Snowmobile club anxious to get season underway

The heavy snowfall in and around the city is a welcomed sight to snowmobile enthusiasts including the North Bay Snowmobile Club.

Anxious to get a jump on the season the North Bay Snowmobile Club unveiled the latest addition to their feet of grooming machines Tuesday at Sand Dam just off Highway 11. Over the course of the winter season the club grooms about 350 kilometres throughout the season and say the new $180,000 machine will assist them cleaning the trails quickly.

“We now have well over half a million dollars in equipment to keep the trails up,” says club member Brian Baker.

Baker also says the funding for the new groomer came through trail permit purchases from the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs and the Near North Trails Association.

“We also raised $13,000 at our annual auction a little while ago,” he says.

“We’ve sold over 600 permits to date and last year there were no permits after December 1st.”

Baker did caution that while there is a great amount of snow in the area, the trails are still not completely ready to roll because the water ways are still open.