The groomers are out, trying to get trails managed by the Cochrane Polar Bear Riders Snowmobile Club into shape for the season.
Social media coordinator Jesse Buchman says those groomers are packing the trail base, but some areas are still wet and muddy.
“We’ve been working on getting the base solid, building snow bridges over creeks,” he tells My Cochrane Now Dot Com, “and we’re waiting for the Frederickhouse River, which is our main crossing on the top A trail just outside of town, we’re waiting for that to freeze over.”
Eight inches of ice is needed for snowmobiles to cross safely, and 18 or 20 inches for groomers.
Buchman says the aim every year to open the trails is around Boxing Day. It all depends on weather.
“We’ve been able to get trails packed. We even had some trails for a first pass with a drag on it. But again, we’re still dealing with the soft spots every year, and we have to let those freeze so we can safely navigate some of those swamps as well with our groomers.”
Listen to our full interview right here:
Up to date trail status is always available on the OFSC interactive trail map at ofsc.evtrails.com .
