• Thursday-What'sUP December 2 - 04:19 pm

We all hope our children choose the college they want to attend because of the academic possibilities. Today's Pasty Cammist titled his Guest Gallery album, Real Reason for Going to MTU, so there's no question why he made his choice! :-> Carl Shroeder shows us a cold weather rationale, with this shot of one of the parking lots at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. A snowy winter is something you can definitely count on when enrolled at MTU, so having a parking area set aside for snowmobiles isn't all that unusual. We may need a few more inches of the white stuff before this machine can take to the trails though, which by the way, are officially open as of today.

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. Going to school in a snowmobile. How cool is that (in more ways than one)!

My daughter attends Tech and has mentioned about taking my snowmobile up for the season. She has said "They even have a parking lot for them" Carl your pics of the campus in winter are great!! I think deep down I'm the person who wants to be there.

Well, If that's how ya gotta get an education, so be it. The sacrifice we make for our children.

This is one of those things that makes the UP great and unique. Thanks for the pics!

And I noticed the "snowmobile parking" sign at the Houghton Wal-Mart this summer, too!

How fun that would be! Snowmobile to school! We have about 2 in. here in eastern Iowa this morning. Tempting to get our snowmobiles out this afternoon. Anybody have an idea what percent of the business's rely on snowmobilers in the U.P. for income yearly?

Great gallery, Carl, especially the shots from winter carnival '05, since I got to St Ignace then got dead sick and had to head home and missed it.

Hopefully next Feb.....

Do snowmobiles back up?
A special "Hello" to the Eagle Harbor Troll! Hope things are well with your family!

today's photo reminds me that we would occasionally ride our snomachines to school at dollar bay in the seventies.the hard part was actually stopping at school,we just wanted to keep riding.

We used to have a snowmobile with reverse back in the seventies, a Johnson, I think. Now they probably all do.

...and don't forget the x-country rack by the library on the MTU campus. I spent a winter locking my skis in that rack. I used to live south of the MTU ski trails and skied to school when the weather was snowy, which was just about every day. It was much faster than digging my car out, sliding into Houghton, and then trying to find a parking spot. My fondest memories are skiing home at midnight under a full moon in the silence of winter. To think that my parents wanted me to go to U of M where one doesn't dare even go out after midnight.

I wonder how the folks from Chassell will get to Tech via snowmobile and XC skis when 2 of the residents have blocked the trail with fences. I think the pic would be great on the calendar next year.

Paulwebbtroll, snowmobiles come with reverse, that was one of the must have's when I bought mine. My husband thought it was pretty neat and had reverse added to his too! You can buy a sled with factory reverse or have a dealer add it on for you. I think there were some snowmobiles that had factory installed reverse had the"beep-beep" sound when in reverse.

Paulwebbtroll, yes, snowmobiles do come with reverse, mine has factory reverse, or you can have a dealer add on reverse as my husband did. I'm pretty sure there are factory installed reverse sleds that go "beep-beep" when the sled is going backwards.

sorry about that double posting I did! The phone rang and threw me in a tail-spin.

Thank you Bobbysgirl for the reverse info! Is it possible to back out of a tailspin????

Paul, I don't think so..our sleds have to be completely stopped to shift into reverse or I think your reverse mechinism would be destroyed, or it wouldn't be too good for it. The reverse does add some weight to a sled, but if you're stuck you can back out.

Now as far as the human tail spin...just enjoy the ride!

On one of my first visits to the UP I loved the snowmobile parking area at the Gipp Ice Arena in Larium.

I had often seen that in Canada, but I knew I was UP NORTH at that moment!

When I lived in Watia's cabins in Chassell during the late 60's, we used to take the boat to school sometime and just leave it tied up off the stamp sands. That was really living........

That's a sweet picture. I my buddies and I used to skip class to go riding. Where else is it commonplace to see sleds riding down the sidewalks?? ;)

Hey i was wondering if anyone had a picture of the breakers at
Mclains????