As recalled by Paul Sooley, written by Mike Smith:

26.   March 25, 2005 was Good Friday marking the beginning of the Easter holiday weekend. With the snow long since melted here on the East Coast, some of the crew decided to head West on a final run to end the snowmobile season. Sooley, Bill, French, Todd, and a few fellows from Dental Hearing Crafts left town early Friday morning and arrived in Port Blandford around 9am under beautiful sunny skies.

25.   French and Bill were riding their 2005 Yamaha RX-1's, Todd his 2005 Skidoo REV 500ss and Sooley his 1997 Skidoo Mach1 700cc triple.

24.   The crew unloaded the sleds near Terra Nova Golf Course then headed West on the groomed Provincial Trailway stopping here and there for to capture some beautiful scenic pictures.

23.   Somewhere between Terra Nova and Gambo Sooley's machine exhibited signs of belt deterioration, kinda foreshadowing the sled did not want to continue on this journey (premonition #1). Not having a spare belt and not wanting to risk clutch damage, Sooley threw on the spare belt from Bill's Yamaha. At this time they realized the clutches were slightly out of alignment, which was causing the belt to overheat and prematurely deteriorate. Normally this would mean turning around from such a long planned ride, but the group of adventure seekers decided to continue on their way. (premonition #2)

22.   The crew reached Gambo shortly there after and stopped at a local corner store to inspect their repair on Sooley's sled. Since it was Good Friday, there were no parts stores open to purchase a proper belt. However, the clerk made a phone call and got a hold of a local snowmobiler who donated two used belts to the cause. Bill's spare belt was put back in place on the RX1 and the proper skidoo belt installed on the Mach1 and the 2nd placed in the spare belt holder. Their next stop was Gander where the crew topped up the sleds with gas before continuing on the next leg to Mount Peyton.

21.   The trail into Mount Peyton was a beautiful, swift, smooth, windy trail ride. It was especially beautiful under clear sunny skies and they soon arrived at a warm up shelter near the base of the mountain. At this time Sooley became quite in-disposed and made a beeline to the outhouse.

20.   During this time French & Todd spoke to the rest of the crew about the safe routes to climb to the top of Mount Peyton. They were familiar with the area having been there twice this past year.

19.  A quite satisfied Sooley emerged from the outhouse to find the crew saddled up and ready to go. He motioned for them to go on as he'd catch up after donning his helmet, backpack, gloves, etc.

18.   Sooley mounted up and rode the beautiful trail into the mountain. As he rounded the last turn in the trail he saw most of the crew standing around chatting at the base of the mountain and thought "what a bunch of chatter boxes, stopped again!" Spying Todd climbing a lower portion of the hill, Sooley decided not to stop and chased him up the hill (premonition #3). Todd stopped on a small plateau about half way up the mountain, Sooley thought "I'm not stopping until I reach the peak" (premonition #4). Standing up on the near vertical Mach1 he pinned the throttle accelerating to the glory of being the first to crest the top!

There was a reason Todd didn't ride all the way to the top right here. During the safety meeting at the warm up shelter, Todd informed the crew that the top of the hill was pizza shaped and and very narrow on this end. It was safer to ride half way up, park on the plateau and walk the rest of the way to the top.

17.   As Sooley knew none of this he continued his climb cresting the peak at a very rapid pace. The nine foot long, 700lb Mach1 carried way too much momentum to stop on such a delicate landing pad. The machine and rider continued over the crest, with brakes locked the Mach1 skidded down the far slope towards the sheer cliff and a drop off hundreds of feet high. A few "OH SHIT'S" were uttered and pucker factor was on bust, instinct kicked in and he knew he had to get off the sled.

16.   The Mach1 was a one up machine which had neither a backrest or luggage rack to impede an escape. Sooley scurried his way backwards off the machine, tumbled, then slid on his belly head first close behind the sled headed right for the rapidly approaching cliff's edge. I don't know what goes through your mind as you face certain death, and I don't think even Sooley remembers to this day. It was by the grace of a higher power that there was a large rock on the edge of the cliff right in his slide path. Sooley's brand new helmet impacted the rock which immediately arrested his decent.

From this unique albeit dangerous vantage point he watched his snowmobile fall and tumble through the air crashing onto the rocks far below. As the Mach1 played Plinko on the boulders below, Sooley thought "I'm defiantly not riding that home." The sled spun and danced its way over the last couple hundred feet to its final doom, scattering parts all across the landscape.

15.   Sooley stood up did the finger/toe wiggle test and as he thanked his lucky stars. He pulled out his digital camera and captured a few pictures of this extremely rare view from Mount Peyton. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew were just reaching the crest of the hill. One of the Dental Hearing Crafts guys saw part of the horrific show and yelled to the crew that their buddy just went over the cliff. From the crest of the hill, you couldn't see where Sooley was standing. Todd and French raced back down the hill on their machines to find a way around the far side of the mountain. Meanwhile, Bill walked ahead following track left by Sooley's sled and found him snapping pictures with his camera.

14.   The boys got a hold of French and the rescue team came back up the hill to see their buddy safe and sound. Later Todd and one of the guys made it to the base of the cliff, found Sooley's sled, and captured these pictures of the destruction.

13.

12.

11.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.  With no useable parts remaining (even the motor split in two), Sooley gifted the registration to a local who later recovered the machine and called it a day. Luckily one of the Dental Hearing Guys was riding 2-up touring sled, so Sooley rode as a passenger for the 150km return trip to the trucks in Port Blandford.

1.   This quiet time gave Sooley time to reflect and he came up with the following lessons:

• Always wear & strap your helmet while snowmobiling.

• Know the terrain your snowmobiling in, if unfamiliar check it out first or stick only to well marked trails.

• If your name is Sooley, you should probably invest in a parachute!

Cheers, MIKE