye out for polar bears with his .44 Magnum. Eight miles away is the Russian mining town of Pyramiden. Under the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, Moscow is permitted to extract coal, and the town is a relic of Soviet times. Due to sanctions, we don't visit, but we do skirt the sea-ice around the town. It's a gloomy place of scabby tower blocks and rusting cranes that during its heyday (1975-85) was home to 900 miners. Now only 20 remain - plus a statue of Vladimir Lenin. On our final day we walk across a frozen bay to the bottom of Nordenskiold Glacier. Here great columns of ice sheer off and collapse with a boom. From afar the glacier wall looks like a torrent of smashed up skyscrapers. But close up it's more like a rampart made of turquoise marble. In the evening, Ragna drops chunks of this prehistoric ice in our whiskies. On Spitsbergen there are more huskies than humans. Before snowmobiles, dogs were the only way to travel. On our return I try what's known as mushing, any sport powered by dogs. With names like Ravioli, Stinky and Twix, they're strong, affectionate and eager to please. Compared with zipping in a snowmobile it's slow going. Not everyone survives Svalbard. Some missions prove truly impossible. The North Pole Museum in Longyearbyen is like a gallery of mishaps. It's all here: an aviator's maroon suit, bits of Roald Amundsen's plane and the doomed Italia airship. The city museum also has a 'catastrophe section'. One exhibit concerns the rifle of trapper Georg Nilsen, who vanished in 1921. His skeleton was discovered in 1965, crunched up by polar bears... his rifle jammed. John Gimlette is the author of The Gardens Of Mars: Madagascar, An Island Story, published by Head of Zeus.
The Drive
30-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
Putting Wheels on a Snowmobile Makes for a Rowdy All-Terrain Trike
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Ever find yourself wondering just what sort of trouble you could get into with a snowmobile in the summertime? If you live in one of many parts of the country that winter has seemingly abandoned, you may find yourself pondering this more often these days. But what would it take to have some real fun on a sled when there's not a snowflake in sight? How about sticking a set of wheels on it? That's exactly what the YouTubers behind mycustomgokart did with this beat-up, 600cc Ski-Doo Formula III. As builds go, this one's actually fairly simple. The bulk of the fabrication work involved removing the snowmobile's track and creating a new axle setup for the rear wheel. A set of wheels with nice, knobby tires went over a set of custom bearings designed for the front end, mounting where the skis were removed. It made for a simple swap, but it makes the Ski-Doo look a bit like a demonically possessed landscaping cart, especially once they fit the 12-inch-wide slick to the new rear axle. With that all squared away, the Ski-Doo needed some mechanical attention. For starters, the engine was experiencing some sort of fueling issue that kept fouling the spark plugs, so a carburetor service was in order. The guys also suspected that the snowmobile's stock cooling system wouldn't be up to the task, so a new radiator was fabbed up and installed in the rear of the engine bay—not the best spot, granted, but it's what they had to work with. And with that, it's time for some testing. Sure enough, it works. Their fearless test driver (hardhat and all) needs a little time to get acclimated to this squirrelly snowmobile-turned-street-rod, but after some trial and nearly spectacular error, he manages to string together a few five-star donuts. Fearing that they may be drawing unwanted attention, they retreat to private property for some more playtime. After some off-pavement foolishness, the gang reconvenes to see how the sled is holding up. While it drives better than the team expected, the Ski-Doo is showing signs of distress after its first shakedown run. The mounting plates for the rear axle were welded to the rear tunnel of the Ski-Doo, which was clearly not designed to handle the kinds of load being thrown at it by sticky rubber on pavement. The entire structure has started to deform, so the guys set about shoring up their mounting plates with some lateral support, which they fab up from a piece of pipe. With a new, more terrain-friendly tire on the rear, it's time for some proper three-wheelin'. Believe it or not, it handles a lot like a snowmobile. Getting power down with the single rear wheel is a challenge, and each test driver spends about as much time getting the Ski-Doo's nose pointed someplace that won't kill him as he does actually putting any power down. It looks like a laugh, but certainly not the most effective way to get around off pavement. As the guys point out, a rear suspension would go a long way—that and a longer battery cable. Got a tip? Send it in: tips@
CBC
21-05-2025
- CBC
2 men reported missing found dead near Hopedale, police say
Two Hopedale men overdue from a fishing trip over the long weekend have been found dead, police say. In a statement released Wednesday morning, the RCMP said the pair, aged 41 and 47, were last seen the night of May 16. Police in Hopedale received a report the next night around 10 p.m. The men were travelling on a snowmobile, heading toward a cabin just outside the Labrador community. Hopedale Ground Search and Rescue personnel followed tracks to the water and they observed poor ice conditions. "The two men and the snowmobile they had been traveling on were located submerged in the water just outside of Hopedale," said the statement. Police are still investigating and the office of the chief medical examiner is involved.
CTV News
18-05-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Nunavik village declares state of emergency over fire and water shortage
A snowmobile makes its way across the ice near Inukjuak, Nunavik, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld) (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Van hauling snowmobile hits CSPD cruiser
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A Colorado Springs Police cruiser was damaged after a van towing a snowmobile fled from officers and hit the cruiser. According to the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD), around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, officers responded to a welfare check in the 1600 block of North Murray Boulevard, near the intersection of Palmer Park Boulevard. The officers received information that two people were possibly passed out in a van in a parking lot. When officers arrived and made contact with the van, the driver reportedly woke up. The officers noticed the van was running, and when they ordered the driver to turn it off, the driver allegedly put the van in gear and drove away toward a dead end. CSPD said the van turned around in the parking lot, and on its way out, hit an unoccupied police cruiser, causing damage. The van then left the area. The suspect vehicle is described as a white passenger van hauling a trailer with a snowmobile on it. No officers were injured in the incident. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
