CANORA- Canora Trakkers Snowmobile Club Trail Boss Rob Bletsky reports that the current snow conditions around the Canora area “haven’t allowed us to get local trails signed or groomed as early as we like to.”
According to reports from the trails, that large snowfall in mid-January seems to have blown away with the winds that followed and left a lot of open bare areas.
“When the snow cover isn’t great it increases the risks of unsafe obstacles emerging along the trails,” Rob said. “The snow conditions do improve to the north but we still recommend riding with caution as the snow base isn’t ideal yet.
“We have also moved the trail directions to accommodate and avoid some crops left in the field from this past harvest. Riders may notice that the trails are closer to tree lines this year to maximize the depth of snow that is caught and held there naturally.”
Trakkers club members have been busy signing and grooming the trails. For up to date information on the status of any snowmobile trail visit the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association website at www.sasksnow.com under the Interactive Maps tab.
This year, Wade Trach is the main groomer operator.
Rob and Miles Homeniuk are the trail bosses. Other members of the club that have helped to set up the trail are: Sheldon Sleeva and Jeff Bisschop (Certified Trail Signing), Tracey Bletsky (Secretary), Shannon Leson (Vice-President), Rylan Bletsky, Colton Bletsky, Shiloh Leson, Vinnie Skurat, and Dwayne Skurat.
“The trail would not be possible without these members,” said Tracey Bletsky. “Anyone wishing to help keep these trails open please contact the club and join the crew.”
“We work alongside all the landowners and municipalities to confirm permission before placing the trail and we want to reinforce the importance of gaining permission before entering anyone’s property. We are very grateful to all our landowners who grant us access to use their property for the enjoyment of snowmobiling and exploring the natural beauty of the area. We ask that the public respects landowners and our trail system.”
Trakkers maintains the 90 km of trail that connects Yorkton Sno-Riders Club to the north including Kamsack Sno-Drifters, Norquay Prairie & Pine Snow Riders, and Preeceville Rough Rider Snowmobile Club trail systems as part of the larger Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association trail system.
“Our trail starts at the north end of Good Spirit Lake,” said Tracey, “which provides an opportunity for residents and visitors at the lake to travel to Canora by snowmobile. As those communities around the lake grow, we are seeing more snowmobile related traffic into Canora to get fuel, food and a pit stop on their way to the northern trails. The northern point of our trail ends at Stenen.”
This year, Trakkers obtained funding from Sask Lotteries and was able to update and improve its inventory of signs.
“We purchased $2,000 of new signs to best reflect the standardization of the entire SSA trail system,” said Tracey. “We now have signs reminding riders when they are entering populated places to be ‘Quiet In’ and ‘Quiet Out’ and to respect the neighbours of our trail. We were able to replace old signs that had lost the reflective finish and increase the number of directional arrow signs to help guide our trail riders along the way.”
Trakkers is always on the lookout for new members.
“We are looking for interested volunteers who would be willing to help out with setting up and taking down the trail signs each year. We work as a group and have a good time along the way. New members can contact us on our Facebook page or talk to any current member.”
Further information from the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association is available at sasksnow.com.
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