A good ol' snowstorm dumped 9 inches of snow on southern Minnesota this last week of 2015.

A handful of us celebrated the occasion with a great ride through part the state's famed Bluff Country.

Click for a few pix.

Some gifts last a lifetime.

Here's the story of such gifts.

Merry Christmas everyone. Peace to you and your loved ones.

Winter arrived in parts of Minnesota last week, delivering enough snow to make tracks in the northern part of the state.

Which is exactly what I did last Friday with my friends Tom Rowland and Paul Hein. Which in turn erased all frustration and gloom that h continue reading ...

In the world of Arctic Cat collecting, Tom Ische and his wife Nancy and daughter Brianna have amassed a mind-boggling array of racing and performance snowmobiles from the Arctic Enterprises era.

If Arctic Cat built a performance or racing sled between 1968 to 1981, the Isches have it. King Cats, EXTs, Puma mods, Sno Pros...they’re all here at their shop in Glencoe, Minn., most in either original unrestored or perfectly-restored condition.

I caught up with the 49-year old Cat fanatic recently at his shop, where we stared at beautiful machines and discussed how this collection came to be.

Click to see amazing passion, the most iconic musclesleds in Arctic Cat history and the story of Tom's fascination with this stuff.

While I'm waiting for Ma Nature to get with the program and deliver us winter, I find myself looking at pictures that capture the magic of snowmobile season.

Here are a few that work magic for me. Hope they do the same for you.

I'm thankful for the wild and crazy riders who emerge from every generation and do more than just push the boundaries: they completely and literally launch over and/or blow right through them.

I'm thankful for the human spirit that yearns to fly higher, farther and faster.

I'm thankful for Screamin' Scott Eilertson, Arctic Cat District Sales Manager, former racer and jumping record holder, who thrilled the 40,000 spectators at Great Lakes Raceway in Union Grove, Wis., on Labor Day weekend 1975 by launching his 1973 EXT 98 feet (and collapsing the running boards and spraining both ankles in the process).

I'm thankful the power cable didn’t clothesline him.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 (and that Scott is STILL a wild/crazy Arctic Cat guy)!

As the Vice President-General Manager of Arctic Cat Snowmobiles and PG&A, Brad Darling exerts enormous influence on the machines and gear we ride today, and will ride in the coming years. 

Click to read what the lifelong Arctic Cat man has to say about the company, its machines, the relationship with Yamaha and more.

I'm thankful that the 2015-2016 Snocross season kicks-off this weekend in Duluth, Minn.

I'm thankful that racers will come from all over the world to take a green flag and, hopefully, a checkered flag too.

I'm thankful their bearded ancestors, who raced long ago on iron dogs, were able to stand up and forge a path that would eventually lead to the rock stars and high flyers we enjoy today.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Nov. 27, 2015.

If you come to this site, then you're definitely a turkey.

And I sincerely thank you for that.

Grace and gratitude to you and yours on this fine Thanksgiving Day.

-John

Winter announced itself at Arctic Cat in Thief River Falls, yesterday, blowing in with forceful winds that brought plunging temperatures and the greatest of all dessert toppings: SNOW!

The scene in TRF complements the images and reports of accumulating snow in the Rockies and Alaska that have dumped into my inbox and social media news feeds the past weeks to trigger excitement (and envy) in the Sandberg Command Center.

Seeing Arctic Cat covered in snow is ALMOST as good as it gets (the best snow is the stuff that dumps on my house and where I live).

Winter is coming to the rest of us. I can feel it.

(Special thanks to Mandi "Photographer to the Stars" Hibbert for taking and sending these shots.)

Sometimes it’s the little things that produce big results.

Arctic Cat suspension engineers proved this old axiom with changes on the rear suspension of 2016 129- and 137-in. trail sleds that delivers improved cornering precision and suppler comfort over trail chop.

The upshot: it’s change(s) anyone can make on their previous model year ProCross sleds.

End the suspense by clicking for the shocking details.

This coming Saturday, Nov. 14, would have been C.J. Ramstad's 70th birthday, had he not died in a tragic automobile crash with his son, J.J., in May 2007.

C.J. was an outstanding writer because of his ability to capture the essence of whatever he was writing about.

This column from the Dec. 1983 issue of Snowmobile Magazine is a prime example, as he describes a snowmobile association gathering AND a snowmobiler's excitement this time of year in rich detail.

I'm leaving now with my son to go deer hunting for the weekend. I'll be thinking about life, good friends, snowmobiling and C.J.

Happy Birthday C.J.

(Click for his column.)

I'm thankful that someday, far in the future, motorcycles and snowmobiles will consummate their marriage and produce the perfect hybrid.

I'm thankful that if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand anyway.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Nov. 6, 2015.

Snow has fallen and tracks are gracing the slopes of mountains in North American, signaling the start of the 2015-2016 snowmobile-riding season!

Arctic Cat R&D Mountain Test Team riders Shay Smith and Todd Tupper took this much-appreciated photo of 2016 M Series machines yesterday on Two Top Mountain, just outside of West Yellowstone, Montana.

Upwards of 24 inches of fresh provided plenty of float for decent early season riding, according to Smith and Tupper. In fact, the pair are out riding again today.

Great to see that snow is falling and people are riding. Let's cross our fingers the rest of us get a taste of winter sooner rather than later.

With just three weeks to go before the Duluth National Snocross of the season, racers and teams are busy prepping the trickest, coolest snowmobiles ever built. Once there, they’ll deliver thrilling feats of courage and talent while taming a beastly racetrack.

One racer who will be at Duluth with some SERIOUS chutzpah, is Nathan Ewing out of Big Lake, Minn.

Nate’s courage will be other-worldly, as he’ll launch with reckless abandon aboard his 1995 Arctic Cat EXT 580.

Nate’s been busy prepping his steed for the upcoming race. Jump on over to see the progress.

Arctic Cat employees in Thief River Falls are celebrating Halloween today. This annual tradition always produces some excellent costumes.

And once again, senior stylist Corey Friesen avenges any evil attempts to out-do his excellent creativity by transforming himself into Optimus Prime, er, SKIME!

Yes, like the great Roger Skime, Friesen can now BE the snowmobile.

Great job, Corey!

Happy Halloween everyone.

The Arctic Cat Open House season is alive and well in Scandinavia!

Click to check out some sweet pix of Arctic Cat dealer NAVis and their open house in Luleå, Sweden, submitted by ArcticInsider reader (and former CatMaster technician) Erik Jönsson from

I'm thankful for the improved backcountry flickability offered by a vertical steering post and narrow ski stance.

I'm thankful that both the chain and studded rear wheel are mounted a long way away from any vital body parts.

I'm thankful the jackass at ArcticInsider thinks he's so funny, but has never come close to inventing his own snowmobile.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Oct. 23, 2015.

Every year for as long as I can remember, a switch in my brain gets flipped on to Winter mode sometime between August and December.

Different experiences trigger it. This year it was an early snow while vacationing in Ironwood, Michigan, this past weekend.

Click to read a bit about it, and to share whether your switch has yet been flipped for the winter of 2016.

I'm thankful for helmets.

I'm thankful for my friends.

I'm thankful for the optional, extra-early Catillac package available only to spring buyers.

And I'm thankful that tomorrow it will be Friday, Oct. 15, 2015.