Snowmobilers Roar In Push To Save Face Largest Turnout Yet In Four Years Of Race The Face Fun

The freeway ramps here were jammed license plate to license plate. A personalized one explained it all.

“IBSLEDN,” it read.

Hundreds of snowmobilers and gawkers descended on Lookout Pass Ski Area for the Race the Face Snowmobile Hill Climb. Parked cars, trucks and trailers spilled out from the parking lot and onto the on-ramp and exit; but for Sunday, anyway, it was OK.

“We haven’t gotten any tickets yet,” said the guy directing traffic.

The air rang with the sharp, chainsaw whine of the motorized sleds, and it seemed like everyone - kids, spectators and racers alike - wore black-and-neon snowsuits, or those cool, wraparound shades.

Race official Chris Pfahl called it the biggest turnout the event has seen in its four years.

“We ran close to 200 races yesterday,” Pfahl said, referring to Saturday’s qualifiers.

People gathered around a barbecue outside the lodge, waiting for burgers. A baby sat in a playpen, blankets thrown across the top like a tent. Men drank giant foot-and-a-half-high beers. And the word “Budweiser” was stenciled on everything.

The competition hooked so many spectators because it was so easy to watch, many said. The whole thing was pretty much unobscured by trees.

Races were divided into heats based on the power of the snowmobiles. But all of them had enough steam to fire up the slope.

Just after the start, racers hit a frozen ramp and it was nose up, butt off the seat and - WHUMP! - back onto the snow.

“Nice air!” someone yelled.

Then they’d slalom - sometimes neck-and-neck, turning in sync as if connected, leaning off the machines - between flags. And when they got a straight run at even the steep, open-faced-finale, the machines didn’t seem to hesitate a second.

Snowmobiles have gained power and popularity lately. They can reach places the previous generation of machines couldn’t, and more people are buying them. That, combined with severe winter weather, accounted for several snowmobiling deaths this season.

But Race the Face was given a collective thumbs-up for safety, thanks to Lookout’s groomed slopes.

Riding up steep, avalanche-prone faces in the backwoods without tracking devices is what gets snowmobilers in trouble, said Terry Smith, a U.S. Forest Service enforcement officer making sure the races were safe.

“This is well-organized,” he said. “It’s steep, but it’s pretty safe here.”

“It isn’t that steep,” said racer Jeff Edson of Ellensburg. “Not like Jackson Hole or something.”

So it wasn’t like Wyoming. The day before it was a little bit like California. Although it was gray, windy and chilly Sunday, Saturday’s races were bathed in sunshine.

“I got sunburned outside selling beer,” said Lookout employee Jeremy Seatz. “It was beautiful.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Snowmobilers roar in noisy push to save face