Despite a January to forget, March conditions are allowing the snowmobile season to still extend into the March Break.
Shawn Flindall, Director of Marketing and Public Relations with the North Bay Snowmobilers Club, says things looked pretty grim in late February but below zero temperatures have helped the season linger on.
“It really helped us out and a little bit more snow that also really helped us out and trails are, I am going to say are about 7 or 8 out of 10 right now in the whole region,” said Flindall.
“Our groomer operators are working hard right now to clean up from the weekend traffic and we should be able to get in another really solid weekend of great riding this coming weekend.”
See related: Snowmobile season facing delays
See related: Mild conditions sending snowmobilers further North
Flindall adds the timing is great.
“We always want some real good quality open trails throughout March break, sometimes it happens for us and sometimes it does not,” he said.
“It looks like things have turned around a little bit in our favour and we should get a really nice March Break stretch with great trails.”
However, the conditions are not perfect.
“Anything to the south of North Bay is essentially closed and most trails around North Bay are yellow which means caution and limited conditions so there are some ice patches, there is some exposed rock, there are some washouts and bumps in the trails so it is by no means 100 percent but that is why we are saying 7 or 8 out of 10,” said Flindall.
Without those ideal conditions, snowmobilers need to be aware of the deteriorating conditions.
“It is at this time things do start to break up as the weather gets warmer so we do really need people to ride safely and ride with caution,” said Flindall.
“Like I say, it is this time of year that bad things can happen so it is really important just to be smart when you are riding.”
