With the abundance of freezing temperatures we’ve had across the region in the last few days, people have been wondering why the North Bay snowmobile trails remain closed.
But colder weather doesn’t necessarily mean more snow, and the North Bay Snowmobile Club’s director of marketing and public relations, Shawn Flindall said it would still take about another foot of snow before people could hit the trails this season.
“North Bay-Mattawa are pretty much the lowest snow depth in the Province right now,” Flindall said. “It’s been a bit of a drag in getting things open, but as long as this cold snap ends and we can get some snow soon it should be all good.”
He said although there has been a bit of a delay so far this year, we’ve started the year off better than the last, with the intense cold weather freezing lakes, swamps, and other waterways quickly. And while these waterways are frozen, Flindall urges extreme caution as they’ve had some pressure cracks.
Last year, trails were open for a couple weeks in early January but had to close again shortly afterward as snows melted quickly.
“It’s typically mid-January we get trails open,” he said. “I’m anticipating around the same.”
The North Bay club has about 285 – 300 kilometres of trails and well over 1,000 kilometres when combining surrounding areas. Flindall said people come from all over down south, the States included, to venture across the snowmobile trails we have in the North.
“We estimate around three to five hundred visitors a week for 10 solid weeks,” he said of out-of-town riders. “It’s a significant economic boost for all of the North really. We stay overnight, use the hotels, by parts and fuel, spend a lot of money in the neighbourhood of $300 a day per sledder. It means a lot to the North.”
However, while trails aren’t yet open, the Club is running the risk of losing some trails due to inappropriate behaviours from some sledders.
“Some people have been riding on private property and using loud exhaust pipes,” Flindall said. “Lots of our trails go through private property and some riders go off the trails into their property and if property owners take away the privilege to these small sections of trails, we lose access to that whole stretch of the trail because we can’t get through there.”
Meanwhile, OPP and the OPP S.A.V.E Unit will continue their snow vehicle patrols throughout the season and want to remind riders of these important tips that will help make your ride safe.
At the end of the day, Flindall wanted to remind people the North Bay Snowmobile Club is run by volunteers who donate countless hours to help see the North prosper during the winter months while they keep their trails functional and safe.
“Every single person is a volunteer, putting 20 to 40 hours a week in the groomer working on trails,” he said. “We’ve got some really dedicated people who’ve put a lot of hours running them, repairs, signs, lots that go on behind the scenes to run this. It’s pretty impressive to see it come together like this.”
