The North Bay Snowmobile Club wants snowmobile enthusiasts to be patient as they await at least one more decent snowfall before they can give all the trails the green light to open.
"We still remain in closed situation for most of the trails in the region," said Shawn Flindall, director of marketing and communications with the local club.
"There are some trails in the Sturgeon Falls area that connect over to Sudbury that are open and most trails north of New Liskeard are open at this point but we are really one single snowfall away from opening most of the trails in our region.
"We have started to pack and groom but the snow that we do have has packed down to two to four inches on the trails so we are in no way able to open trails under safe conditions at this point with only a two, three, or four-inch base."
Flindall does say the cold weather is helping the base for sure.
"The base is firming up and things are freezing nicely with this cold weather but that cold weather is causing some problems on area lakes in that there are some pretty significant pressure cracks forming on Lake Nipissing and lots of slush on all area lakes," said Flindall.
"Trails remain closed so please stay off them as it is illegal to be on closed trails and many of these trails are on private property and we need to respect those private property owners and wait until trails are open to use them. Secondly, if you are going to be riding on the lakes, please be very very careful because of those pressure cracks and slush."
Flindall says they need between six inches and a foot of snow to get things going.
"I know everyone is anxious and respect closed conditions," said Flindall.
The local snowmobile club is hoping the trails can open soon and when they do, they hope restaurants and other facilities will be open for sledders to access after the January COVID-19 lockdown in Ontario is complete.
"This weekend is a great example of how being out in the cold - these are pretty extreme cold temperatures," said Flindall noting how tough it would be on sledders if they had nowhere to go to warm up on their journey.
"Whether you are riding a short or a long distance, that cold weather affects you and it is nice to get indoors and have a hot chocolate and a cup of soup. You can warm your helmet and your clothes, and warm yourself. With the absence of that it does cause some concerns from a safety perspective.
"If people start struggling from cold perspective, it sure would be nice to know they had some options in terms of spots they could go to warm up so we are not only hopeful not just from the snowmobiling experience but even from a safety perspective so we are certainly hopeful things open on Jan 26."
