Not Much Snow in the Forecast

08:00 AM - January 07, 2021

Club #1

It has been great snowmobiling weather and more in the next week or so. The only problem is, that there isn’t enough snow. Sure there is a cover from 4 to 8 inches, but this isn’t enough, even on our big roads that are easy to groom. Now for people that don’t understand what a foot of snow gives you. When it is groomed over, the air taken out of it, then compressed by the groomers drags, finally what is left is not much more than an inch of base. We sent our groomer out on a short run to “test the waters” and to prove to our snowmobilers but as we reported, there wasn’t enough snow and are now parked until we get more. The trails that we have leased are open to snowmobilers, but we aren’t going to stop you from damaging your sled. That is your responsibility.

I’ve been in this business for years and have been reporting on trail conditions for close to 20 years and this year is similar to some of those years. These past five to seven years have been some of the best with early start-ups and great snow conditions and we somehow forget the lean years. Yes there were lean years and I have them documented. There was one year that we didn’t have one groomer pass into the city. The big difference this year for us is the Covid crisis that doesn’t really affect our New Brunswick members but our valued members from our sister provinces. I ‘m not sure what that membership total is overall (thinking 1500), but I know what it is for our club 612. If the borders are closed and it is a question I periodically get thrown my way. “What happens to the permit I bought”. I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I could tell you what I would do, but it is not for me to say to our valued members from Nova Scotia and PEI.