In this episode of Back To Skool™ Bret teaches correct body positioning, where to stand on the snowmobile, and how to move through four basic position to help you more effectively navigate the backcountry snowmobile terrain.

Back to Skool is a snowmobile-rider education series hosted by professional instructor Bret Rasmussen. Learn more about Bret and Ride Rasmussen Style Schools and book a guided instructional clinic here: https://www.riderasmussenstyle.com

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Produced by: Jon Cracroft | www.joncracroft.com

Episode 1 - Snowmobile Rider Position. In this video we’re going to talk about rider positioning. It’s important for the student to understand correct form while he’s navigating the backcountry. It gives him more control of the sled and better balance. When you’re on your sled on a flat surface in the neutral position you should be in an attack position. What’s gonna give you the most control is when you’re up on the sled and you’re in an aggressive riding position. You need to be standing with a straight back, your knees should be slightly bent when you drop your arms to the handlebar grips. Your elbows should be straight. And this is what gives you the good control. While in this position, you should be able to get anywhere on the sled that you need to, to maintain control. So, from neutral we want to talk first about rider position number one. In this position the rider will rotate his foot with the heel outward on the running board. I like to leave the ball of my foot on the edge roll of the running board. And, by pivoting my heel outward it give me additional leverage over the sled. The opposite foot, I will simply unweight. Sometimes I’ll raise it off the running board. Sometimes I’ll drag it up along the fuel tank or the edge of the seat. To advance to rider position two, you’d simply leave your foot rotated at an angle off the running board with your heel off the edge, follow foot on the edge roll. You draw your opposite leg across the seat and place it also on the running board. This is considered a transfer position. We tend not to hold this position for a long period of time. The transfer position is more of a temporary position. It gives you more leverage so you can pull the sled up to it’s edge. In the transfer position, the rider is not perfectly squared up to the sled. In other words his shoulders won’t be square to the sled, they’ll be more in line with the sled. You field of vision is shorter. You’ll only be able to see off one side of the sled and not the other as easily. For this reason, we discourage holding the transfer position for an extended amount of time. Position number three that we refer to as wrong foot forward. The right foot will be found on the left running board, or vice versa, that’s how it gets it’s name. In this position the rider has maximum control of the sled, he has really good control of balance, he’s up on the sled, the counter steer comes more natural in the wrong foot forward position. With a foot on the running board the free leg will be extended outward and forward. This leg is used more or less as a balancing mechanism. When you extend your free leg outward, it gives you the ability to step down in the snow and catch the balance of the sled as you drive forward.