Exhaust hung in the air over a frozen Rainy Lake as vintage snowmobiles were pulled into action Saturday morning.
Live on Skis 2014 drew vintage snowmobile enthusiasts to Thunderbird Lodge where they traded stories, recalled the sleds of their youth and helped one another get their sleds ready for a trail ride.
Despite below zero temperatures for the start of Saturday’s gathering, few mingling on the ice were concerned about the weather, with several pointing out a warming sun and lack of wind. Black ribbons trailed sleds on the ride in memory of vintage sled aficionado and International Falls resident Mike Dickson, who died recently.
The group met up with members of the International Voyageurs Snowmobile Club on the Hagerman Trail for a hot dog roast, that was bound to include lots of snowmobile talk. Club president Jim Bigler said more than 200 people were served at the roast.
Lee Resler, of Owatonna, is friends with some of the people who started the ride in 2007 after years of discussion on the vintagesled.com website. He came to his first Live on Skis the next year and has come back ever since.
“It’s all about guys that like sleds,” said Resler. “I swear we’re just a bunch of old guys that are reliving our childhood. It’s a blast and I would never miss it for anything in the world.”
Resler owns an auto repair shop and said he’s taken on the role of helper when the vintage sleds have trouble. “Some are a little stubborn or temperamental, just like some guys and women, but we have fun doing it,” he said of riding the old sleds.
And he said the cold isn’t a concern. “The guys are great, the atmosphere is perfect, we’ve got snow,” he said. “The cold temperature don’t bother me. I can put enough clothes on to stay warm, but during the summer I can’t take enough off without offending someone.”
Resler rode his 1974 Raider. “I always wanted one as a child, couldn’t afford one and back in 2006, found this on the internet, went south of Indianapolis, Ind., and picked it up, and tore it apart, went through it all to make sure it was working and been riding it ever since,” he explained.
On the back of his snowmobile sat a small stuffed icon. Resler explained he found the stuffed tow truck and strapped it to his machine after 2008, when vintagesleds.com hooked up with New York Make A Wish Foundation and brought Forrest Hess to the event. Hess had asked to ride a 1974 John Deere Liquifier and a ‘74 Massey Ferguson Ski Whiz.
The Liquifier broke down on the trail and... nobody wanted to pull it, but Resler offered to pull it with his Raider. “Somebody came up with the nickname Tow Mater for me for the rest of the ride,” he said. After he found the stuffed truck stitched with the moniker Tow Mater, “I strapped him on and he’s ridden with me since.”
Sheldon Monson, Crystal, said he’s drawn to Live on Skis because he recalls when today’s vintage sleds were coming off the assembly lines.
“Growing up with them and now younger people are being attracted to them,” Monson said. “They’re easy to work on, a lot of them still perform pretty well.”
Monson rode his 1989 Polaris Indy 650 — which he noted just 25 years old and is now considered vintage. “I’ve had it for maybe 10 years, it’s one of the ones you pick up along the way. You never know where you’re going to find them.”
Dale Neduzak came from Beausejour, Manitoba, where he operates Time Benders Vintage Garage, billed on his business card as “Intense Vintage Auto and Snowmobile Restorations.”
He showed off his classic helmet, which he said is an original style worn by the Polaris racers of the 1960s. Each had their name on the helmet and Neduzak followed suit.
“They were my heroes when I was racing,” he said. “They built Polaris snowmobiles in Beausejour, Manitoba, where I grew up. So I am a Polaris guy from day one.”
Neduzak said he got together with Roseau vintage sled folks to attend the Live on Skis ride. He brought to Saturday’s event a 1966 Polaris Mustang, which he kept in a trailer, because he believed it too slow to keep up with Saturday’s ride.
As an unusual machine passed by, Neduzak described it as a 1970s concept twin-track Manta, in which riders sit in it like a car. “You see all sorts of different stuff, rare stuff,” he said of the gathering.
Jim Strandlund, Mora, shut down his 1970 Polaris GX800 — the biggest twin free air motor made with a twin cylinder — machine to talk. He explained that back then, the exhaust system was open megaphones: “That’s why it’s louder than everything else.”
Just prior to the ride, Strandlund donned his Hudson Bay coat and fur hat. “My motto has been: They’re going to hear me coming or see me coming — one of the two,” he said erupting into laughter.
“I love vintage snowmobiles, and more so the camaraderie of the people we meet here,” he said. Strandlund said he would offer gag gifts and make fun of “all these goofy people” at that night’s banquet. A chili feed Friday drew Canadian perogies and moose sausage, he noted.
And Strandlund credited Borderland for some of the success of Live on Skis. “It’s fun to come to such a beautiful area, people here are so nice, the snowmobile club does a hot dog roast and it’s just a friendly atmosphere and a chance to ride relics,” he said.
Strandlund said he grew up riding Evinrudes of the 1960s and 1970s. “It was a family fun sport, and what attracts us again is that we remember that fun time when we had hot dog roasts with family and the genre has come back to that fellowship.”
He noted the average speed on a fun run Friday was 20 miles per hour.
“And that was me,” said Neduzak, of his trailered Mustang.
It was then that Neduzak and Strandlund threw down: “I’ll tune it up and come back next year and blow the doors off you,” challenged Neduzak. And Strandlund replied, prompted the challenges ranging from singing national anthems to beating hockey teams.
As Strandlund attempted to gather the riders, something similar to herding cats, for a photo before the start of the ride, some of the antiques chased one another around the bay before finally lining up ski to ski. As Strandlund watched one snowmobile join the group, he smiled widely. “There’s Aaron Johnson, the son of Polaris founder David Johnson,” he said. “He’s riding an Arctic Cat.”
Meanwhile, Randy Arnold of the Falls proved that vintage sleds can be a family affair. He rode the 1972 Arctic Cat his mother built while working at the Arctic Cat plant in Thief River Falls. The sled has been in the family since.
He said his family recently gave him the sled, which had been stored in his father’s shed and started at least once a year. “It’s a family heirloom,” he said.
“My brother smashed it up once when we were kids,” he said, his voice muffled from the helmet he wore, but his eyes twinkled from recalling the story. And, he said, brother Corey got in a little trouble as a result.
Seems like just about everybody on the ice Saturday had recollections of snowmobiles from their youth.
Mark Trompeter and Melissa Fuller walked along the parked sleds trading stories about riding snowmobiles.
“I just love old sleds,” said Trompeter. “This is amazing. When I was a kid, dad bought this new 10-horse and I was 7 years old. Started driving it alone when I was 8. This is a blast from the past.”
Riding from International Falls to Kettle Falls in the “old days” was a time-consuming and often dangerous trip, he noted. “Now, they go to Kettle Falls and onto Crane Lake without ever thinking twice,” he said.
