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Snobusting!
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Led by certified guide Mike Fisher, a large group of visitors from New Jersey and Connecticut leave for a three-hour snowmobile tour of the Green Mountain National Forest in Woodford last week. Photo by Christina L. Florada




Tuesday, January 17
WOODFORD — In its inaugural year, the Woodford Snobusters snowmobiling club had about 25 members. Today, there are more members than there are residents in town.
The club started in 1984 among friends around a table in the Woodford Mountain cabin of Jack McKenna, who for many years acted as the club's trail master. Several years ago, the club was the largest in the country with about 5,000 members, according to Betty Roark, who has been a Snobuster since the outset.

Membership, which must be renewed yearly before riding on the trail system, depends on the season, said Roark. When Woodford has better snow than other places, membership soars. Today there are about 1,000 members, she said.

The entire town
of Woodford, by contrast, has only 414 residents, according to the 2000 census.

In the 1970s McKenna, Roark and others used to make weekend trips from their homes in Connecticut to ski and snowmobile. Thousands have since followed in their footsteps. Woodford resident and club President Shereen McKenna said 90 percent of the Snobusters' members are from out of state.

Shereen said Woodford's reputation for snow and its proximity to New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut help bring the crowds. Her husband, Jack, said during a count last year 1,000 sleds passed over a busy trail.

When the snow is good the parking lots along Route 9 are filled with trucks towing snowmobile trailers. The occupants park and ride on the 102 miles of trails the Woodford Snobusters maintain, and beyond. Many more ride their sleds into the area from other parts of Vermont, said Shereen.

The Snobusters contract with the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers to maintain the trails. Shereen said the Woodford club is lucky that many of their trails are on National Forest land rather than private property.

Continuous trails

She said other clubs, like the ones in northern Vermont, must work with landowners to develop continuous maintained trails. The Snobusters operate four groomers out of their new clubhouse, which was built last year on land donated by four founding members.

So many sleds motoring through the Green Mountain National Forest may be troubling for some locals. Even Roark said the mountain turns into a "zoo" on weekends and she encourages people to come mid-week to enjoy Woodford's peaceful moments.

Adam "Chub" Adamski, the owner of Twin Brooks Snowmobile Tours, provides guided tours, gas and food to Woodford's visitors. During the past 12 years, he's seen an increase in weekday business.

"Any snowmobiler knows what they're going to face. No matter where you go, I don't care if it's the tip of Maine or in Canada, it's busy everywhere on the weekends," said Adamski.

Adamski called his Route 9 location the hub of snowmobiling in the area. He serves as many 2,000 snowmobilers a day.

Town Clerk Aileen C. O'Neil said some residents like the influx of tourists on machines, others hate it. Economically the season is good for the town, though Woodford doesn't promote itself as a tourist destination, said O'Neil.

"We don't have a need to promote tourism because the people that come here have been here for years. We're kind of running out of room, actually," said O'Neil.

State Police Sgt. Michael Marvin is the supervisor of the area's snowmobile patrol. Every year a few people are airlifted out of the area because of accidents, according Marvin. But he said troopers most often deal with more routine problems, such as registration and insurance violations or speeding offenses.

Marvin usually sends two troopers to the area to patrol the trails on busy weekends. He said that during the past 15 years he's seen a definite increase in not only the number of riders, but also an increase in sled size and power.

"The sleds are bigger and faster and potentially more dangerous. The majority of snowmobilers are not causing problems. Most of the people are friends and family members. It's a fairly friendly sport," said Marvin.

Shereen said that other than the many charity events the club is involved with, residents "downtown" in Bennington often don't realize what goes on just up the road at about 2,300 feet above sea level.