Trucks & Trailers Snowmobile Season Over

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The snowmobile season in the southeast lasted a grand total of fourteen days. Dave Boutang with South East Sno-Riders says trails officially opened February 27th and then closed for the season March 12 at 2pm. Boutang says a couple of days of warm weather mixed with rain did them in.

Boutang says this is the shortest season on record. "A week ago we had a vintage ride out of Woodridge and I spoke to some guys that have been riding snowmobile since the early '60s," says Boutang. "Never seen anything like this," he says.

The short season will cost the club big bucks, says Boutang. "I would say we probably lose in funding probably forty-five thousand dollars," he says. Boutang guesses their operating budget is about $65,000. The club gets paid based on the miles of trails it grooms. "I don't think we'll get twenty thousand this year," he says. "We'll probably get about sixteen or something." Boutang says the shortfall will come from the club's bank account. "We'll have to do some serious fundraising but that's the way it goes. We're kind of prepared for it in a sense that we hope it never came but we had a little bit of money saved up from previous years and I hope we are able to survive next year."

Boutang says he doesn't regret grooming the trails, even though the season only lasted two weeks. "We groomed as much as we could because the snowmobilers wanted to ride. So we groomed as much as we could." He says this allowed sledders to at least get a few days of riding in and furthermore it gave a small boost to any businesses that rely on the season. In fact, Boutang says in Woodridge a week ago, "there was as many sleds as you see in the Whiteshell. So anybody along that route would have been selling gas or any restaurants would have been serving food up. A little bit is better than nothing," he says.

Read more at http://www.steinbachonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27772&Itemid=100393
 
 
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