Local snowmobilers need more snow for trails

You may be tired of shovelling it, but local snowmobile enthusiasts are hoping for a little more snow in order to open area trails.

"We just now have enough snow to start grooming and I got a message from one of the groomer operators that it's still very thin in the fields," Jeff Gruneberg of the Elmira Snowmobile Club said in an interview with CBC News.

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The snow of late has been fluffy, which packs down quite a bit when grooming equipment is used on the trails. But the good news is that the trails are starting to be formed.

"With this first grooming that's happening right now, the edge of that trail, it creates an edge, the blowing snow will get caught in there and drift, and then it'll actually get more snow that we can pack in," Gruneberg said. "If we had a few more inches, I'm guessing we would be OK."

Green means go

The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs maintains an up-to-date trail map. All the trails in Waterloo Region and surrounding area are red, meaning they are closed. Some trails north of the area closer to Palmerston, Walkerton and Markdale are yellow, meaning there is limited availability.

There are only a few green trails - meaning they are fully open for use - in the entire province.

Until the trails get the green light, snowmobilers are asked to stay off them because running a machine over farmers' fields, which most trails use, could damage crops like winter wheat, Matt Sabo, president of the New Dundee Snowmobiling Club. A lot of volunteer work goes into getting permission to go over the fields and if farmers are unhappy, they won't let snowmobiles on their land.

"It doesn't take much for us to lose it," Sabo said. "It takes a lot more work to get it."

Six-week season

Typically in Waterloo Region, the snowmobile season is six weeks - from mid-to-late January to mid-March. Local clubs say riders are happy if they can eek out an extra week or two of the winter sport.

"Locally here, if we get six good weeks without a thaw in between, it's pretty good," Gruneberg said.

Sabo agreed six weeks is the norm, but in the previous two winters, they were able to get out much sooner and stay out for longer.

"We see it in cycles. We have no control over it, we rely on Mother Nature and good Old Man Winter. But this year's exceptional. The past couple of years we've had extraordinary winters where we've been able to enjoy the sport for extended weekends," he said. "Typically we get, six (weeks). If we can get eight to 10 out of it, that's fantastic."