Michael Murphy

State: California

Snowmobile: Patriot Boost RMK Khaos 165

Favorite Place to Ride: Backcountry

Unlike many Polaris Ambassadors, Murph wasn’t born into a snowmobiling family. Murph bought his first sled for backcountry snowboard access in the Tahoe region.  That first sled purchase was nothing short of a disaster! He was trying to learn a new sport-- in his late thirties-- in the famously deep snow of Tahoe, without any guidance from experienced snowmobilers.  That sled was almost the end of his budding snowmobile passion.  That was 2010, and the 2011 Polaris ProRMK was just being released, so he snowchecked one.  That first generation Polaris ProRMK, with its focus on lightweight and rider input, made the hard lines easy and the impossible…. possible. Murph has ridden every Polaris RMK introduced ever since, with each model improvement benefitting his backcountry experience.

Working in World Championship motorcycle racing (WSBK) allows Murph to chase pow all winter, typically racking up in excess of 2,000 off-trail, mountain miles—wherever the snow is falling. The seasonal nature of his work schedule also allows Murph to be involved in the snowmobile community as an advocate for motorized recreation and avalanche education, a member of Search and Rescue, lead group rides and riding clinics for Auburn Extreme Powersports, and build customer Polaris RMKs specifically for backcountry riding in his shop. Murph loves teaching riders new skills and leveraging the advantages of the Polaris RMK platform in deep snow and technical terrain.