Does anybody on here have any experience with doing this? When I'm out in Jackson Hole with my boys skiing next month we're gonna set aside one day for snowmobiling in Yellowstone.

Been looking at tours with Jackson Hole Snowmobiles Tours and Togwotee Snowmobile Adventures.

http://www.jacksonholesnowmobile.com/snowmobile-tours.php

http://www.togwoteesnowmobile.com

Any experience or advice is appreciated. Oh, and our group will be 8 people.

1/10/2014 2:36:26 PM

guess that's a "no"?

1/14/2014 2:45:16 PM

I did a trip from Big Sky into Yellowstone

I'm not sure how much advice I have to give off the top of my head. We saw the grand canyon, guyser basin, a couple of waterfalls, buffalo, and a couple coyotes

riding the snow mobiles is fun, but you're on roads the whole time so for a full day trip we got kind of bored

In the end I'm glad I did it...that said, I am also going to Jackson this year and a couple of people are doing a snowmobile trip...I am opting out, I'd rather get another day of boarding in

1/14/2014 2:51:50 PM

I know quite a bit about it

1/14/2014 6:52:32 PM

[Edited on January 14, 2014 at 7:23 PM. Reason : ,]

1/14/2014 7:13:15 PM

CarZin and I did the self guided rentals from this company:

http://www.rockinmsnowmobilerentals.com/index.php

Riding snowmobiles was definitely a highlight of the trip. I don't think any of us knew how much fun it would end up being, but it really was a blast. It was also a great way to recoup the legs between days on the slopes. We weren't in Yellowstone, but it was only about 35 miles from downtown Jackson. I think I ended up with about 90 miles on the sled I rented that day. They were top notch machines and would run like a bat out of hell.

[Edited on January 14, 2014 at 7:50 PM. Reason : l]

1/14/2014 7:49:02 PM

thanks for the tips!

1/15/2014 8:38:12 AM

No problem. Have fun. If anybody is on the fence about whether it's worth it I'd say go for it. At the end of the day the costs with regards to the budget and the vacation time seemed very well spent.

1/15/2014 2:30:30 PM

As Skack stated, we opted NOT to do Yellowstone. When you are in Yellowstone, you don't get to go whatever speed you want (you will actually be written tickets) and it isn't going to be as cool as going out on the continental divide trail (I think the largest snowmobile trail system in the world) or the Alpine trail that we went on. All self guided.

you are out in the middle of no where, and there is definitely some danger to it. When winter comes, only snow cats and snow mobiles are on these tiny trails. It is bad ass. Seriously, a memory of a lifetime. If you have people on the fence, you need to tell them that if they've never done it before, it may better a better experience than the epic skiing out there. The only complaints came from a girl that came with us. Her hand was tiny, and by the end of the day, her hand hurt a lot from the pressure required to keep the throttle going.

I think I got up to 75-80 MPH on my sled. We found open fields and went power jumping. I was the only asshole that got his sled stuck, and I did it three times (I suck). However, it truly was the highlight of the trip.

I think we spent around $250 a person for all the gear and sled rental for the day. You absolutely have to do it if you are in Jackson. If the Continental divide trail has good snow, that will likely be a better and more convenient option to the Alpine trail.

One other thing... If you decide to get REAL adventurous on a self guided tour and go up hillsides, you better know the avalanche hazards and have proper gear (beacons, shovels, probes). In other words, stay on the trail unless you have the gear. The dangers in the back country with these unmonitored hills are real.

[Edited on January 15, 2014 at 2:47 PM. Reason : .]

1/15/2014 2:38:43 PM

^ I didn't know that about Yellowstone having a speed limit. Chris and I kept ours pegged in the 80-90 MPH range for about 15 minutes at one point; only letting off enough to drop to the 75 MPH range around some of the blind corners. I would have liked to see triple digits just to say I did it, but 80-90 MPH is moving on a two lane snow covered road surrounded by rocks, cliffs, woods, etc.

1/15/2014 2:49:33 PM

Always remember that Elk are big intimidating animals up close. If you happen to run across one the best course of action is to run your sled off the trail and sink it up to the seat in a snowbank. The revving of the engine will scare the elk far away so you won't have to worry about seeing it 30 minutes later when you finally get the snowmobile on top of the snow again.

[Edited on January 15, 2014 at 3:04 PM. Reason : l]

1/15/2014 3:00:49 PM

HAHAHA! Yeah. That was the best

1/15/2014 3:18:16 PM