Grass still can be clearly seen on this snowmobile trail which connects to the north shore of Trout Lake. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
Mother Nature really teased snowmobilers.
Yes, that’s the feeling of many area sledders are thinking.
Like many of us, they saw winter appear to arrive early with snow coming early and often starting on Halloween night and continuing throughout most of November.
Fast forward to the end of December and now a lack of snow is making area trail officials cross their fingers that trails will open on time.
“What a joke right, like last year the snow came and stayed and this year the snow came and went, and the rain came and went, and the cold is back and no snow.” said North Bay Snowmobile Club President Shawn Flindall.
“We are really toast at this point. The cold with no snow is actually great for trail preparation as it allows the frost to go nice and deep into the ponds and swamps that give us a hard time so that’s a real good thing for us but at this point the only trails that are really open are north of Timmins or north of Sault Ste. Marie. There is nothing around here that is open or safe.”
Flindall adds the lakes may have ample ice, but no snow either.
“In fact all the lakes are just a sheet of ice and since all the sleds need snow for lubrication for all the moving parts, even the lakes are unusable at this point,” he said.
However, Flindall insists the Snowmobile Club is not in panic mode and may actually open on time, if Mother Nature cooperates.
“It’s really not a surprise to us, I know everybody got their hopes up for an early opening but we opened the trails on January 2nd last year but that was really unusual,” he said.
“The typical opening is really the second week of January, so from our perspective, as club volunteers, we aren’t surprised with this at all, it is very typical. I think just everybody got a real good taste of winter last year and when the snow came early again this year they were hopeful but really from a trend perspective, it really isn’t that surprising.”
Flindall estimates a couple good snowfalls totalling 30 centimetres should get them back on track.
“All we need at this point is one good dump of snow,” he said.
“Most clubs in the area spent a week or two packing in the area and smoothing everything out so that when the rain did come and then the freeze came, so we ended up with a good solid base there.”
Flindall says the trails had some setbacks due to some ATV traffic that caused some damage to the area trails. So he reminds snowmobile enthusiasts to stay off the trails until the official opening is announced.
“It’s a bit frustrating to do a lot of work and have it torn up by ATV’s, so we are just really asking people to stay off the trails, wait for the green light, be patient, nobody wants to get out there more than I do but that’s just the reality of the game at this point.”
The north end of Trout Lake on December 30th has just a dusting of snow. Flindall says the lack of snow on area lakes makes snowmobiling dangerous. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
