Avid snowmobilers are among those most pleased with the current winter wonderland.
As more snow falls, more hobbyists hit the trails.
“It’s a wonderful year,” said Orillia District Snowmobile Club (ODSC) president Rob Love.
Love is, however, no stranger to the work involved, balancing what Mother Nature delivers and the maintenance necessary to keep up.
“There’s a lot going on and lots to do to keep the trails going,” he said.
The Orillia area was one of the first to open snowmobile trails, and the ODSC quickly saw plenty of traffic.
“There’s always someone out on the trails,” said Jeff Soley, ODSC vice-president and grooming manager.
He notices people sledding during the early hours of the morning while he runs a groomer.
Love explained the trails were inundated with people at the beginning of the season and parking was overflowing. Now that more Ontario trails have opened, it has evened out.
The ODSC has 20 to 30 volunteers committed to the daily maintenance of 245 kilometres of trails in Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Severn and Ramara.
“There’s a lot of volunteer stuff we do to get the trails ready — putting all the signs up, brushing, staking out on the lake,” said Soley.
With three industrial groomers, which are nine feet wide and about nine feet tall, about 10 trained operators keep them running.
Love described the patience and awareness it takes to operate one of the groomers, travelling between seven and 10 km/h.
“You have to watch for people, and with the big drag on the back end, it’s about 18 feet long with blades. There’s a lot to pay attention to,” he said.
He also cautions sledders to be aware of the groomers on the trails.
“Always drive within your control and within your limits … because you never know what might be coming around the next corner,” he said.
Heeding such advice and driving according to conditions are important messages, though Love also says, “Everybody should be out there enjoying it.”
“You get to see a lot of places that you wouldn’t normally get a chance to see,” he said.
Getting outside and away from some of the day-to-day routine is what attracts father and son Chris and Landon Sterndrive to sledding.
Landon is 13 and got his licence as soon as possible. He takes good care of his machine and, like his dad, loves the thrill of riding. They have an upcoming three-day trip planned to take their sleds out and do some sightseeing.
Sledders use the integrated trails guide to select routes and see accessibility throughout the network, which Love said looks a lot different this year.
“People can ride their snowmobiles to Stratford and to Tobermory, which you wouldn’t think, but people can take two- or three-day trips,” he said.
The guide includes a system of marking trails as closed, limited or open.
“We’re all in the green at the moment, which is the ultimate for us,” Love said joyfully, as green means fully open.
Even with one of the three groomers in overdrive due to the other two undergoing repairs, and all the snow accumulating, the ODSC has kept the trails accessible.
“We’re scrambling to keep these things rolling,” said Love.
For two days, the operators kept one groomer operating between them. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for them to go back down to one as the terrain is rough, even for the industrial machines.
The daily maintenance of trails isn’t always straightforward.
Rick Sider, one of the groomer operators, described a marshy area of trail that took days to get to optimal conditions, longer if people used it when marked otherwise.
It needs to be broken up and then left to refreeze numerous times for snowmobiles to use, Sider explained.
Love also noted new snow doesn’t pack down as much, and the traffic forms bumps in the trail. It then takes time for the groomers to smooth out.
Through all of the work, and some play, Love and Soley are happy with the number of people out sledding this year.
Sider saw 16 people sledding past him one evening, “the most I’ve ever seen in one group,” he said.
Soley said compared to previous years, “we’re seeing traffic during the week we normally see on weekends.”
“We’ll take what we can get,” Love said about all the snow as the team keeps things up to par.