Cable Willford made history aboard his Yamaha FX Nytro MTX, becoming the first person in history to race a four-stroke snowmobile to a podium finish in RMSHA hillclimb competition.

Wiillford’s historic run happened on April 14, 2012 at an RMSHA event at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint, Idaho. He crossed the finish line in 1 min. 2.937 sec., topping six other pro drivers in the 600 mod class to finish third, giving Yamaha its first RMSHA podium in recent years. Adding to the laurels, Willford and teammate Kody Malmborg both put their Yamahas into the finals in a total of seven different classes, ultimately earning three additional top-five finishes along the way.

Ski-Doo X-Team rider Tyler Aklestad and skier Marco Sullivan won the Arctic Man Skiing/Snowmobiling competition for the second year in a row this past weekend. The pair finished the course in a blazing fast four minutes and 4.8 second and reached a top speed of 80.6 mph.

Alaska’s HooDoo Mountains play host to the annual Arctic Man competition that consists of a skier or snowboarder teamed with a snowmobile rider. There are three parts to the run: a 1.75-mile downhill, a 2.25-mile snowmobile pull and another 1.75-mile downhill run to the finish line. The pairs must work as a team as the snowmobile rider hands off the tow rope to their partner for what can be a blazing fast pull if the team coordinates their run well.

Snowmobilers in Iowa should probably avoid skipping their machines across the water unless they want to fork over a $100 fine.

According to the DesMoines Register, the Iowa Senate approved a bill that makes water skipping illegal. Specifically, Senate File 2331 officially makes it illegal to operate a snowmobile on any public waterway without measureable snow, except on rivers and streams between Nov. 1 and Apr. 1.

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It may only be April, but it’s awfully hard not to think about winter riding when we see something like this.

It feels almost cruel to watch it now as winter seems so far away, but we still enjoyed this video of an old Polaris RMK towing a skier to an otherwise inaccessible backcountry riding location near Lake Tahoe. Just look at all that fresh powder!

BRP’s Ski-Doo team of Jean-Guy AuCoin and Steve Girard won this year’s Cain’s Quest aboard Ski-Doo Summit Freeride models, making it the third year in a row Ski-Doo X-Team riders have captured the top spot. In just its seventh year, Cain’s Quest has quickly become one of the most coveted and grueling events in snowmobile racing.

Cain’s Quest features 1500-miles (2414 km) of racing across some of the most brutal and unforgiving terrain in North America. It is considered one of the most challenging snowmobile races on the planet, testing a man’s endurance, navigational, winter, and sometimes mechanical skills, plus it requires a snowmobile that can traverse any kind of terrain; from deep snow to ice and back again, while maintaining speed, fuel economy and dependability.

Excellent snow conditions made this year’s Cain’s Quest one of the most daunting to date. Two-rider teams set out from Labrador City, Nfld. and rode a 1500-mile loop battling through ice fields, deep snow, mental and physical fatigue and mechanical challenges along the way. Team 25 of AuCoin and Girard led the field of finishers into Labrador City on March 22, crossing the finish line at 9:21AM, 39-minutes ahead of the second place team. After them came the Ski-Doo riders of Team 29 (Mark Nui/Joachim Nui) in third place and Ski-Doo riders of Team 26 (Lucy/Flowers) in fourth place. In all, Ski-Doo teams claimed three of the Top 4 finishing spots in the race.