Snowmobile trails still closed but clubs are hard at work grooming

Jeff Green | Jan 06, 2016

Stay off of thin ice for any purpose, OPP warns

Pass holders for the trail system run by the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) sat on their hands throughout the green Christmas season, but were buoyed by a heavy snowfall on December 28 and subsequent cold weather.

The trails are still not open, however, and the word from local snowmobile clubs, who each have responsibility for a different section of trail, is that it will not be until next week, at the earliest, before any of the trails in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington are officially open.

Dieter Eberhardt, the trails co-ordinator for the L&A Ridgerunners Snowmobile Club, which handles grooming on the Cataraqui and K&P Trails as well as a smaller trail that runs through Puzzle Lake Provincial Park to Arden on the north end and Yarker to the south, said that when the snow first came to the Ridgerunners trails it fell on ground that had no frost in it at all, and going over the trail with any machine only revealed mud beneath.

“Now that any water in the snow or ground has turned to ice, that is no longer a problem, but what we are still dealing with is a lack of snow,” he said.

He added that the groomers are out on the trails this week and with a bit more snow cover the K&P and Cat trail portions will be open in a week or so. What he calls the backwoods trail runs over lakes and will not be open until the lakes have a solid base of at least 15 cm of ice on them, which will take longer.

“Since the Cataraqui and K&P Trails are open for other uses, snowmobilers are using them now, but we are not going to sanction their use until we have groomed them and are sure they are in good condition for snow machines,” he said.

Meanwhile further north, the Mazinaw Powerline Club has not had as much of a problem with lack of snow on their trails because the storm on December 28 delivered up to 30 cm of dense, packed snow to the north-south trail they manage between Kaladar and the top of the county.

“We need to go over the trail twice. The first time is what we call packing, and it includes removing limbs and other debris on the trail along with packing the snow. The second pass is the grooming pass. We are working on it now,” said club president Pat Reid, who was working on the trail when contacted via cellphone on a chilly Tuesday morning.

Beaver flooding on the K&P Trail north of Snow Road has been the pre-occupation of groomers working with the Snow Road Snowmobile Club. They manage the K&P Trail from St. Georges Lake in the south all the way to the border of North Frontenac and Lanark in the north, as well as some east-west trails.

“There is quite a swath that is covered in water because of beavers,” said club president Alice Gilchrist.

The club is also, like the Mazinaw Powerline, going over parts of the trail that are located on private land that they could not get to until the snow was on the ground.

“We have to wait until hunting season is over, and this year some farmers kept their cattle out late because they still had grass, so we are working hard to get everything ready,” she said.

Because of the beaver issue the Snow Road club does not know when the portion north of Road 509 will be open.

All the clubs are keeping any of their trails that cross over lakes closed until there is enough ice on the lakes to put in a safe trail.

As far as lake ice is concerned, the OPP SAVE (Snowmobile, ATV and Vessel Enforcement) unit are warning people to be stay off the ice throughout Eastern Ontario.

“It's not safe to be out on the lakes at this time,” Sgt. Byron Newell of the SAVE unit told CBC Ottawa last weekend.

"You want nice, clear, blue or black ice. If it's opaque at all, that means there's a snow freeze on the ice, which makes the ice more weak and dangerous," he added.

According to Newell, and this view was echoed by the snowmobile clubs consulted for this story, 15 cm of ice, at a minimum, is required for the ice to be deemed safe for use.

However, ice needs to be monitored for safety at all times, which snowmobile clubs do on all ice trails that are part of their networks.

"Ice is never 100 per cent safe," cautioned Newell.