Fairbanks Snow Travelers

john wrote:Some photos in the album, but my favorite is

PB270045.JPG

That is the look you have, when your buddy just told you, he bought a new Polaris!

mit wrote:

john wrote:Good ride great day, mid to lower 20's on the ridges and maybe down to upper teens in the valleys.

Track at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... LJ4jzpcYqW

Both crossings of Champion Creek were a bit sketcky, especially the return route.

Boyd was designated as our official tree hugger for the day.

Which Spot do you have?

Mine didn't get half those hits.

I had an early Spot and found it unreliable this far north. I now have a Delorme inReach SE that is very reliable and both sends and receives texts and emails. It gives you a conformation that your text, email and emergency messages were received. Your can send and received texts with the GEOS Emergency center after activating your SOS message. You can also exchange messages with other inReach units. I have mine synced with my iPhone so I can create and read the messages on it. It will also sync with Android phones.

I love it. http://inreachdelorme.com/

Thanks Chuck

I looked at the inReach but decided for my needs the Spot was fine given cost, etc. I also have my Sat Phone for when I go out alone or way beyond, like the cabin and decided the Spot with it's small size would be fine. So far I'm happy with it. The Iron dog uses them for tracking and have had pretty decent results from Anc to Nome, so that sort of sold me.

One issue I had with the InReach was on Mt Ryan, 12 Mile Summit Steese, during the build of Tiffany's cabin (Dean's kid) we ran into white out conditions coming out and it took a bit longer to get to the road and home, this very nice gentleman was at the trail / road junction and let me use his InReeach to send the wife a text that we were OK, just going to be late getting home, (5:00 AM and 12 hours late) Anyway she did get the message, but it was 24 hours after I got home

john wrote:Thanks Chuck

I looked at the inReach but decided for my needs the Spot was fine given cost, etc. I also have my Sat Phone for when I go out alone or way beyond, like the cabin and decided the Spot with it's small size would be fine. So far I'm happy with it. The Iron dog uses them for tracking and have had pretty decent results from Anc to Nome, so that sort of sold me.

One issue I had with the InReach was on Mt Ryan, 12 Mile Summit Steese, during the build of Tiffany's cabin (Dean's kid) we ran into white out conditions coming out and it took a bit longer to get to the road and home, this very nice gentleman was at the trail / road junction and let me use his InReeach to send the wife a text that we were OK, just going to be late getting home, (5:00 AM and 12 hours late) Anyway she did get the message, but it was 24 hours after I got home

Surprised to hear that as that has never happened to me. For a while I had both units and the inReach consistently out performed the Spot. I found that if I didn't have a decent view of the southern sky the Spot wasn't reliable. The Global Star Birds that Spot uses for its communications function have an inclination of 52 degrees so are always south of us up here. The inReach uses the Iridium Birds that have a 90 degree inclination (Polar Orbit) so they can be seen any direction from us at different times. What Sat. Phone do you have?

Chuck

I have an older Motorola Iridium, Model 9505, I think

Trip report: 11 Sleds one with a double up, warm and cold temps, good snow, one malfunction (broken starter rope), we saw one sharp tail grouse, the wild life was scarce. Open water presented a bit of a problem but not too much. I think we did get one sled stuck for just a bit. Made it to Richards Cabin. I hope everyone had a good time