KAKABEKA, Ont. – With another batch of snow touching down in the area, the snowmobile trails are just about ready to officially open.
The Thunder Bay Adventure Trails Snowmobile Club has started to prepare certain areas of the trails in and around Kakabeka Falls.
Groomer coordinator Adrian Tessier said the big issue this time of year with the low snow levels is the rough areas comprised of large rocks, logs, trees, stumps and some swamp zones.
“The snow has been really sporadic and we haven’t got a lot of snow on the trails as much as some areas,” Tessier said.
“Typically we like to see about 18 inches of snow on the ground, but we are going out with six to eight inches in some places and more than that in other areas.”
In order to prepare the trails for use the groomers must operate large Bombardier-made machines, which have Teflon packers that allow them to pack the snow behind the machine.
Once the trail’s established the packer is removed and replaced with a large drag, which make the trails smooth by eliminating any bumps and ruts.
“The nice thing about the packers is that we can get the base prepared on the trail really quickly and then we can come back and put the drags on and snowmobile heaven,” Tessier said.
It’s important the snow is packed tight to the ground because if there’s too much snow a good packing job won’t be possible, which means there won’t be a solid base.
If the snowmobiles drive over unpacked grounds they will potentially exaggerate any bumps and as a result the trails will get worse overtime.
This year, the club will be grooming about 400 kilometres and a lot of the trail will be groomed every week.
“Some of the trails that don’t get a lot of use will get groomed every second or third week depending on how much snow we get,” Tessier said.
“The major trails will get groomed at least once a week and if we see heavy usage maybe twice a week.”
The club will be reopening a trail that stretched down to the US border at Gunflint Lake. The trail hasn’t been groomed in about four years, so about 50 to 60 miles of extra trails will be added.
Tessier said there’s an interactive trail map located on the website and every time the groomers take to the trails the conditions will be modified on the map.
The map illustrates any piece of trail within the province, but you can zoom right in on Thunder Bay to see the trail conditions.
“Today, when we go out with the packers we are going to declare the trails open, which means they will be open under limited status,” he said.
Limited status means the trails are opened to use but be aware of the rocks, stumps and sticks because there’s not enough snow to cover everything, but the trails will be open and snowmobilers can begin enjoying the trails.
