Here is my advice and some tips, and it might be worth listening to seeing how I live in alberta and have hit some of the places you are likely to hit (revy, golden BLUE RIVER), have also been doing it for 5 years about 20 to 30 days a winter.
First, the sled -
DONT BUY A FOUR STROKE!!!!!! they sound great, no injector oil, a little easier on the environment motors last longer etc. truth is they break easy (suspension, plastics everything else but the motor) they are heavy as fuck!! and gutless without turbos, you'll be stuck every 5 minutes and really stuck!!!. now if your buying a used two stroke in AB or BC size up the seller! lots of KM in short period=bad, if he has a nice garage and other nice toys that are well taken care of then he can afford to take care of it because it can be costly, also helps if he comes off as kind of a pussy. You should be able to pick up an older M series cat (2005 and newer) for about 5g with decent km's, (less than 2000), my first sled was an M7, easy to build a rack for, very reliable, I got in 6000 km's without putting a dollar in for four years. (about a grand a season in depreciation). It handles alright, not as good as other brands of the same years but nothing that will hold you back. I have a 2010 dragon now, no complaints, $8500 if your interested. Heard the first Generation REV's are great as well, Condition and price is the probably the decider between the three. Just make sure its a mountain sled if your in BC at least a 154 track and a 700 or 800 and no changing jets in the carbs, gotta have a good altitude compensator.
Second, ski rack setup -
Gotta get a good rack, something reliable, holds your skis on well so you can sled all day without noticing, I got mine welded out of aluminium and use bungys to hold the skis in, works like a charm. Next, get a waterproof bag from MEC or a tupperware container and put you ski boot shells in there and strap it to your tunnel, put you liners in you winter boots and swap them out when you get to where your skiing. Sledding in ski boots sucks and is dangerous and hard on ski boots. Last, get a tow rope tie a loop three feet from one end, get an mountain bike inner tube and double it up around your waist and hook it up to a caribeaner. loop the tail of the rope through the caribeaner and back through the knot then hold onto whats left.
Heres my advice HaHa hope you read it
