Snow-yaking

[YarTheBug]

So. This is a purely hypothetical question. It has nothing to do with the masses of people invading all the grocery stores...

Does anyone have any experience? know any good hills? techniques? etc?

... for the record, I'm expecting mid-60's by tomorrow AM.

[Jbyrum]

I hear it's an easy way to crack a boat...or a pelvis.

[paddlinfool]

Spinal disc compression and cold/brittle plastic subjected to extreme forces... Either way, a bad deal. I know a guy who put 3 splits in his boat and jacked his back for 2 months doing snow ledge drops behind his house AND he feels LUCKY! It does sound sooo fun in theory though!!!

[ebell]

have done it. to date have not cracked a boat. i would not use my best boat or my only boat. as far as injury I can't see that its any worse than regular sledding.

people drive all day every day and don't think about the risk, but you better think twice about sledding in your kayak.

if it seems fun to you hit it up. the bigger the hill the better. especially if there is something wet at the bottom.

let the good times roll.

eric

[Shep]

Just like hucking waterfalls... Spot your landing. Assume you have zero control once you start moving, then let the good times roll.

[Fish]

Bunch of slack-jawed sissies... don't let little things like lumbar vertebrae fractures and hundreds of dollars of ruined gear scare you away from having a snowyaking good time!

- Fish

[torpedo]

I destroyed a perception dancer Snow/Ice Yaking down a hill behind La Huerta in Fayetteville. I would consider myself pretty lucky. I went flying one way and the kayak went perpendicular to the utility box I hit. It was fun until the road became a solid sheet of ice. That's when a paddle didn't help at all.

In short, go ahead and give it a whirl sometime!

[paddledog]

Don't be the tool......
Use the right tool for the right job.

sledyak.jpg (4.55 KiB) Viewed 2099 times

[justin.payne]

Find a good friend with a 4 wheel drive, dust off the nrs straps, hook on and let er rip, tater chip. Done it several times.....more fun in a play boat. I can't believe anyone would try to talk you out of this awesome sport.

According to some of the nay sayers, maybe it would be a good idea to sit at home, drink hot chocolate, and just look out the window.

[Don Harwood]

Been there, done that! It can be very dangerous and harmful to gear.
Be sure you have a clean line down the slope because unless you have real powdery snow you don't have a lot of directional control. On powder you can carve some if you have edges on the boat, but really you just follow the shape of the slope.
So if the terrain feeds you into something there is little that you can do to stop or anything because your hauling rear.
You can spin really good, but you just kind of ricochete down if there are any obstacles in the way anywhere!
I did it on a golf course and flew off of tee boxes and ricocheted off of timbers and trees and once off a 10 foot drop into a gully full of rip rap and pitoned into a big cement box culvert thingy. I know, I know. I must be stupid or something.
I never said that about myself until that day!
So, be careful out there! :myday"

[mrcooper]

I'm not saying don't try it, but...but skiing or snowboarding usually satisfies me when there is snow on a mountain!

[YarTheBug]

Thanks to all for the advise! I'll be sure to stick to hills that are Class II and below if I get a chance to try it. Less than a foot of accumulation and my boss knowing about my 4WD made it impossible today

Some of you guys' stories! I'm glad I didn't have friends like that when I was young and impressionable. I managed to get hurt well enough without any encouragement.

- Jason

[Big Daddy D]

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakdaddy? ... qmyTHZiwD4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rule #1. Always make sure there's a creek at the bottom of the hill for splash down.

[weirdwillie]

It's a lot easier on the knees than skiing! I used my good playboat and went slidding down a steep hill into the water. It was a ton of fun and no damage to the boat. The only problem I had was when my bow went into the water, the ice at the edge of the water ricocheted up and hit me in the face making a small but deep cut above my lip. A little pressure on the wound and all was good.

[elduderino]

I broke my L2 vertebra last year snow yaking down a hill. The potential for injury is high, because you're trapped in the boat, and there is no control once you reach a certain speed/terrain. Ive since retired from all snow sports and would seriously caution any one thinking about it to just inflate a tractor tube and do it hillbilly style. Good news is my gear didn't break