Pages MB Fall 2014

RE P ORT
SPECIAL SNORIDERS SNOMAN REPORT
SNOMAN CONGRESS PEEK
INFORMATIVE WORKSHOPS ARE WORTH ATTENDING BY CLUBS
BY ALAN BUTLER, President
>> SNOMAN
EXECUTIVE
President
Alan Butler,
Snowtraxx Snowmobile Club Inc.
Vice-President
successful meeting, how to get and keep people
involved, etc.
Trail Signing Workshop: This is a three-hour
workshop conducted by Dan Taylor, chairman of
the Snoman Trail Audit committee. This is not a
trail signing course, but rather a workshop to discuss issues and situations that may occur when
signing a trail and how you may deal with these
issues and still maintain the safety of the trail.
This workshop is to help those who are signing
club trails. Also, Dan will discuss common issues
found when conducting trail audits.
Generational Leadership—Bridging the Gap:
This a three-hour workshop conducted by Dee
Dee Rapp. Dee Dee is a motivational speaker,
published author and business consultant. Dee
Dee is an expert speaker and author on service,
leadership and life. Those who attended Dee
Dee’s presentation at the ISC meeting found it
enlightening, informative and entertaining, but
most of all, it was applicable to our current situation as it relates to volunteer recruitment. This
workshop is a must for all involved in a snowmobile club and all ages will find it beneficial and
rewarding.
This year’s season started with the federal government’s announcement of $10 million to the
National Trails Coalition (NTC) for a National
Recreational Trails Program. Since that time,
clubs and Snoman have been working hard to ensure all deadlines are met and that as many clubs
as possible benefit from this program. The Manitoba government is also helping in this program
by providing some of the required matching dollars. Manitoba snowmobile clubs stand to benefit
by approximately $240,000. These dollars will
be spent on trail improvements and new signage,
which will further enhance and provide greater
safety for those travelling the Manitoba snowmobile trails system.
Snoman is now pleased to be able to offer all
snowmobilers an online snowmobile safety
course. The online course was developed by
Fresh Air Educators in conjunction with Snoman
and Manitoba Public Insurance. The course covContinued on page 50 sidebar
▼
As I sit at the edge of the campground pool on
this sunny plus-30-degree day, it is kind of hard
to get motivated to be writing about snowmobiling, but I then look at my emails and by far most
of them are related to snowmobiling. That just
makes the point that snowmobiling is a yearround activity.
Snoman and its member clubs had a pretty
good 2013-2014 season, despite the extreme
temperatures and the high winds. Clubs still
groomed a total of 145,000 kilometres for the
season. Our trail numbering project that was
launched has been well received, and there have
been numerous positive comments. Clubs and
their dedicated volunteers have done a great job,
and our success is due to the efforts of the volunteers and the countless hours they put in to ensure our trail system is safe and enjoyable for
snowmobilers.
As we approach the 2014-2015 season, Snoman is excited about a number of new initiatives
and programs that we will be launching over the
course of the season.
The fourth annual Snoman Congress will take
place in Winnipeg on October 24 and 25. In addition to the Snoman annual general meeting, we
are offering workshops that will be extremely
beneficial to clubs and their members:
Groomer Operators Workshop: Kim Rapp, a
world-renowned expert on groomers and grooming operations, will provide an in-depth workshop on the correct methods of grooming
procedures. His workshop will cover all aspects
of equipment and its operation in various snow
conditions as well as the dos and don’ts of trail
grooming. This workshop is a must for all
groomer operators.
Club Governance Workshop: This workshop is
being conducted by Ron Hayes from Volunteer
Manitoba. This is approximately a 2.5-hour
workshop that will cover all the basic governance topics to ensure the successful operation of
a club. This is a must-attend workshop for all
club executive members. Topics covered will be:
constitutions, duties/responsibilities of the executive members, board of directors, how to run a
Sylvain Paquet,
Dauphin & District
Snowmobile Club
Treasurer
Albert Wyborn,
Southwest Snowtrackers
Past President
Ernie Smelski,
Whiteshell Snowmobile Club
Snoman Inc.
Yvonne Rideout,
Executive Director,
2121 Henderson Hwy.,
Winnipeg, MB R2G 1P8
Ph. (204) 940-7533
Fax (204) 940-7531
Directors
Central Region
Allen Cuthbert,
Club Snow Inc.
Russ Henderson,
Cross Country Snow Drifters
Eastern Region
Tonya Kemball,
Maskwa Snowmobile Club
Brad Wall,
Lee River Snow Riders
Interlake Region
Les Thordarson,
Interlake Snow Trackers
Northern Region
Kelly Martens,
Thompson Trailbreakers
Dan Taylor,
Kelsey Trail Sno-Riders
Western Region
Bill Musey, Swan Valley
Snowmobile Association
Sylvain Paquet,
Dauphin & District
Snowmobile Club
Check our website
www.snoman.mb.ca
www.snoman.mb.ca
It’s been a busy first six months since I joined
Snoman Inc. as the new executive director. I’ve
been actively pursuing partnerships with organizations with a vested interest in rural Manitoba to
create recognition for Snoman as well as the
snowmobiling industry. Some rebranding has
been implemented under my leadership and
“healthy living through recreation” is being used
as a tagline in our materials. We’ve formed partnerships with the Manitoba chambers of commerce, Rivers West (Red River Corridor Inc.)
and Travel Manitoba.
The organization is moving in a direction to engage businesses in forming strong relationships
with not only Snoman but with our 52 local clubs
located throughout the province. To this end, on
August 8th we rolled out our corporate partnership program, and I have been meeting, and will
continue to meet, with businesses to garner support for the trail system and create momentum
and buy-in for the program. It deals with promoting the trail system, volunteerism, economic impact, and our values as it relates to environmental
sustainability and safety. It gives companies the
ability to have positive exposure within the
snowmobiling industry, and by engaging with
our organization, businesses are helping rural
Manitoba sustain its trail system.
On the marketing side of things, I’ve developed
a plan for promoting Snopasses and our designated trail system, which offers the safest option for
riders. The organization is moving forward with
a strategic approach to how it operates in a proactive and constructive manner with open communication with its clubs. By developing and offering an extensive member benefits program,
we hope to promote club membership as well as
engage volunteers and youth.
Snoman is moving into its 40th year in 2015,
and we have many exciting events planned,
which will be kicked off at our annual Congress
on October 24 and 25 in Winnipeg. We will be
unveiling our children’s storybook on snowmobiling, which is being written by Big Daddy
Tazz, a Winnipeg comedian. He will be auctioning off limited signed hardcover editions at the
awards banquet and providing some entertainment as well. In 2015, we will be having a snowmobile rally in Powerview/Pine Falls from
February 20 to 22 which consists of a poker
derby, welcome reception, kids workshop, rides,
banquet and a “farewell to old and new friends”
breakfast. The registration form and additional
information are available at www.snoman.mb.ca.
As fall descends upon us, we can start to get excited about the upcoming snowmobile season,
and I certainly look forward to engaging in club
activities such as the rally and attending club
meetings to meet our members and the many volunteers who are the backbone of our organization. It is imperative that our organization continues to grow and increase its presence in political circles as well as in the view of the general
public.
Brokenhead Trail Blazers
BY LEONA MALCOLM
▼
Please support all the wonderful businesses that
Spring, summer and fall are busy times for all.
have graciously sponsored our
Our club has managed to gather the finances
club’s fundraising endeavour.
from previous fundraisers to have
We are looking forward to
a groomer shelter erected—
the winter season when our
as this article is being written
volunteer base of maintethe doors are being installed
nance crew will be able to
and the electrical work for
maintain the equipment inour building completed. Club
side a building with heat. It
members are hosting our yearhas been a long time coming,
ly fundraiser to complete this
and hats off to the brave
huge undertaking; it will no
.
souls who, for years, have
doubt be a success as our
at
he
no
d
ha
er
r shelt
The older groome
braved frigid temperatures
members are a committed
working on the frozen equipment so that our
group. Our club is creating a
trails are safe and well groomed for all to enjoy.
map of our trail system, which will be available
to all the snowmobilers travelling in our area.
Continued on page 51
50 SnoRiderswest.com » FALL 2014
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Continued from page 49
ers all aspects of the operation
of a snowmobile and covers
rules of operation for Manitoba. The course is suitable to
all ages and experience levels.
To obtain more information or
to access the online course, go
to the Snoman website and
follow the instructions. Once
you have successfully completed the course, you will receive your certificate.
Snoman Licence Plate: Snoman has applied and been approved for a specialty vehicle
licence plate. The plate is now
in the sample production
phase, and the plan is to
launch the plate at the Snowmobile Congress on October
24 and 25. At the awards banquet, we will make the first
five number plates available to
those with the highest bids.
After the announcement,
plates will be available at all
MPI agents. Keep your eyes
peeled for the posters.
Manitoba Snowmobile Rally:
Snoman is pleased to announce the second annual
snowmobile rally. The rally
will take place from February
20 to 22, 2015, and will be
hosted by Maskwa Snowmobile Club in Powerview, Manitoba. This is promising to be
a fun time for all snowmobilers with lots of activities
planned—there will be various
rides, breakfasts, supper and
loads of entertainment. All
snowmobilers should plan to
attend. For more information
and to register, please go to
the Snoman website.
Trail Signage: In order to further enhance safety on the
Manitoba trail system, Snoman has revised its trail signing guideline requiring that all
trail signage meets a minimum
reflectivity requirement and
only reflective trail signs be
used on all trails. In order to
Cont’d. on pg. 51 sidebar
▼
INCREASING OUR PARTNERSHIPS AND OUR PUBLIC PRESENCE
BY YVONNE RIDEOUT, Executive Director
▼
Snoman builds momentum
>> CLUB
NEWS
www.snoman.mb.ca
BY VAUGHN BEHRMANN
very daunting task at times. Many people who
enjoy or see these trail systems do not realize that
there are many guidelines required for clubs to develop and
maintain them. For example
Snoman Inc., the main governing body for all snowmobile
clubs within the province of
Manitoba, enforces guidelines
on trail signage, trail widths,
grooming expectations, trail
reports (sent in weekly), kilometres groomed, etc.
When a club needs to complete trail maintenance, it is
required to get a permit from
the local department of natural
resources (DNR). If any trail
work is classed as trail development, there are protocols
that the club must follow at the
discretion of the DNR officer.
The club has spent approximately $28,000 in trail signage
and stakes alone, which are utilized annually.
Continued on page 52
▼
The Swan Valley Snowmobile Association
(SVSA) was incorporated on November 25,
1996, at which time the club began development
of
snowmobile
trails
around the Swan River Valley. At this time, the SVSA
was the only local snowmobile club and their goal was
to develop trails in both the
Porcupine and Duck Mountain areas.
This proved to be a bigger
task than one club could handle, so the club split. Today
there are two snowmobile
clubs within the Swan River
Valley: the North Mountain
Riders club maintains the
trails in the Porcupine
Mountains, and the Swan
Valley Snowmobile Association looks after the trails in
the Duck Mountain/Cowan/Benito areas.
All these trail systems have been developed and
maintained by club volunteers, which has been a
NEWS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Con’t. from pg. 50 sidebar
standardize trail signage, only
those signs in the Snoman
signing guidelines are to be
used.
Well, I am still at the edge of
the pool and as I complete this
report, I have noticed it has
cooled off and I am all fired
up for this coming season.
Maybe there will be snow
tonight!
New benefits
offered by Snoman
Snoman has been busy this
summer with benefit programs
that will increase the value of
being a member of Snoman.
We have been working with
Hub International Strata Benefits Consulting (Hub Strata),
which specializes in memberbenefit programs for memberbased groups like Snoman.
These programs are 100 per
cent voluntary. Take advantage of the ones you want or
need and make sure your family knows about the rest.
INSURANCE BENEFITS
Group Home Insurance offers group rates, coverage enhancements and discounts of
up to 40 per cent on your
home insurance (including
seasonal properties). This program is offered directly
through the Group Home division of The Co-operators.
Call 1-800-387-1963 for a
free, no-obligation quote and
your name will be entered in a
cash draw or go to www.coop
erators.ca.
(Note: this offer is not available through local Co-operators agents.)
Cont’d. on pg. 52 sidebar
▼
Swan Valley Snowmobile Assoc.
>> CLUB
▼
▼
information please contact us at btb_webmas
BROKENHEAD TRAIL BLAZERS
ter@mts.net or www.brokenheadtrailblazers.ca.
Continued from page 50
We are a fortunate club to have journeyman liThanks must be given to a small number of
cenced mechanics, a welder and a group of very
volunteers who have given their time to maintain
helpful labour volunteers who enable our club to
club business over the spring, summer and fall:
keep maintenance costs to a minimum. We still
sometimes we forget that planning future events,
have work to be completed on our equipment
fundraising and bills continue through the offprior to winter but, as always, we will get it done.
snowmobile season.
Our club was privileged to enjoy a wonderful
Our club holds meetings the first Thursday of
supper provided by Teen Challenge. This was the
the month starting in October
top prize won by our 10 parthrough April, 7 p.m. at our
ticipants in the January Teen
clubhouse located on Mile
Challenge Ride for Eternity,
39E north of 80, municipal
as mentioned in our last artimarker 80076. The public is
cle.
welcome to attend these
The meal was prepared and
meetings to find out what reserved banquet-style for apally goes on to run a snowproximately 40 members and
mobile club—you don’t
guests. We did not host our
have to join but we sure
heated.
is
er
usual windup with horseshoe
would like to have new peoelt
sh
r
me
Our new groo
tournament this year as the
ple in our group. Our memsupper was a great gathering
bership is family-oriented and membership is
and enjoyed by all in attendance. This was held
less than 70, including children.
at the Tyndall Village Community Centre, not at
Our executive members are: president - David
our usual location—the newly renovated clubKryschuk, vice-president - Richard Van-Aert,
house.
treasurer - Barry Malcolm, secretary - Bonnie
The next event will be back at the ranch so to
Stefaniuk, membership chair - Sharon Naurocki,
speak, as we now have an excellent kitchen facilSnoman rep - Roy Naurocki, Snoman rep alterity and indoor plumbing. The clubhouse is availnate - Jodi Voss/Brian Station.
able for a small rental fee; if you require
Hope to see you on the trails or at a meeting.
Remember...
Don’t Drink
and
Ride!
FALL 2014 » SnoRiderswest.com 51
www.snoman.mb.ca
Ashern Snowmobile Club
BY JANICE ANDERSON
52 SnoRiderswest.com » FALL 2014
Mulvihill (south) end of the club. We rendezvoused at the Fisher Branch Cabin at 11 a.m.
and after a short break continued east to Fisher
Branch. Norman Rusaw did a superb job (as
usual) leading the way for all of us.
We had lunch in the Fisher Branch Hotel and
Continued on page 54
▼
It was the day after Valentine’s Day, -17 C with
clear blue skies, when the Ashern Snowmobile
Club left on a sweetheart of a ride to Hecla Island
located 125 miles east in frozen Lake Winnipeg.
We left around 10 a.m., 11 of us on 10 snow
machines. Four people came from the Ashern
(north) end of the club and seven people from the
>> CLUB
NEWS
NEW BENEFITS
Con’t. from pg. 51 sidebar
MyCare Health Benefit
Option (HBO) is newly available to Canadians exclusively
through Hub Strata. HBO provides Mayo Clinic expertise
with diagnosis and treatment
options for plan members and
their immediate family for
only $8/month. Call 1-877497-0233 and ask for the Hub
Strata group rates.
Income Insurance provides
a tax-free monthly benefit of
up to $2,500 per month for the
plan beneficiary, upon death
of the insured. Call ACE Life
at 1-855-223-1926 and mention Hub Strata group code
T1050–2.
Travel Health Insurance
provides numerous travel options including trip cancellation and interruption coverage
through Medi-Quote Insurance Brokers. Call 1-877-9767526.
TRAVEL BENEFITS
Worldwide Travel Discounts provides domestic and
worldwide hotel room options
at below-market discounted
rates.
For individual or group rates
(more than 10 rooms), go to
cars.localhospitality.com/
strata/stratacars.html or call
1-800-892-2136 and mention
code STRATA.
National Car Rental Program provides preferred rates
on both online bookings
(www.nationalcar.ca) and
phone reservations at 1-800227-7368 (use Contract ID
3715768).
Enterprise Car Rental
Program provides discounts
for online bookings only
(www.enterpriserentacar.ca).
Use Customer Number
NAC6014 and PIN str.
Cellular Out-of-Country
SIM card program provides
rates as low as nine cents per
minute in the U.S. with no
Cont’d. on pg. 54 sidebar
▼
tor trails that join Swan River to Wellman Lake,
and trails from Minitonas to Cowan via the
Cowan Trail, which was the original trail that
brought settlers into the valley. These trail systems are also important connector trails between
the southern and northern
provincial trail systems.
SVSA needed financial assistance so work could be
completed to reopen their
trail systems for the 20122013 season.
The club had held a number of meetings to decide if
we would or could reopen
the damaged trail systems.
All the members decided
that we came this far, so we
would forge ahead and reopen the trails as we could
manage.
The final trail was cleared
and opened by the end of
January 2013. This was completed due to over 880 volunteer man-hours and a cost of
over $50,000.
There was support from
local businesses and local
government in assisting the
club in reopening.
These 880 man-hours did
not include the hours necessary for getting groomers
ready, signing trails, getting
warm-up shacks ready, updating land use agreements
or filing all the paperwork
to Snoman.
The club has done an excellent job, but many of our
members are getting burnt
out and need support, and
this seems to be a common
theme throughout the province.
So if you ride the trails and
enjoy the sport, please lend a hand.
▼
▼
SWAN VALLEY
Continued from page 51
Also, the SVSA grooms more than 4,000 kilometres annually at a speed of 10 kilometres/hour. At
the start of the 2011-2012 season, the club spent
approximately $25,000 on trail development
to enhance the trails, as required to meet Snoman standards due to a windstorm that
year.
As the 2011 season started
out, the valley experienced
snowfall that many other areas
in the prairie provinces did not
see. The snowfall, along with
great trail systems throughout
the valley, had snowmobilers
coming from neighbouring
provinces and the upper United States, as well as many
points within Manitoba.
If hotel rooms were not
booked in advance, many
snowmobilers had to search
for lodging beyond the local
establishments in our area.
Gas stations were kept
busy between trucks, trailers
and drive-up snowmobile
business the whole winter. At
one local station, a manager
said that we were the 125th
sled to drive up to the pump,
not counting trucks and trailers, and it was only around 11
a.m.
In our guestbooks at the
warm-up shacks, we had comments left by various parties
that they could not believe the
facilities, great trails and great
people and that they would be
back even if they had snow at
home.
Various points throughout
the Duck Mountains experienced devastating winds, which totally
blocked the trail system. These are main connec-
www.snoman.mb.ca
Snoman Inc. Rally
February 20 - 22, 2015 • Powerview, MB
Hosted by the Maskwa
Snowmobile Club
Papertown Inn, 34 Walleye Lane,
Powerview/Pine Falls, MB
Friday, February 20
Night ride, poker
derby and welcome reception
Saturday, February 21
Breakfast, morning ride, kids
workshop, afternoon ride and banquet
Sunday, February 22
Farewell breakfast
Registration forms available at www.snoman.mb.ca
For hotel bookings call 204.367.2261
Win a Trailer!
Many prizes to be won!
Contest starts the end of October.
Submit your best snowmobile photos online to win!
enter your photo at
www.slednsnap.com
Just by entering you could win:
a 2 Place Tilt Sled Trailer OR an Enclosed Sled Trailer (use for one year)
Brought to you by:
FALL 2014 » SnoRiderswest.com 53
www.snoman.mb.ca
▼
54 SnoRiderswest.com » FALL 2014
>> CLUB
NEWS
▼
NEW BENEFITS
Con’t. from pg. 52 sidebar
roaming fees, nine cents per
sent text, and nine cents per
MB data. Call West Can
Communications at 1-800665-0384 and mention you are
part of the Hub Strata program.
SAFETY
Driver Safety Program
with automatic accident and
no motion detection showing
the GPS location where the incident occurred is provided
through Blackline GPS with
both cellular and satellite coverage. Call Steven Benzelock
at 1-877-869-7212 and mention you are part of the Hub
Strata program.
VEHICLE PURCHASES
Preferred Vehicle Pricing
is offered through the Birchwood Automotive Group. To
receive your preferred pricing
certificate, email: info@
stratabenefits.ca.
Take advantage of these additional savings for members
of Snoman.
—by Dennis Petaski, Director Member Benefits & Service Hub International Strata
Benefits Consulting
ASHERN
SNOWMOBILE CLUB
Continued from left
7) Snowmobile clubs’ areas
transited: 4
8) Ashern Snowmobile Club
members riding: Jay Ruchotski, Alana Stewart, Violet Lindell, Norman Rusaw, Kathy
Rusaw, Charlotte Lindell,
Eileen Lestrat, Dolly Patterson, Janice Anderson
9) Log Cabin Riders Club
members riding: Jason Nickel, Tamsyn Kiesman.
▼
▼
ASHERN SNOWMOBILE CLUB
Tamsyn headed for home at 9:45 a.m. Jay and
Continued from page 52
Alana left around 10 a.m., heading south to join
friends on a 1,000-kilometre odyssey (lucky
took off again after about an hour. We made a
ducks!). And the rest headed back home at 10:30
quick stop to check out the cozy Roy Lake Cabin
a.m. The temperature was ridiculously warm (-8
outside Fisher Branch and then hit the trail.
C) with hard winds and blowing snow. The
There are some spectacularly beautiful trails on
Hecla Island trail was postcard perfect while the
the way to the Perogie Palace. Gorgeous everLake Winnipeg crossing was pretty much a
greens, birch trees, winding well-marked trails
whiteout with really tough riding conditions to
and tons of snow made the miles fly by; it was
Riverton.
simply beautiful. We met only two people on the
We fuelled up the machines in Riverton and
trail to the Perogie Palace.
lined out for the Perogie Palace. The snow quit,
Perogie Palace (a.k.a. Rosenberg’s) had five
the skies cleared, and we made good time
machines already parked there and smoke comthrough the fields. We took a short break when
ing out of the chimney. A couple of the guys
we hit the bush and then stopped for refreshleaving (heading west) had just come from Hecla
ments at the Perogie Palace. We stopped again at
and updated us on trail conditions. We left
the Roy Lake Cabin and then stopped at the FishRosenberg’s over more well-groomed, pretty
er Branch Hotel for a late lunch on the way
trails through the forest and bush.
home. Blue skies and sunshine made it an easy
We finally swung south towards Riverton and
and fun ride heading west.
hit huge wide-open fields of fresh, chewed up
An hour later, we visited
snow. It was like riding a boat on rocking white
with some of the Fisher
waves. We refuelled our maBranch club members at the
chines and ourselves (at
Fisher Branch Cabin and
Riverton Motor Inn) and
then hit the trail for our final
then took off south out of
push home. We arrived
Riverton to actually go
home at 6:30 p.m., tired
north to Hecla.
and happy and swearing
The half-hour ride across
we’d do it again in a
frozen Lake Winnipeg was
minute.
uneventful. We took a short
The groomed trails were
break at the warm-up cabin
easy to ride with excellent
on the south end of Hecla
signage. All of the warmIsland and then hit the oneup cabins were neat as a
way trails to the resort,
pin, and most were toasty
which were a joy to ride.
warm with cozy fires and
Birch trees, snow-covered
assemble on the
s
er
mb
me
ub
Cl
e
Ashern Snowmobil Island, Manitoba.
smoke coming out of the
pines and spruce, and no
south end of Hecla
chimneys. With all this
snow machines in sight but
snow, the roughest trails were the ones from the
ours! It was around 5 p.m.
warm-up cabins to the outhouses.
when we checked into the five-star Lakeview
Many thanks to the Northern Trailblazers Club
Hecla Resort.
(Fisher Branch area) and the Interlake Snow
Lakeview caters to snowmobilers, which
Trackers Club (Arborg, Riverton, Hecla) and
means huge rooms for $75 a night and 10 per
Hecla Provincial Park for keeping their trails and
cent off our food plus free snowshoes, crosscabins in such good shape. The bulk of our trip
country skis, swimming pools, water slides, minwas on Snoman trails, proving the $125 Snopass
eral spas, hot tubs, saunas, board games and
is quite the bargain for the winter. Our club uses
cards. There are bathtubs that you could park a
the long weekend in February (Louis Riel Day)
Ski-Doo in! After a seven-hour day pounding the
for an annual club excursion. Thanks to all for
trails, it was a pretty deluxe place to hang our
making this year’s trip a great success!
helmets for a couple of nights.
On Sunday, Norm and Kathy leaped on their
WEEKEND STATISTICS:
sleds and cruised south to Gimli for the day, put1) Riders: 11
ting on another 125 miles in the process. Jason
2) Casualties (riders and snow machines): 0
and Tamsyn fired up their Ski-Doos and toured
3) Snow machines: 10
around Hecla Island while the rest of us laid low
i) Arctic Cat: 3
and enjoyed Lakeview’s amenities. The dining
ii) Polaris: 4
room served seriously good grub all day. We put
iii) Ski-Doo: 2
out so many feel-good vibes that Irma Patterson
iv) Yamaha: 1
and Harold Lutz drove over from Ashern to join
4) Wildlife: 1 (great gray owl)
us for dinner and to overnight in the hotel as
5) Miles: 250
well.
6) Cabins visited: 4
Monday morning came way too fast. Jason and
Continued on sidebar
Remember...
Don’t Drink
and
Ride!
www.snoman.mb.ca
A tale of two sledders
>> CLUB
NEWS
A TALE OF TWO SLEDDERS
Continued from left
▼
BY GARRETT GENEST
finally decides to call 911.
Two hours later Ron is found on the trail; he
has suffered a fatal heart attack. Unfortunately,
the satellite beacon he and his family relied on
was unable to transmit the emergency because it
had accidentally fallen face-down.
GREG’S STORY
Greg decides to go out riding on a beautiful
January day. In addition to the standard equipment, he places a magnetically mounted satellite
base station on the back of his sled and puts on a
personal monitoring device in his pocket. During
the ride, one of his sled’s skis gets snagged and
he is thrown from the sled. His leg is broken in
two places. Greg is still conscious but in extreme
pain. Automatically, a beeping sound comes
from his monitoring device. The device has detected the impact of his fall. After a moment, the
beeping speeds up. Greg knows this sound means
that the alert has been automatically sent on to a
monitoring centre via satellite uplink and that
someone has been made aware he is in trouble.
Greg is confident that help is on its way.
Fifteen minutes later, a response team arrives to
pick up Greg and take him to the closest hospital
where his leg is re-set and he is given a cast. His
family arrives at the hospital 20 minutes later,
thankful that he was found in time.
Continued on sidebar
4th Annual Snoman Congress
Awards Banquet & Dinner
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Cocktails 5:30 pm • Dinner 6:00 p.m.
Canad Inns Destination Centre Club Regent Casino Hotel
1415 Regent Avenue West, Winnipeg, MB
For registration form, go to www.snoman.mb.ca
Registration and payment due by 12 p.m., Friday, October 17, 2014
Payment must accompany registration to be valid
Call 204.940.SLED (7533) for more information
▼
Safety and how we manage it are important
when snowmobiling. The stories of Ron and
Greg below show the difference these safety decisions can make.
RON’S STORY
Ron has been going on a specific trail for almost seven years now and prefers this trail because very few snowmobilers know about the
route. Some days, Ron can sled for an entire afternoon without seeing anyone.
One day, after a fresh snowfall, Ron hits the
trail. It’s sunny out and quiet except for the hum
of the engine in his sled. Halfway down the trail,
Ron stops to take a sip of coffee when he feels
tightness and a sharp pain in his chest. He fumbles for the safety device he purchased, a satellite
beacon device. When he finally manages to reach
it, he tries to press the panic button but his gloves
prevent it from working. He whips off the gloves
but is losing consciousness. He manages to press
the panic button just an instant before it slips
from his hand as he falls unconscious. The device ends up falling face-down into the snow.
Two hours later, Ron’s wife notices that he is
running late for dinner. She tries to call him on
his cellphone, but there is no answer. She is beginning to get worried as she knows Ron is aware
of her high anxiety and as such he has always
made it a point to never be late. An hour later she
LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT—
THE DIFFERENCE?
While both Ron and Greg
went onto the trails with GPS
safety equipment designed to
help in the event of an emergency, there was a key difference between the two that
resulted in the survival or
death of the rider.
Ron, unlike Greg, did not
make use of technology that
automatically identifies an
emergency and notifies responders. Ron made use of a
technology that requires the
driver to physically request
aid using a device that only
transmits data if the device is
oriented in the correct manner.
On the other hand, Greg made
use of newer technologies that
can automatically detect emergencies such as an impact or
no movement and automatically transmit the information
to recipients. This is independent of the rider’s physical orientation or capabilities.
The device used by Greg is
developed by a Canadian
company, Blackline GPS.
This device is offered as a
member benefit for members
of Snoman, through Snoman’s
affiliation with Hub International Strata Benefits Consulting. For preferred pricing,
contact Steven Benzelock at
1-877-869-7212 extension 308
or by email at sbenzelock@
blacklinegps.com.
Garrett Genest is the content
director at Blackline GPS and
has been writing about safety
and technology topics for almost three years. He has previously been published in
Occupational Health & Safety
Magazine (USA), Advisor
Magazine, and Health & Safety International Magazine, as
well as on Safety and Health
Practitioner Online.
Don’t Drink & Ride!
FALL 2014 » SnoRiderswest.com 55
www.snoman.mb.ca
Coast to Coast
by Dennis Burns
ISC and Excellence Award winners
The International Snowmobile Congress was
Outstanding
Snowmobile
Dealership:
hosted this past June in Keystone, Colorado. At
Kelowna Yamaha & Marine, Terry and Laura
9,300 feet, the resort was beautiful, though it was
Poirier, Kelowna, B.C.
a challenge to acclimatize to the elevation. But
Outstanding Snow-Related Company: Pinemore than one tall snowland Co-op of Nipawin,
mobile tale was shared by
Saskatchewan
all and even some we can
Outstanding Promorepeat!
tion and Development
A fun time was had by
Group: The Golden Triall with lots of business
angle Committee from
completed by volunteers
Alberta
and snowmobilers from
Outstanding Snowmoaround the world. The
bile Club: Club VoyCCSO is again very excitageur de Hearst, from
ed to announce our naHearst, Ontario
CCSO president from PEI Dale Hickox (L) thanks Prime
tional award winners from
Outstanding SnowmoMinister Stephen Harper for a very welcome $10 million in trail improvement funds.
nominations that came in
bile
Family:
The
from across Canada.
Wyborn Family—Albert,
To all nominated, on behalf of all snowmobilShirley, Kevin, Darcy, Tracy, Jessica and Miraners, the CCSO extends a big thank you for your
da—from Brandon, Manitoba
commitment and dedication to make the trails so
Outstanding Snowmobiler: Alphee LeBlanc
magically appear each and every year.
from the Moncton-St. Antoine Snowmobile Club
The following are the 2014 CCSO Excellence
in New Brunswick
Award winners of the year. Congratulations to all
Outstanding Youth: Jesse Guenther, Nopimfor your well-deserved awards.
ing Sno-Mads, Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba.
The CCSO would like to thank our
sponsors for the 2014/2015 season ..
Please support businesses that support the CCSO—the national
voice of organized snowmobiling!
Dennis Burns
Clarity
Conferencing Inc.
56 SnoRiderswest.com » FALL 2014
It’s almost time to
play in the snow
We’ve already had snow in
many parts of Alberta and
B.C. As we think about shovelling our driveways and
preparing for winter, we are
also buffing and polishing our
snowmobiles.
Gearheads filled the aisles
again this year at the Sno
Barons Hay Days in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From the
swap meet to the centre court,
snowmobiles, motorcycles,
side-by-sides, large 4x4s and
anything motor-related was either raced, jumped or flipped.
New products were being
launched and pitched by the
vendors and the manufacturers
along with all of the after-market glitz that comes in all
colours and many product
lines. The rainy week was
rough for the setup crews but
the Sno Barons got someone
to deliver again this year as
the sun came out—cold mornings and very hot afternoons.
Both the water trucks and the
refreshment tents were very
busy.
Hay Days in Minnesota in
early September is known as
the first big snowmobile show
of the season and the official
start of winter. Congratulations to the Sno Barons Snowmobile Club of Minnesota
which has been hosting this
event since 1967.
Protect your sled
with SnowGuard
Cellutrak Canada is a worldwide leader in theft prevention
and GPS tracking. Cellutrak is
excited to offer SnowGuard
this fall; you can visit the local
participating Kubota Canada
Ltd. dealers to review, purchase and install the unit. For
more information, go to
www.cellutrak.ca.