Amherst Daily News
By Chris Dowbiggin
AMHERST - As the characteristic frequent snowfalls of January cover Cumberland County in a thick blanket of frozen powder, Snowmobile riders are zipping up their suits, strapping on their helmets, and taking to the freshly-groomed snowmobile trails around the area.
If you ever go driving out in the country, you will occasionally see these riders zipping through snowy paths that wind and curve through wooded areas and clear meadows.
Snowmobiling has had a major impact on winter sporting in Nova Scotia. As an estimated 2,400 families take part in the seasonal activity.
Memberships with local snowmobile clubs has been increasing on a steady rate for the last few years.
John Cameron is the General Manager of the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia (S.A.N.S.).
He said snowmobiling has changed drastically over the last half-century, and more people are becoming enthusiastic about the constantly developing technology behind these machines.
“The snowmobile of today is much different then the snowmobile of 10 years ago, which is much different from the snowmobile of 20 years ago. They are much more efficient, they require less maintenance, they burn less gas and oil and are more comfortable. People are noticing,” said Crowe.
Another important innovation to the evolution of the machine, is the number of groomed trails now open to the public all over the country, with 4,200 km of trails in Nova Scotia alone.
With all that distance to cover, S.A.N.S. ensures safety as a number one priority for fun riding.
“It’s a proven statistic, 75 per cent of (snowmobile) accidents in Canada occur off the trails,” said Cameron
“We have significant risk management programs in place to ensure the safety of our users. Number one would be the proper grooming of the trails. All of our trails have been GPS mapped, our trails are all well-signed. We have safety education courses, we educate new riders, as it is mandated we educate our new riders of course, through Canada Safety Certified Instructors during the program. To me that’s a pretty good thing. As far as a volunteer association goes.”
The association has also implemented a strict, zero-tolerance approach to drinking before riding.
“We’ve stopped serving alcohol in our clubs a good number of years ago, said Cameron.
“That was a significant source of revenue for these clubs. We have a strong anti-drinking program in place. We’ll be working with MADD Canada to do some intercepts and reinforce the zero-tolerance.”
The local snowmobile clubs have remained close with their members over the last few decades, and are very interactive amongst their community involvement.
Lyndon Crowe is a director with the Cumberland Snowmobile Club, which has over 100 members.
He said club members do their part to ensure everyone has a safe and fun time on the trails.
“We have guys who monitor and maintain and groom the trails on a regular basis, all 400-and-some km’s. We work together with other clubs in the area and other groups who share common interest in the trails. It’s kind of just a big group effort to keep the trails open and running,” said Crowe.
Cameron is looking to expand interest for the recreation even more over the coming years.
“There’s a number of things we do, with varying degrees of success. We have an event called ‘Take a friend Snowmobiling’ in February for a week. Our clubs do a number of initiatives as well. They go out and speak at organizations like Kinsmen. We do a lot as a volunteer association,” said Cameron.
Crowe said the wet weather in December didn’t make this winter look too promising, but everything is rebounding so it should be a successful season.
“We’d like to see some colder weather to freeze up all those water and mud puddles, but right now we’re pretty optimistic anyways.”
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