I'm thankful for snowmobilers who dominate the terrain, no matter what the conditions are.

I'm thankful for the farmers who allow snowmobile trails to cross their fields.

I'm thankful for C.J. Ramstad (left), the original Mud Dog (and many other things).

And I'm thankful it's Friday, April 7, 2017.

After about 45 years of snowmobiling,

I’m over it. Done. Outta here.

Sorry, but that’s where it’s come to after the pure misery of the past four months.

Click to read how I arrived at this sorry state.

Last February, Jeff and Bruce Schroeder had an Arctic Cat-themed family reunion near Tomah, Wis., for their 10 siblings and their families.

One the day of the reunion, the family reprised the classic Johansson Family Reunion advertisement/postcard that Arctic Cat created for the 1987 model season.

If you ask me, I’d say they nailed it perfectly!

Click to read Jeff Schroeder’s REALLY cool version of the story.

The University of Minnesota-Duluth team finished third (with their Arctic Cat ZR 3000) in the recent SAE International Clean Snowmobile Challenge competition in Houghton, Mich. Plus they took home additional prestigious awards.

The team was featured HERE on ArcticInsider last year. They're a great group of passionate, smart people who seem destined to do cool and innovative things.

Click HERE to read a nice report on their experience at this year's CSC, and click HERE to watch a 2:31-minute video.

Congrats!

I love seeing a great sled restoration, especially one that adds a twist of customization to the final outcome.

Mike Miller's Patriot edition 2004 Arctic Cat F6 Firecat is a perfect example of a ground-up resurrection, as the resto magician from Michigan illustrates in the above video.

This isn't the first Arctic Cat that Miller has brought back to life. A few years ago I featured this stunning Crossfire restoration. Clearly, Miller's handiwork is as thorough as it is stunning.

Check out the video, then see where your imagination (and Craigslist scouring) might lead.

Two weeks ago I OWNED a piece of the backcountry for the first time in my riding career.

When I say "owned" I mean I carved, climbed and threaded my way through the trees and sidehills like I was an amalgamation of Brett Turcotte, Dave McClure and Rob Kincaid, only better looking.

The difference between this day in the trees and any other time I've ridden in the backcountry over the past 15 years?

This time I was on the Arctic Cat SVX 450 snow bike.

Click to read more.

Arctic Cat just took the wraps off of its 2018 line of snowmobiles, and there's a WHOLE BUNCH of new stuff.

Here are the 11 key things to know about it.

Click into next year.

The Snowmobile Hall of Fame held its annual Ride With The Champs (RWTC) and Induction ceremony last weekend in St. Germain, Wis., bringing together legendary snowmobile racers and fans to celebrate snowmobile racing, culture, riding, machines and the four inductees for 2017.

Click to read about it.

This past month, Scott Eilertson closed a chapter on an 18-year career as a district sales manager for Arctic Cat. Outgoing, passionate about Arctic Cat and always smiling, Scott had been a welcome presence at motorsports events for more than 30 years.

He chatted with me about his amazing career that included jumping snowmobiles with Evel Knievel, riding to Moscow and helping to save a young girl’s life.

Click to read the interview.

It’s been 48 hours since we learned the news that Textron has agreed to buy Arctic Cat for $247 million.

I've had dozens of conversations with people from across the Arctic Cat spectrum.

Amidst the uncertainty that comes with an announcement like this, there runs a deep and powerful optimism.

Click to read my humble thoughts and opinions.

Yeehaw!

Arctic Cat took the wraps off a pair of 2018 M 8000 Sno Pro models today, each featuring the new C-TEC2 800 2-stroke engine and new extra-narrow Next-Gen bodywork.

Available in 153- or 162-in. track lengths, the two Early Release models will be at dealerships next week.

For now, here's the full-skinny on these extra-skinny models.

2018 is coming early for Arctic Cat fans, in the form of the all-new early-release ZR 8000 Sno Pro 129/137 featuring the all-new Arctic Cat C-TEC2 800 engine with DSI.

Along with the early release M 8000 Sno Pro, the new machines will be at Arctic Cat dealerships beginning Feb. 1, 2017. See, demo ride and buy it then!

For now, click to ready all the details of the new ZR 8000 early release.

The wait is over! Arctic Cat has an all-new 8000-series C-TEC2 800 2-stroke engine for 2018. Arctic Cat is saying it's for the 160-hp class, and that it has more power than the Suzuki engine that it's replacing.

I've ridden this new engine several times over the past couple of seasons and I'm pumped to report that it's excellent. Three words to describe the new engine: Powerful, crisp & refined.

Grab a big ol' handful of interweb throttle to read all of the details.

Periodically I hear from Ross Spoonland, the uber Arctic Cat snowmobiler who consistently racks up more miles than anyone I know, and whose knack for documenting his travels is second to none.

Last Thursday Ross had another one of his big adventures, logging a whopping 334 miles on a big loop that took him from his home in Park River, ND, to Thief River Falls and back home.

Click to see some really cool pix from his adventure, as well as hearing his set-up for such rides.

Here's a great story about a legendary Arctic Cat from Pennsylvania that was located and saved from the scrap yard, written by Arctic Cat aficionado Glen Mallory.

There's great snow over much of North America. For more detailed analysis of your area, hit the NOHRSC website.

At the Wednesday funeral service for his son Hunter, Steve Houle shared with a packed church his family's thoughts and story about Hunter's life.

Click to read parents’ words about their son.

Click to read about the Hunter Houle that I see.

This past week I was part of a group that spent a day at Skime Ranch, the nearly 4,000-acre cattle farm in Skime, Minn. (yes, seriously) owned by Arctic Cat legend Roger Skime and his wife Bernice.

It was a day of watching Roger be Roger. It was perfect.

Click to see a few pix from the day.

Oh man, 2017 started out better than I could imagine, with a 140 mile snowmobile ride on Minnesota's North Shore State Trail with friends.

Either this is going to be the best year ever, or it's all downhill from here?

Regardless, winter is alive and well in Minnesota's arrowhead region. Click to see for yourself.