What's the deal here? Click through to hear the story behind this epic (and expensive!) photo

When I saw this photo my buddy Dave Henkel took I just knew there had to be a pretty hilarious story behind it. Unfortunetly, sleds do burn down from time to time but it's not every day you see a photo of a wicked slash with a burning snowmobile in it, so I tracked down the inside scoop from the photographer, the rider, and the unfortunate owner of the sled.

Justin Lamoureux – Rider

"Consuel's sled just happened to light itself on fire that day, like a lot of other ski-doos that year! I was digging a pit and just heard 'smoke'. immediately i knew that sled was going down. sure enough there was a mad raging sled fire. We watched for a little while since it's kinda of entertaining then got bored and thought we should do some runs. I figured it would funny to try and slash the sled, however once i got up on the ridge I couldn't see the sled, there was so much dark black smoke! I pinned it down the line and was looking for the sled but was sorta lost in the smoke. I fully couldn't see the sled and just guessed where it was for the turn. As I came out of the smoke, I realized I was still kinda far away. Oops. I would have liked to have been closer but it still worked out well. That sled burned for hours.."

Dave Henkel – Photographer

"I think we've got a fire over here!", Consuel exclaims with a degree of panic in her voice. I'm standing on top of a short alpine face ratcheting the last few clicks of my bindings before hitting my line. I'm still not sure exactly what she's talking about but I figure I better go investigate. By the time i reach her, there are flames beginning to rise from her engine compartment on her nearly brand new bombardier snowmobile. "Holy shit, Get Your Shovel Out!!!" I say. We barely had time to get the doors open and start to pack it with snow before the gas tank melts a hole and begins to fuel the flames with over priced 91 octane. We managed to rescue her board from her cheetah factory snowboard rack just in the nick of time. The story doesn't end so well for the sled. By the time the fire is out there is next to nothing left of it. The fire burned so hot the entire tunnel is melted away!

This is the kind of story you should take into consideration before jumping into snowmobiling with both feet and and all your hard earned summer cash. There's no shortage of ways to destroy one of these over priced, super fast depreciating toys. Happy sledding everyone.

Consuel Camplin – Sled owner

"I cracked a beer said "thank god for insurance or I would be fucked!". We even continued to sled shred all day while watching a fire show. Despite everything it was one of my best days out there!"