Most of us choose only to ride, paying our dues to the local snowmobile club, appreciating the work they do, but leaving the bureaucratic issues for their executives to handle. But not Tyler Collett. Never one to shy away from a fight, Collett’s goal is to ignite some new enthusiasm for the sport by creating a sports league called the Western Canadian Hillcross Association (WCHA). The funds generated from the league will ultimately go back to keeping precious riding areas in Western Canada open.
Collett, 33, has a passion for snowmobiling that stems from his childhood.
“My parents’ friends had snowmobiles that they taught us how to operate, then let us ride on the frozen lakes and trails around Kamloops, B.C.,” said Collett. “That started what would become a lifelong addiction, although I didn’t know it at the time.”
Collett bought his first sled, a ’98 Ski-Doo Summit 670, when he was in his late teens.
“That was a highlight for me, a bright blue and yellow sled with matching gear and modular helmet,” said Collett. “I even painted my 1982 Honda Prelude and homemade trailer to match the sled . . .”
Work, then play
Pursuing a career in the Alberta oilfields eventually took Collett away from snowmobiling, but not for long.
“In the summer of 2010, I had moved up the ranks at work enough that taking time off had become not only an ability but a common practice,” he said. “One night, after wakeboarding at the lake, a group of us got back to the house and the guys tossed in sledding videos.”
Watching them, Collett felt his passion being reignited, and so, after some gentle prodding from his buddies, he went out and bought an ’05 King Cat M1. Armed with only a basic understanding of counter-steering, weight transfer and throttle control, Collett headed to the Hasler snowmobile area near Chetwynd, B.C. for his first experience in the mountains.
It was less than stellar.
“I had a nasty introduction to mountain riding,” he said. “The first hill we pulled up to, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t want to go up that.’ Looking back now, it’s something you can idle up, but because I got nervous, I punched the throttle and catwalked the sled right over backwards because I had too much speed.”
Wipeouts, being stuck all day and riding out on a nasty, whooped-out trail didn’t discourage him. Two days later, he upgraded his King Cat to a more rideable 2011 Arctic Cat M8 162.
Bitten by the hillclimb bug
In pursuit of new experiences, Collett started exploring other B.C. destinations, such as Valemount, Enderby and Blue River. Now, he spends the majority of his ride time in the Kakwa Wildland Park, which is about 160 kilometres southwest of his current home in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
There, Collett said you can find everything from nice tree riding to creek beds and high alpine sledding. The only downside to Kakwa, he said, is the long trail ride in. But sledders are permitted to build temporary winter camps, which makes accessing the terrain a little easier. It was at his camp at Kakwa in 2011 that Collett and a friend, Timber Metcalfe, came up with the idea to start a hillclimb circuit in Western Canada.
“The guys had a video of Jackson Hole,” said Collett. “I started watching that and it was just instant addiction.”
The idea came to fruition three years later in the form of the WCHA, with Collett as the president and race organizer.
Collett had originally intended for this winter to be the WCHA’s premier season, but it was so well received by the sledding community that the league was able to get started in April 2014.
“It was the Paradise Valley Snowmobile Association from Dawson Creek, (B.C.),” said Collett. “I just posted on Facebook that we were going to do this and the president, Richard Cronier, got ahold of me and said that he had been trying to set something up.”
Two races were held in 2014, one at Bear Mountain Ski Hill in Dawson Creek and the other at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
It’s all uphill from here
The WCHA is off to a good start, considering the league is still in its infancy. Four races have been scheduled for the 2015 season, and well-known sledders like the Mickus and Backus brothers are already getting ready to compete. Major sponsors MotorFist and Spiralus have stepped up to the plate as well, to show their support of the WCHA.
Collett has even been in talks with the race director for the Rocky Mountain States HillClimb Circuit (RMSHA) in the U.S. who said to Collett that he would like to see the WCHA get strong enough to compete with the RMSHA circuit.
The goal, of course, is to grow the WCHA’s non-profit status, as well as to generate monies to help clubs fight snowmobile area closures—because to Collett, snowmobiling is something he wants to be able to enjoy for many years to come.
“Maybe it’s the exhaust from the two strokes,” he said, “or it’s the beauty you see, or the feeling of true freedom and strength created from backcountry/mountain sledding in deep powder, or the pure adrenalin of hillclimb racing—either way, snowmobiling has not only taken over as my favourite sport, it has created a lifestyle and a priority amongst myself, family and friends.”
