$2,500 Snowmobile Tour…read more
My son and I did a snowmobile tour with Tyroparc and some friends in January, 2023. We have riden snowmobiles before so I was looking forward to it. The first half hour or so was fine. When we got to a short but steep hill our instructor stopped the tour and told us to go over the hill slowly and not use the brakes on the way down the hill as it can throw the passenger (in this case, my teenage son) off the snowmobile. This was not the first time I've ever driven a snowmobile, so I wasn't expecting any issues.
When we went over the hill, we found ourselves headed towards a group of small trees. I tried to turn the snowmobile away from the tree while at the same time not using the brake. I wasn't able to negotiate the turn and we crashed directly into the tree. My son and I were both thrown off the snowmobile. My son was okay, thank goodness, but the impact to the tree left me dazed. I sustained a minor concussion and a strained wrist, as I had put my arm up to block my son from the tree. The snowmobile was totaled, as you can see from the photos.
When the guide started up the snowmobile, there was a loud explosion in the engine. Despite my dazed mental state, I was told to drive this dangerous vehicle with my son on the back for several minutes. The instructor said he asked me if I was OK to drive it and apparently I said yes, but I was in no condition to make such a decision. It could have caught fire or who knows what else. When I got back to my hotel, and told my wife what had happened, she asked how we got the snowmobile back to the headquarters, and I couldn't remember.
To literally add insult to injury, I had to pay $2,500 for the damage because I signed a waiver saying that I am responsible for all damages incurred. While I do accept some responsibility, my son and I were treated in a very reckless manner by the instructor. He was a nice guy but it was very alarming to my friends and son that I was in no condition to be driving immediately after a heavy impact of a snowmobile into a tree, which threw my son and I off the vehicle.
I spoke with several managers from Tyroparc in the weeks after to see if we could come to some sort of compromise about the $2,500 owed, but it had already been billed to my credit card and as far as they were concerned, I was in another country hundreds of miles away, and it was case closed.
I understand that most people don't crash into a tree and you probably won't either. But it's also important to know that Tyroparc's instruction before the crash and the assistance after the crash were both in my experience, negligent at best and dangerous at worst. Happy holidays!