Ready to Ride

Hope everyone has their sleds ready to start riding with the Club on New Years Day.  Also their power saws.  Lots of trees down on the trails.  Went for a ride on the Deka trails yesterday and spent lots of time cutting.  The "G trail" to the pub has not been cleared, so if you're riding there over the holidays, bring a chainsaw.  Too much work for a handsaw!!
The Windy Mountain Road has been graded so poor access to a lot of the trails. 
Despite a few setbacks, snow conditions are awesome. 

Trail Clearing

Some club members took advantage of the beautiful fall weather in October to do some improvements on our local trails.  They spent time signing the Sheridan Trail system, as well as clearing some sections of the trail to Windy Mountain.  I'm sure it will be a vast improvement since those willows were taking over one section of this trail.

The Prez working harder than a beaver!

Jim giving his brush cutter a work-out.

A big thank you to all the volunteers that work hard to make our trails safe and fun to ride :)

"Meet and Greet" and Facebook Page

Hope everyone is doing a "snow dance" for the upcoming riding season!

Our next meeting will be our "Meet and Greet" to welcome new members and hopefully for "old members" to register their membership for the upcoming season.

Meeting to be held at Wildman's meeting room (downstairs) - Nov. 13th - 6 pm
Dinner at Wildman's Restaurant - 7 pm

Mark the date on your calendar and plan to attend.  Invite any interested sledders or newbies to the sport.

We now have a Facebook page.  This will be used for reminders and general links and info that may be of interest to the club.  This is a public page so you do not need a Facebook profile to view it.
If you have a profile on Facebook, then "Like" our page and feel free to contribute, post photos or comment.
Here's the link:
www.Facebook.com/ilsnowmobileclub

Wind-Up Party

On Saturday, April 6th, our club met for the final meeting of the season, combined with our wind-up party.  The McCartney's welcomed us all to their household for a steak barbeque and potluck dinner. 

The cake says it all:

I mentioned in another post that when we are not sledding, we are socializing and eating.  Hey, it's always good to have some other skills!!
Marcel and Norm barbequed the steaks to juicy perfection.  And did I talk about the cream puffs.  Angie makes the most scrumptious "over the top" cream puffs.

  



Mmmm.....

We did a quick check on the score for the Canadian curling team

Anyone for seconds!!

After dinner, Marcel showed us some great videos of our outings.  We really are lucky to live in an area with so many amazing riding areas.

If you are reading this post and are thinking about joining the club or getting into riding next winter, don't hesitate.  What a fun way to relieve stress, get out and see our back country, meet some new people, get some exercise and possibly learn some new skills from other riders.

Thanks to everyone that volunteers countless hours to our club as officers, directors, social committee, trail work, leaders for our rides and of course, our trusty sweep.  Like any club, new energy is always welcome to keep the momentum going.  

Sledding Addiction

Even though our Club's last scheduled ride was on Sunday, a few of us just had to do a "wee bit" more riding.  We headed back to Big Timothy on a glorious blue bird Friday.  The only thing missing was the  powder.  But hey, you can't have everything.  After all, it is spring!
It was a bit icy going in but that improved as we got further in and the temperatures warmed.
One good thing about spring sledding is you can challenge the hills.

Here's a few pics of our day:

Sledding "addicts"

And yet another beautiful view

Jeanne tracking out the hills

Jim "hot dawging" it

Looks like lots of untouched snow down there

Miles of visibility from the peak

View of Mica Peak and area (where we were on Sunday)

Checking out the view over the edge

For those who can't quit sledding, keep sending in those photos..

Mica Mountain

Our Club's last scheduled ride of the season was on Sunday.
Thanks to Greg for leading our small group on an awesome ride out to Mica Mountain.
Hard to believe that there are days when they can't even make it to the meadows and "gas rock".
It was "a piece of cake" on Sunday :)

What an absolutely all-around perfect day to end our riding season.

Pics taken by Marcel, Jeanne and Kathi

Greg leads the way

All the sleds make it up

Last one up is a rotten egg

Views from the top:

This is how to turn a sled into an airplane!

How come the last rider to leave the bottom is the first one up?
OR what happened to the other riders?

Endless playground meadow

Up, up and away

That's it for another season!!

More Photos

Photos at Wells taken by Jeanne.

I wonder how many "stucks" you're allowed before your husband quits riding with you!

Check out that snow load - there's an outhouse in there too.

Photos at Big Tim taken by Marcel and Kathi.

The sky is falling.

Michelle giving Kathi some riding tips and tricks....okay, maybe no tricks yet

Friday's Ride

I can't believe the Club's riding season is coming to an end....boohoo.
Here are some pics from our ride on Friday to a secret riding area.  Great day and still amazing snow conditions.
Click on photos to enlarge.
.

Total whiteout!

Waiting for the visibility to improve

Still lots of snow

Finally can see to ride again

The guys plotting their next challenge

Looking for a alternate shorter route 

This wouldn't have happened with an 800

Wells Pics

A couple more pics of our weekend at Wells submitted by Jeanne.

Check out all that open riding area

Miners cabin on the road back to Barkerville

Wells Weekend

This was our club's 4th annual weekend excursion to Wells.  As always, it was a weekend of delicious food, great hospitality, lots of laughs and two awesome sledding days.
We arrived on the afternoon of Fri. March 15th, a week later than normal, so we weren't sure what to expect for snow conditions.

Saturday, Harold from the Hubs Motel along with 2 other local riders led our group to the Proserpine areas.  Did I say we were worried about snow?  The snow was deep but also heavy and for the less aggressive riders, proved to be a real challenge.  It was snowing and the visibility was terrible so some of us opted to go back to the motel early in the afternoon.
The guys (and Jan) decided to seek more adventure.  They rode up to a different area and Jan was having fun carving and weaving through the snow when Harold announces, "now let's go and have some real fun".  Off they went for an afternoon of weaving through trees and gulleys, side hilling and challenging the deep powder.   Apparently the snow was over the front of their sleds.  Hats off to Jan for keeping up!!

Sunday, we awoke to a glorious blue bird day.  Harold was groaning about having to leave his work at the motel once again :) and was joined by RCMP Constables Jason and Rod as well as Rod's son.  They took us to the large area before the climb to Yanks Peak.  The snow conditions were awesome for everyone.  After we tracked that out, we climbed a short way to a second play area.  Some of the group went exploring and discovered another great area.  Apparently this new area was so huge, you could ride and play for miles.  Okay - so now we really have to go back next year!!

Throughout the weekend, there were some intimate moments with trees as well as close-up inspections of some deep holes but we all survived unscathed (well...maybe a few bruises and sore muscles).  What a fun weekend.

Dave and Cheryl from the Bears Paw always make sure we have to go on a diet when we get home.  Dianne from the Hubs Motel didn't get to ride with us but baked us her famous cookies as well as delicious pecan cinnamon buns.  Where else can you stay and get that kind of service!

The blog editor is guilty of having too much fun riding and not taking many pics, but here's a few photos of the weekend:

Saturday morning - getting ready to ride

What colour are those sleds?

A moments rest

The Prez entertaining us

Dinner at the Bears Paw

Other half of the table - Chris is practicing his french

Day 2 - Check out that blue sky

The trail into riding area

Harold giving us an overview of the "known" hazards

     

 

Harp Mtn - Clearwater

March 9th was a blue sky day and eight members of our club enjoyed an outing at Harp mountain. We enjoyed spectacular views, untouched meadows, some hill climbing and a bit of tree hugging. Kudos go to Dave and Gary from the Clearwater club for leading the ride!!

Dunn Peak

Father and son moment

Hill Climb Area

Lunch Time

North Barrier Lake

Stuck time

Thanks to Michelle for the ride details and awesome photos of the day.