Setbacks for snowmobilers

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This article was published 23/02/2018 (2963 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Those disinterested in winter sports are likely to embrace this season’s limited snowpack, but for many snowmobile enthusiasts, it has meant leaving their machines in the garage.

Local snowmobile trails are not being kept up, since there isn’t enough snow available to be maintained.

Past-president of the Sprucewoods Snowdrifters Jody Gray said that none of their 308 kilometres of Westman trails have been taken care of this season.

People are still heading out, but most of them are travelling farther away to find adequate snowpack.

C&C Rentals Ltd. service manager Cody Ferguson said that he hasn’t taken his machine out in Westman this season, and doesn’t plan on doing so unless more snow accumulates on the ground.

He headed out to Montana to satiate his thirst for snowmobiling on top of the state’s comfortable snowpack last month and is planning another trip soon.

Although he has seen some snowmobile tracks in the ditch throughout Westman, he said that he doesn’t personally know anyone who has headed out in the immediate Brandon area this season.

“If you don’t have adequate snow, you probably shouldn’t be riding,” Ferguson said. “I haven’t seen this little amount of snow in many, many years.”

A limited amount of snow can wreak havoc on snowmobiles, whose various components that come into contact with the ground wearing down more quickly than usual.

Further to that is the increased possibility of machine itself overheating, since snowmobiles cool themselves off as a result of snow jumping up and hitting components.

With less snow comes a greater chance of the machine overheating.

Wheat City Cycle parts salesperson Dale McTavish echoed Ferguson’s concerns, adding that although last year found snowmobile enthusiasts lament how hard the snow was, “this year is definitely worse.”

“At least last year we had a lot of snow,” he said. “I know guys were complaining about the quality of the snow, but there was tons of it.”

Wheat City Cycle is nowhere near as busy as it usually is at this time of year, he said, crediting people with keeping their snowmobiles in the garage as being the key culprit.

Even so, he said that some people are still heading out, primarily on waterways.

In Brandon, he said that pretty much the only place people can snowmobile is the Assiniboine River, which presents its own challenges, in that water can crack the ice, forcing it to mound up and create obstacles that create rougher rides for snowmobilers.

Although much of Westman has proven unsuitable for snowmobiling thus far in the season, McTavish said that there are some pockets up north where there’s adequate snow.

“You can ride your sled in some areas, it’s just definitely not the best conditions,” he said.

Minnedosa is one such area, where the organizers of the Minnedosa Firefighters Antique Snowmobile Derby have determined that the show must go on.

The annual derby will find vintage snowmobile owners register at the Minnedosa Beach Pavilion between 10 a.m. and noon tomorrow, with everyone passing the final checkpoint by 5 p.m. where they’ll be greeted by hotdogs and fries.

Mike Kowal co-founded the event 24 years ago, and said that although snow conditions are “not great,” they’re at least “acceptable.”

Last year’s event was cancelled due to unseasonably warm temperatures, and although they’d considered waiting until enough snow had collected before scheduling this year’s event, they soon realized that that day might not arrive until next winter.

“People are itching to get out on their snowmobiles,” he said.

“Nobody’s going to be breaking speed limits … so it’ll just be about enjoyment to get out there and get some fresh air and away from some of this cold weather we’ve had.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB