It's getting hard to find a new snowmobile in Missoula, and it's not just because motorcycle season is returning.
"We're down to a couple sleds left," Gull Ski parts manager Kris Doubek said. "A lot of people are still out riding, so the parts and service work has been good, too."
Sales have been brisk in the best winter since 1996-97, according to dealers around western Montana. That's true in spite of a national economic collapse that could easily have deflated the market for $8,000 recreational purchases.
It's also a boost for an industry that faces big challenges to where its customers can play.
"I've been doing this 30 years, and this has been a good snow year," Kurt's Polaris shop manager Mike VanDam said. "I live in Seeley, so when I come to work in the morning, I leave wintertime. My driveway has berms this high (pointing to his shoulder)."
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In the Kurt's Polaris showroom, a video clip of hill-climbing snowmobiles looks like a Warren Miller ski film running backward. Helicopter cameras capture riders zooming up the same gullies and chutes that daredevil skiers zip down. VanDam said innovations in snowmobile machine design have made steady progress.
"Every couple of years, all the manufacturers lean on the evolution," VanDam said. "They're getting cleaner, lighter and more nimble. In the old days, you had to jerk them and manhandle them. Now it's more like a dirt bike - it's much easier to control. They'll make a rider that wasn't quite as good into a little better rider."
Those innovations have given snowmobiles the ability to reach places never anticipated when many backcountry travel rules were drafted decades ago. Now, both advocates and adversaries are pushing for policy decisions that could determine the future of the industry.
Last fall, the Boise-based Winter Wildlands Alliance petitioned the U.S. Forest Service to treat snowmobiles the same as other off-road vehicles in forest travel plans. A 2005 Forest Service travel management rule exempted snowmobiles from the process, creating what alliance director Mark Menlove called a "free-for-all" of unregulated winter vehicle use.
"We're not saying snowmobiles should be eliminated, just that there should be a balanced management approach for all forest users," Menlove said. "We're actually expecting a decision any day now."
In January, a federal judge upheld a ban on snowmobiles and other motorized use in the 130,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine area of the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Snowmobile advocates are challenging a similar proposal on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
"We were riding snowmobiles there forever," VanDam said of the Badger-Two Medicine closure. "I can't see how that affected the wilderness. There's some really nice views when you get up there."
Over the past three decades, the area had grown in popularity for summer and winter motorized users. Surrounded by Glacier National Park, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, it also held religious and cultural significance for the Blackfeet Tribe. U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon ruled that was a reasonable justification for allowing only nonmotorized access, which he said would also protect the area's soil and water quality, wildlife habitat and fishing.
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Montana had 39,680 registered snowmobiles in 2010. That seems like a lot until you compare it to the national average in snowmobile-popular states, which is about 60,000. Or compared to Minnesota, which leads the nation at 256,603.
The numbers come from the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, which also reports the average snowmobile user is 44 years old, has an annual household income of $68,000 and is 82 percent likely to be male. The average cost of a new snowmobile is $8,150, although they can be found used around Missoula for between $500 and $9,000.
At the more expensive end are machines with four-stroke engines that run like small cars. They're noticeably quieter and cleaner than the traditional two-stroke engines that burn a mixture of gas and oil like a chainsaw.
That's the kind of snowmobile now required to enter Yellowstone National Park. In the town of West Yellowstone, Yellowstone Vacations owner Randy Roberson has been running tourists into the geyser fields for most of his life. Changes in snowmobile technology have frequently rocked his business.
"When I was a kid, all the 80- or 90-pound kids would all go into Old Faithful on Fridays," Roberson recalled. "Those early machines couldn't get through too much snow with a heavy adult. So us kids had to go in and pack down the trail."
Back then, the lines of snowmobiles waiting to enter the park left the town blanketed in a blue haze of exhaust. The machines were the main method of getting from hotel to restaurant or bar, while cars and trucks sat plugged into their headbolt heaters in the parking lots.
It was a lot easier to make a living in West when there were 10 times as many visitors stomping through the snow, according to resident Mary Cavalier. But for those hearty enough to survive the economic flux, the quality of life has blossomed.
Cavalier came to Yellowstone 28 years ago as a park hotel employee. She went on to join the National Park Service ranger corps, patrolling the backcountry during the summer and finding town work during the off-season. This winter, she waited tables at Pete's Pizza and took occasional ranger shifts at the Yellowstone entrance station.
A decade ago, "there were 1,500 sleds a day going through the gates," Cavalier said. "I remember when 600 was a slow day. Now we can take 130."
In 2003, Yellowstone Park banned the old two-stroke snowmobiles and required visitors to travel on modern machines with a guide. Yellowstone Vacations and other tour operators switched to four-stroke machines and expanded their snow coach fleets.
"In 2003, our numbers dropped terrifically," Roberson said. "It took a while for recreational snowmobilers to realize they could still come here and ride. A lot of people were confused about the rules and access. Every year since, things have been growing. But I still go to trade shows and people are asking, ‘Are you still closed?' "
In fact, the area around West Yellowstone never closed. Riders still bring or rent new two-stroke snowmobiles to play on the 300 miles of groomed trail outside the park. The modern machines produce much less smoke and noise compared to their earlier versions.
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Cooperation between snowmobilers and wilderness advocates in Yellowstone was a cornerstone to forming the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship project in 2008. The project includes a proposed 2,000 acre winter motorized use area between East Spread Mountain and Otatsy Lake.
That's helped attract business to the Lincoln area, another of Montana's most active snowmobiling regions. Vacationers have been steady, according to Chad Fowler at the Toy Shed. The area has more than 100 inches of snow in the popular riding areas, which feature nearly 300 miles of trail. The Cooper Creek off-trail area on the edge of the Scapegoat Wilderness has also had great conditions.
"I've seen lots of sold snowmobiles, and now lots of rentals," Fowler said. "People are trying to save their money. In the last four years, this has been my best rental season. It makes sense if snowmobiling is something you'll only do a couple times a year."
Back in Missoula, Gull Ski's Doubek said those rentals help fuel a used market. Rental companies often turn over their fleets every year or two. That's because customers want to ride clean, new machines and snowmobiles tend to depreciate quickly.
"The machines have got more expensive, and you don't see a lot of young riders as much," Doubek said. "But there's enough hardcore snowmobilers out there that sales are pretty good."