THUNDER BAY — It has not been the best winter so far for the Thunder Bay Adventure Trails snowmobile club, but things are starting to look up.
"We had no cold weather. Huge amounts of snow. So that created a whole bunch of problems," said Adrian Tessier, the club's groomer coordinator.
A big problem, he said, is that creeks haven't frozen over.
"We build snow bridges over the creeks, and they open up immediately behind us."
Because swamps aren't frozen over either, the grooming crews don't dare take their machine across for fear of getting bogged down.
Compounding matters, Tessier said in an interview Tuesday, are the numerous trees that have fallen across trails.
"We had heavy snow, and then some rain. Guys are out slugging through snow up to their. waists with chainsaws trying to cut up the trees so we can get the groomers down the trail."
He said the saving grace is that numerous volunteers came forward to help clear the trails of downed trees.
When snowmobilers purchase the mandatory permit that allows them to use the area trail system, they have the option of ticking a box that asks if they'd be willing to do some maintenance work.
Tessier said 25 to 30 individuals volunteered this season, and the great majority attended a meeting where they learned about the duties they would have to perform.
"Probably 75 per cent of those went out on the trails and did a whole pile of work. We really appreciate the efforts because it was basically five or six of us doing everything. But this year it was a couple of dozen. It was great."
A lack of equipment has been a hindrance, as for the first month of the snowmobiling season, the club only had one grooming machine available.
Trail preparation is currently about two weeks behind schedule, but Tessier said a second unit has just been delivered, and will be put into service right away.
The weather forecast for the coming weekend and beyond has left him feeling optimistic about the rest of the season.
"We're going to keep at it. We've got some colder weather coming. Our fingers are crossed. We think we're going to have a fantastic trail system here within the next week or so."
"We're coming to the point where we're starting to celebrate. The hard part is pretty much over. We've got a couple more hurdles to cross, but they're going to be simple compared with what we just went through."
Despite the challenges that weather conditions have presented in the Thunder Bay region up to now, things are even worse in other parts of Ontario.
There are 30,000 kilometres of snowmobile trails in the province, but only about 10,000 kilometres are currently open because of warm weather and a lack of snow.
