Learn more about snowmobile trail grooming: www.snowmobilers.org/groomer_guide/GroomerGuidecomplete.pdf
I paid my club dues, why aren't the trails groomed for my ride?Our grooming equipment is getting more expensive every year with the price of fuel and maintance. Every weekend and sometimes evenings the ski-slopes are packed with skiers enjoying their recreation of choice often paying $25 to $45 for four hours of facility use. Snowmobile club dues are $25 for the season, that could be 2 months or 4 months of trail grooming not including signage, brush cutting, culvert replacement, bridge repair and hours of prep work. If your not volunteering, who's getting the "deal of a lifetime"? This year our NYS funding has been cut almost in half providing approximately $1800 to purchase and operate our equipment. With only 2 big months of snow in 2007 we spent $700 in fuel alone and we could of run more if the deep snow didn't slow us from rolling out more often. In summary, with the resources and inexpensive fee it cost to ride any snowmobile club trail, we should all feel it's a priviledge not a right. Please volunteer for trail work your opinion will quickly change.
I have free time, can I operate a groomer?
EZ Riders take grooming seriously, the expensive equipment we operate is even more expensive to fix. A large break could shut down a groomer for the entire season. Operators need to be mechanically inclined to recognize problems or breaks before a situation worsens. Trails are tight and is some places same width as a drag leaving little room for error. For that reason we appointed a Grooming Program Manager (GPM) as recommended by NYS, to oversee maintenance, operation, inspection and scheduling of grooming equipment. Contact GPM to schedule ride and to learn more about grooming and opportunities to participate.
When I meet a groomer, who yields?
It’s NYS law, riders must yield to all groomers, big or small, even if a sled is pulling a drag. A groomer often times is pulling a full drag of snow and if the groomer has to slow, it can get stuck with full drag of snow.
Why don't the groomers run more often during poor trail conditions?There's a couple reasons why groomers aren't on the trail as much as some believe they should. First, keep in mind that groomers do there best work alone, free from traffic. Our trails are approximately eight foot in width, our large grooming drag is eight foot in width and that gives no room for traffic to pass, causing some riders to pull off the trail and risk getting stuck. Second, our groomer operators are volunteers many who have regular jobs and/or commitments that causes some jocking of operators at short notice. This year officers are working on a schedule asking operators to committ to certain days and providing snow conditions are good complete assigned routes. We're going to need more operators probably to be more effective and maybe some equipment moved around but we're a growing club with some growing pains and will get better and bigger in the years to come.
Trails were rough today, why didn’t I see any groomers out?
Our groomers operate at night. The purpose of a groomer is to remove moguls. The cold snow conditions after dark allow groomers to bust-up moguls moving snow thru the drag which causes friction, creating heat and resulting in a new smooth foundation, similar to paving a road. Grooming at night provides ample time the trail needs to set up hard to withstand heavy traffic. Groomers are well lighted and more visible at night too, providing for safe travel. Our grooming rigs will run during the daylight hours in cold conditions to repair heavy traffic trails although results are quickly washed away without ample time for the trail to set before being ridden by snowmobiles.
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