Stand by for new report in three days. Must start up grooming again. Not shure if Club will have enough Money left.to get the job done. 33 storms this winter. The normal amount is 13 storms per winter.

The Morin Hieghts club has cancelled their hillclimb this year, that usually raise $5-$8k why not have it to raise $$$$$$$?????????. Why don't clubs that are "running out of money" organize hillclimb fund raisers as the mountains are coming to the end of their season,if each club did one in March and one in April that would help. The more consecutive years that these races are held the larger the turnout will become, this equates to more money to take care of the trails. If everyone remembers we have not had an extended riding season for many years if the clubs had been putting on races for 4-5yrs they potentially could have lots of extra money to continue grooming later in a rare year of big snow amounts. Hey, if 15 clubs put on on hillclimb races every month from December thru April and the race conservatively raised $3500x5 races = $17500x15 clubs =$265,000.
Hard working people like Bernard cannot do all of the necesary work by them selves. If every person that has the nerve to complain volunteered their time to events like the Morin Hieghts Hill Climb, alot could be done to make our sport even better.
BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

Dale

I realy think the goverment has to step in and help out but i will leave that for another day.
The Morin Heights hill climb did not go on this year because of lack of volunteers and insurance problems are becoming way too expensive for this kind of meet.
Most members of clubs dont even live in the region that they snowmobile in so volunteering becomes a problem for that specific club.
Also the hardware has become way to expensive to run and fix and fuel up.
March 15th or around this date has become a standard date for trails closing for many years now and even with tons of snow left theirs very little traffic in some regions to validate the reason for gromming.

I have to disagree with you here quebec1. Since you did not elaborate on the government thing neither will I. However, if the government is taking money from the clubs then I agree they need to step up. As for Morin Heights, if volunteers are tight, nothing has been said on these public forums or communicated to those that have participated in the past. What they should do is communicate their needs so that we as a snowmobiling community can step up and help out. If insurance cost is a problem, charge entrants and spectators accordingly. Every other motorsport does, and this should be no different. If the hardware is to expensive to run, fix and fuel up, then these same folks cannot afford to trail ride either and have no business owning a sled to begin with.

Why has March 15th been a "standard"? The traffic is light in areas that still have snow because most people do not know there is still a lot of snow. Most people have this notion that when the grass is green in the valley there is no more snow up north either. Clubs, motels, and resorts all have our addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, along with plenty of websites where conditions can be posted. A little effort to draw in the crowds will likely be very successful.

Personally, I NEVER put my sled away until at least May 1, and usually try to get a ride in after that as well.

Please take no offense. I am just offering up a different point of view.

""If the hardware is to expensive to run, fix and fuel up"" I meant the groomer that the club owns.
Also like the club president of st-agathe said a week back even if theirs tons of snow in the woods lots of trails use a few km's of roads that are now bare with the strong March sun and that makes it hard to keep things going and also very hard on the groomers riding down pavement and gravel roads.
Dont take me wrong you can still ride in lots of selected regions until late march or into april but on ungroomed trails.

It's too bad. I was in St. Zenon this past weekend and have never seen so much snow up there.