sco january 2013 issue

SNOWMOBILE! Central Ontario January 2013

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LONG-LASTINGAIRBOOTS

Each year SCO recognizes theinnovations made by the snowmo-bile manufactures. SCO does high-light the most significant innova-tions, this year was tough, with

Arctic Cat and Yamahathat formed their in-novative partner-ship in buildingthe 120 SRX,this coopera-tion is sign ofthe times andwe will cer-tainly see moreOEM partner-ships in the fu-ture. And an ho-nourable mentionalso goes to Polariswith their new innovativelighter weight, QuickDrivethat replaces a chaincase and fea-tures less maintenance this too isgreat. But the final decision wasmade and the SCO InnovationAward goes to Ski-Doo. With theirnew Summit mountain sled, specif-ically the award goes to the newtMotion rear suspension. This in-

novative rear suspension along withall the other components makespower turns easier to achieve thanany other sled on the market. Whenriding the new Summit in the stand-ing position, with both feet on oneside of the running board, all therider needs to do is turn the skisand lean over. There is no pullingrequired, as you will find with othersleds. The tMotion rear suspensioncan make any Flat Lander lookgood when mountain riding. The“T” in the tMotion stands for twist,this rear skid flexes latterly in thetunnel making this sled easier toside hill. Comparing the new Summit to

other Mountain sledsWatching a newbie trying orlearning to do a power turn

for the first time is alwaysentertaining. Thefirst couple of tries,they will lift theone ski off thesnow, and thenthey try a bighandful andpull the sledtoo far andthey fall off thedirection theyare pulling, whilethe sled is often left

on its side. This prac-tice goes on and on. If

the new rider is persistent

they may have it figured out inhalf a day’s time, but it does takesome trial and error to get theirbalance just right. The new Summitwill take this learning curve to amuch quicker result and far moreenjoyable for the newbie rider.

The SCO Innovation Award

Ski-Doo’s tMotion the SCO Innovation Winner

Ski-Doo’s tMotion allows the riderto do power turns and mountain

riding with less effort

Ski-Doo’s tMotion, notice the balljoint at the bottom of the rear arm.This allows for the twist action from

side to side

Message From The Editor:

It’s That Time of Year Again, Let’sGo! Go! Go!

People often say to me that I have thebest job in the world; referring to allthe travel, sled testing and going toexotic places with lots of snow. But thisonly happens in the winter season, whichis so demanding on the snowmobilemagazine editor. The balance of theyear is organizing stories and securingads, doing the business side of the mediaworld. One of these trips is Sneak Peek.Every year in the middle of January, allsnowmobile editors gather together tocheck out all the new iron from all 4manufacturers. This year we all meet inMinneapolis on January 21st- 24th fora Sneak Peek at the 2014 models. Editorsare always busy gathering informationlike this throughout the winter season,in preparation for future stories for theirpublications.

But here is something out of the or-dinary, I have a different story to talkabout; I had an advertising client callme out of the blue, in the middle ofDecember. He asked me if I was inter-ested in going to the Yukon to follow astory. He immediately had my attentionand after a brief description of the trip,my answer was, “Yes!”

Yukon Bound

This ain’t no Gold Rush Tour; thiswas snowmobile trip of another kind.Bill Moffatt, CEO and product develop-ment manager of Phantom Snowmobileshad an idea for a snowmobile programfor Yukon’s youth. Moffatt wanted togo around meeting with the differentFirst Nation’s communities and make asales pitch for his youth program. Hissnowmobile that is half the size andhalf the price is a perfect fit for theyouth. He also has a rider training pro-gram that includes everything, fromrider training to maintenance to goalong with his sleds. His program iscalled; Come Ride with Us and his planhas a curriculum with real substance.His target audiences are children from

the ages of 7 to 14, and his program isa turn key program that includes every-thing, snowmobiles, parts and the com-plete snow gear, all the training and ithas a built in student incentives. He hadthis program put together in short orderand he is still developing this programtoday and I know you will be hearingmore about Moffatt’s program in thefuture.

The 3 Amigos and their TravelingRoad Show

Moffatt and I flew into Vancouverand then got on another flight north toWhitehorse Yukon, once we landed; wemet up with a gent named George Samp-son and some warm weather, a cool -25C, the norm at this time is -50C.Sampson flew in from Quebec and metus there, he is the owner and directorof the Pro Eastern Tour, he runs theice oval series that races in Ontario,Quebec and in the Eastern United States,and this is the same sanctioning bodythat promotes/organizes the races inEganville ON. February 22, 23, 24th.The 3 of us set out on a course fromWhitehorse and headed north to promotethis snowmobile package, called ComeRide with Us! In the past, Sampson hasworked in the Yukon for several yearsand he knows several people there. Samp-son had the connections and knew whoto talk too about this program. Westopped at a few towns/ first nation re-serves, along the way, to make sure thatour appointments for later in the weekwere still on. We made it to Mayo, asmall town that has a mixed populationof First Nations and White. It was herewe had our first presentation at theFirst Nation Community Center in Mayo.There were several advisers and coun-cilors from the First Nation of NachoNyak Dun that sat in on the presentation.It went well and the group was very in-terested in the program and wanted totake it to the next level. This FirstNation of Nacho Nyak Dun, in Englishmeans, First Nation of the Big RiverPeople its main population lives here inMayo. The languages are English andNorthern Tutchone, the originally spokenlanguage. This community of this FirstNation is self governed and many mem-bers are still very traditional, as theycontinue to live off the land and con-tinue to pursue their traditionallifestyles.

The next day we continued ourjourney to Dawson City, a thrivingtourist attraction in the summermonths, no so in winter. This is far

SNOWMOBILE! Central Ontario magazine is published three times a year and is mailed free ofcharge to permit holders of OFSC Districts 6, 7 & 11 who have completed the OFSC memberbenefits page of the permit application. We do allow members and clubs to opt out of receiving andpaying for this publication. Subscriptions are available at $10.95 per year, please send your requestto the address below or contact us by email. SNOWMOBILE! Central Ontario has an onlinecomponent available year round. Also, our contributing districts will be online in conjunction withthe magazine, another communication tool for our members and interested snowmobilers. Returnundelivered items to SNOWMOBILE! Central Ontario at the address listed below.

Notice: SCO can not be held responsible for the material that is sent in from its various sources. We trustthat the information is true and accurate. Always wear a helmet and the appropriate snowmobile gear. Weendorse the policies and safe practices as set by the OFSC (Ontario Federation Snowmobile Clubs).Reproduction of any material published in Snowmobile! Central Ontario magazine is strictly prohibitedwithout written permission of the publisher. Address changes should be sent to the address above. On the cover: The cover shot, by Bob Island, The Great Northern Riders on the west coast ofNewfoundland.

Home of the RAN and RAP Tours Knownfor TNT-Trails and Tourism in Central Ontario.ISSN 1925-1262

Editor and Publisher: Bob [email protected]

Advertising Director: Larry [email protected]

Contributors: OFSC Districts 6, 7 & 11

How To Contact Us:

Mail: Snowmobile! Central Ontario62 Hiawatha DrivePort Sydney ON P0B 1L0

Phone: 705-385-1964Fax: 705-385-4141Web: www.snowmobilecentralontario.com

OFSC District 6 Snow CountryDA Report Page 8Missing Link Page 8North Renfrew Page 8Bonn Trea Page 9OFSC District 7 MuskokaSno Bombers Page 13MLSTA Page 13Highland Rovers Page 13Tall Pines Page 13Happy Wanderers Page 14Snowcrest Page 16SMART Page 16OFSC District 11 NNTAAlmaguin Page 17West Nipissing Page 17S. Shore Restoule Page 17Argyle Riders Page 18Mattawa Page 18North Bay Page 18Near North Page 19ExtrasSCO Innovation Award Page 2Great Northern Ride Page 5Explorers’ Edge Page 10Central Region SAVEPage 12How To Page 19Faces and Places Page 21SCO Contest Page 22Race News Page 23

January 2013 SNOWMOBILE! Central Ontario


north as we traveled and I had noidea how far north we really were.Until I noticed the daylight, it wasshort and almost non existent. Thedaylight was only a few hours, butit was more like overcast as the suncreped along the horizon. I also no-ticed the satellite dishes mountedon the homes here, the first one Isaw looked broken, and I thoughtsomeone should fix this, until I no-ticed all the dishes were pointingdown at the horizon. These unitswere not broken; this was the correctdirection for a good signal. I talkedwith a mother of two children aboutthe sun light through the seasonsand she told me, “you get used tothe winter sun, but in the summerit’s really bad, I can’t get my kidsto bed, they think if the sun is up,they should be up. The problemhere is 24 hour sunlight. I usuallyput tin foil on the windows to getthem to sleep.”

The following day on this travel-ing road show was a stop at theLittle Salmon/Carmacks First Na-tion in the central Yukon. We weregreeted with open arms from thisFirst Nation community, as we wereinvited to join in on their ChristmasParty and dinner. After this com-

munity gathering we all went overto their Council Chambers. This iswhere we gave the presentation onthe, Come Ride with Us program,to the Chief and several of his coun-cil members. This presentation alsowent well and they too wanted totake it to the next level.

Moffatt is presently working ona package previously described forthe First Nation Communities ofMayo and Carmacks. The programalso includes a snowmobile ridingcompetition between these 2 com-munities. These young riders willbe dressed in the appropriate ridinggear sporting their First NationColours. Now doesn’t that soundlike fun?

There will be a follow up on thisstory and several stories in futureissues of Snowmobile Central On-tario, until then Ride and Enjoy!

Do You Know?Snowmobile! Central Ontario is produced,designed and printed in Muskoka. SCO isa strong promoter of local businesses. Wesupport our advertisers and bring the snow-mobiling community together as a family.

By Bob Island

The Great Northern Ride (GNR)continues to amaze and deliver greattimes and great fundraising year afteryear. This snowmobile and charity or-ganization seems to leave a lasting im-pression on people everywhere they gofrom coast to coast. The GNR charityrides has raised over a million dollarsfor handicapped children over the past10 years, they continue to raise morefunds for kids every year and at thesame time having a blast on the sledride. The GNR rider’s win-win philos-ophy has a captivating combination thatkeeps people involved year after year.Personally I have traveled with thisgroup for over 5 years and every timewe have tons of fun with this crowd.Last season, this group has decided totake the 12th Annual GNR to extremes,going east in Canada to the west coastof Newfoundland. In the past they havegone as far west as Cold Lake Alberta,back across Saskatchewan into Manitoba.They have traveled northern Ontario,up to Mosonee and back. This grouphas traveled extensively in and throughout Ontario and Quebec. And time aftertime this ride is successful, having theultimate snowmobile experience andraising tons of funds for handicappedkids. There is no question; the GNRdoes have lots of WOW factor!

Riding the Rock

Our first day of riding was on Mon-day and it was somewhat icy, but thesledding experience was still better thanexpected. Each group would head offinto different directions to accommodatethe 80 plus GN riders. The logistics ofhaving 80 riders together creates toomuch congestion, the GNR organizershad figured this one out long ago andthey break the crowd into smaller groupsand then they all meet up together laterin the evenings. There were 10 groups

of 8 riders each and they all had lots ofstories to tell. Our group went towardsthe world famous Gros Morne NationalPark. Traveling through the park wasinteresting and this can only be bysnowmobile in the winter.

Once we made it to the Gorge, thevisibility was bad, our guide said with asmile, “Dars a Gorge down der!” We allsmiled back; regardless, this was stillan interesting ride and the place to beriding in lots of snow. This area inNewfoundland is lined with fjords thatrun deep, that are hemmed by giantgranite walls. This land was carved byvolcanoes and tectonic upheaval that is20 times older than the Rockies, in oneword, awesome!

On the Tuesday morning we wokeup to another surprise, we were blessedby the snow gods once again, with an-other 6” of fresh snow. Our group wentback the staging area where are sledswere parked and we left to find the,Sink Hole. We had several groups ridingwith us that day, we also had two guidesthat were outstanding and showed usaround to the best spots. They evenfound a sheltered spot for our lunchstop.

Later that afternoon, on our back,we all stopped at the warm up shelteron the trail. These warm up sheltersare all over the island and are a welcomedsite on a cold day. We noticed somebirds that were watching us closely.

One rider decided to see if the GreyJay (Whisky Jack) would come to himfor a snack. A few minutes later everyonewas in on the action!)

The following day we left fromright from our hotel Marblewood Villagein Steady brook, this time with noguides. We had a small group and a fewof these riders in our group were onthese trails the day before and theywanted to go back and to show us whatthey had found. We rode the main trailsand went to a small village called HalfWay Point. This was our lunch andfuel stop, the scenery here was out-standing and something you would ex-pect from National Geographic. Afterlunch we headed off trail into the LewisHills and did some of our own exploringthat made for a great day.

Here is a comment I heard that day,at one stop, GN Rider Brad Lockhart,owner of Lockhart’s Odyssey (OntarioSki-Doo Dealer), “This is the best ridingI have ever done, and I’m coming back

next year and bringing my entire staffas a holiday bonus.”

Thursday we left from MarbleMountain again with a large group and

we had a guide with us. Our guide’sname was Rick Seaward, who specializedtaking riders into the Lewis Hills. Hewas prepared for everything, he tookus to a spot that had some steep hillsand the younger riders in our grouphad to play. This hill must have beenover 1000 feet and it was steep and theice was also a serious consideration.But Keith Saunders, the oldest rider inthe group, decided he was going to takea shot at this hill, using his Ski-DooGSX 1200 touring sled.

When we left this sheltered areaand went into the open part of theLewis Hills, this is where we found,wind, drifting snow and several riderswere getting stuck. Please keep in mindthat this is the end of March last yearand back in Ontario at this time, thesnow was long gone.


The 12th Annual GreatNorthern Ride on the Rock

Photo by Richard Kennedy

The Blow Me Down Mountains, this is a popular place to ride on the WestCoast of Newfoundland

Marblewood Village is where we allstayed, the staff here was

outstanding

The trucks arrived and we unloadedthe sleds, this an exciting timefilled with anticipation for the

weeks riding ahead

Tuesday’s riding group stoppedfor a lunch break

We were blessed with fresh snoweveryday all week, until the Friday whenthe sun came out for the first time andlit our last day with blue bird skies.The Great Northern riders were ecstatic.Everyone headed out for the day’s rideand everyone had lots of stories to telland photographs to share.

There isn’t anywhere else that canoffer such a great snowmobile experiencelike the one that is found in Newfound-land. So many of the riders would oftensay, “that’s the best day of sledding I’veever had!” this was a comment that wasoften heard over dinner every night.Western Newfoundland has a longerseason when compared to other placeson this continent. The elevation is low,so it is easy for anyone to handle, whichis not the case in the Rockies. Withoutstanding scenery Western New-foundland has the best all around packagegoing; with a mix of trail, back countryand mountain riding. This package is

hard to find anywhere in North Americaand paired with your extended seasonmakes; Western Newfoundland the bestkept snowmobiling secret in NorthAmerica.

The Great Northern Screech-In

On our last evening at Marble Moun-tain was one to remember, after dinnerthere was a brief meeting followed byour Screech-In. This traditional Newfiecelebration was d one by a couple ofyoung ladies. Denise and Dayna Dewling,they were twins. They were filled withenergy and handled the entire GNRcrowd like a couple of polished pros.The screech-in was a huge success thateveryone enjoyed. This event was fol-lowed with fireworks on the ski hill.

This display of fire on the hill was ap-propriate to end this trip of a lifetimewith several colourful Big Bangs! Theride home in the morning was reallyearly and the only direct flight out ofNewfoundland to Toronto. Ouch!

A Big Thank you goes out to DJCallahan of CSR, Donnie O’Keefe ofthe NLSF, all the Newfoundland guidesthat kept us steering in the right direc-tion, all the staff at Marble MountainResort and Marblewood Village Resort,Dayna and Denise Dewling for ourwarm screech-in ceremony and everyoneelse that made our trip one to remember.The western coast of Newfoundland isblessed with near perfect snowmobileconditions and this snowmobile paradiseis warmed up with all the people thatwe met. Thank you to all again and itwas all of you that made this trip of alife time!

Future of the Great NorthernRide

In a recent inter-view with Bob Cassie,the GNR founder,leader and spokesman,here is what he had to

say about our Ride on the Rock, “after12 years of the GNR and riding in dif-ferent destinations all over Canada, ifwe were ever to repeat a ride, New-foundland would be the place, an awe-some experience.” Further, talkingabout some of the logistics Cassie said,“There were several Nay Sayers withconcerns about this Newfoundland tripin the beginning and one of these con-cerns was there wasn’t anyway the GNRwould be able to raise enough charityfunds, in fact it was our best year yet,and we raised over $167,000 for kids onthis ride.” Cassie, excited as ever, wenton to explain the plans for this year’sGNR event, this year the GNR datesare from Feb 24th to Mar 2. This year’sride will be traveling throughout North-Eastern Quebec, best of luck guys andkeep up the Great Ride and the GreatWork!

For more information on the GNRcheck out their website atwww.greatnorthernride.com

One never grows tried of thescenery in the West Coast of

Newfoundland

This young as - you -feel manshows everyone that even a Tour-

ing Sled can be used in themountains

Riding in the Lewis Hills should beon every sled head’s bucket list


The 2012 GNR 80 + riders and support staff thatsurvived the Rock!

The Dewling Twins were able toScreech-In 80 riders and the GNR

support staff,all in the same evening

Support Your LOCAL Snowmobile ClubBUY WHERE YOU RIDE

TRAILPERMITS:


District 6 Update By Terry Vaudry, District AdministratorOur Snow Country clubs are busy

readying the trails for the 2012-2013season. There is never a shortage oftasks this time of year for a snowmobileclub, with groomer maintenance/repair,signage, stakes, brushing, trail buildingand rerouting, obtaining land-use per-mission, clubhouse maintenance, attend-ing club and district meetings, the listgoes on and on. The most importantresource a snowmobile club has is itsvolunteers. Organized snowmobilingwas built on the backs of dedicatedvolunteers from the beginning, and thiscontinues to be the most important re-source a snowmobile club can have. Itis amazing when you see firsthand whatis accomplished by volunteers at theclub & district level. If you think atrail permit is expensive, just imaginewhat our permits would cost if we hadto pay people to clear and brush trails,sign our trails, and operate the groomers.

Another very important group of vol-unteers are the landowners that allowuse of their land during the wintermonths. Simply put, there would be notrails without the generosity of locallandowners. When you see one alongthe trail, make sure to give a big waveand thanks. Many of our original vol-unteers are no longer able to contribute.It is important that a steady supply ofnew snowmobilers step up to the plateto fill these shoes. Getting involvedcan be a simple as going to a club meet-ing to see firsthand what goes on atyour club. A bit of time on your partcan greatly help the club. It’s also agreat opportunity to meet new people,make new friends and riding partners.Remember: If you enjoyed the ride -

thank a Volunteer. If you want tokeep riding- become a Volunteer! Forassistance getting in touch with yourlocal District 6 Club, please contact theSnow Country office at toll free 877-376-7669 fax 613-735-7646 or emailsnowcountryscsa.ca

North Renfrew SnowmobileAssociation: Trail UpdatesBy Karen Crain,Club Secretary

Our Club has been very active in theoff-season, with four projects completedon the TOP A-trail west of Deep River.These projects totalled about $80,000with the Club paying 10% and the On-tario Tourism Development InvestmentFund paying the balance. Our firstproject was the TOP A-trail reroute(9kms) - (14kms west from Deep River)The A-trail will now proceed downthe pipeline then proceed left back overto the existing A-trail near Heart Lake.Our project #2 was the TOP A-trailfrom Moore Lake (pipeline) to HarveyLake (6 kms to Club boundary withMissing Link). There was stone/rockremoval, widening, brushing & trailimprovements. Our project #3, theTOP A-trail (Deep River) improvedthe approach for the 2 large culvertsthat were installed last year, making itsafer for sledders & groomer operators.Our 4th project, was the TOP A-trail(west of Deep River) - Re-decking &handrails for the bridge at KennedyCreek. Thanks to all the volunteers

who made these projects possible. Allof our trail work was completed byearly December; however Mother Naturesent us a big storm on Dec 20/21. TheTOP A-trail was not too bad, but Clubtrails have lots of downed trees andhave several face slappers. Volunteershave been busy, but there is still a lot ofwork to be completed. Groomer startedpacking on Dec 22 and as of SaturdayDec 29th; the TOP A-trail became Open-Limited. Gas is not available this yearat the Rolphton’s Esso as it burneddown this past summer & has not yetbeen rebuilt. Gas is available in ChalkRiver, Deep River and Stonecliffe. Mapboards are located at intersections: TOPSA–South boundary, 131 & 136, 136 &132, 132 & 132A, TOPS A & 131, TOPSA & A101Q, TOPS A–North Boundary.Please visit our website at www.nrsa.caor Facebook for our local Club map,which you may wish to print for yourselfor other fellow snowmobiler friends arewelcome. For more info, please checkour website for more details www.nrsa.caThanks for your continuing support andhappy trails!

OFSC District 6 Snow Country40484 Hwy 41 Pembroke ON K8A 6W51 877-376-7669 / 613-735-8882

• Bonn-Trae S/C• Eganville Sno-Drifters• Griffith & Matawatchan Sno-Dusters• Haliburton County S/A

• Keetna S/C• Maple Leaf Snow Skimmers• Missing Link S/C• North Renfrew S/A•Opeongo Snow Birds

• Peterson Pathfinders• Timberline S/C• Whitewater Sno-Goers

OFSC District 6

Missing Link S/C:New This SeasonBy Marlene Gibson,Club Secretary

As some riders may know,the Esso station in Rolphtonsuffered a loss due to firethis past spring. As such,there is no longer fuel avail-able in Rolphton. The onlylocation to get fuel between Deep Riverand Mattawa this coming season isYates General Store in Stonecliffe.

We have a new staging area (not onthe map) now available, we are justwaiting for our sign to arrive, and the

new staging area is at the in-tersection of Pine Valley Roadand Hwy #17 in Stonecliffe.This staging area has spacefor approximately 10 - 12ve-

hicles and trailers. Watch for our “Snow-mobile Park and Ride Sign”


By Jeff Raisbeck,

Club Social Director

We may have snow and lots of it,but every club could use more volunteers.With record-breaking snowfalls in De-cember and a tight volunteer base todraw from, the Bonn Trae SnowmobileClub found themselves in a mad dashto find the time and the groomers tostay ahead of the snow. A good problemone might say, but simply put ... weneed more help. A lot of work goesinto maintaining snowmobile trails asthey have to meet the Ontario Federationof Snowmobile Club (OFSC) standards.With the first monthly directors meetingstarting in September, the work begins.Our devout volunteers secure land fromlandowners for the season, build thetrails to OFSC specs, sell sponsorshipsignage, put up signage, clear the trailsof brush, then comes permit sales andfundraising activities. Once the snowarrives countless hours of trail groom-ing and trail reporting begins. Afterthe sledding season, volunteers removethe signage and staking that was placedat the beginning of the season. Ac-knowledgment and thank you cards aredistributed to our committed landowners

and the club treasurer cleans up thebooks for another year. To close offthe season, volunteers look forward tothe club appreciation spring dinner, theperfect opportunity to yet again re-hash stories of the trails, weather con-ditions and discussions of next year’simprovements. It may seem like a lotof work and you may ask yourself“why would I sign up for this”? Well,first of all you can participate as muchor as little as you can commit, you canalso select those activities that best suityour interests. Not only are you con-tributing to one of your favourite winterpastimes, you are involving yourselfwith a group of sledders that are pas-sionate about the same issues as youare and collectively you can make change.The gratification knowing you made adifference in providing a safer and bettersnowmobile community is worth par-ticipating on its own. Please contactyour local club and see how you canhelp, meet new friends and have pridein your ride. Nobody can do everything,but everyone can do something.~Author Unknown

Bonn Trae S/C:Please Get Involved

By Terry Vaudry, District AdministratorA quick update on some trail changes

from last season.TOP A near Deep River has been•

rerouted onto more TransCanadapipeline cor ridor. The old section oftrail is now #131TOP A/B around the Timberline•

Clubhouse outside Pembroke has beenemergency rerouted around a landownerlockout.TOP A east of Cobden hasbeen rerouted slightly to avoid a swampyarea.#107 services access to Renfrew is•

now open.-#106 is now open whichbypasses the Village of Douglas.-E102between Eganville and Griffith has beenrerouted to the east of Breens Store atFoymount Road.E101 between Griffith and Denbigh•

has re-opened.TOP B near Round Laketrail improvements are complete, arough section of trail has been repaired

and the trail has been moved off theroad along Gunns Road.B102 at Wilno has been rerouted•

around a landowner lockout.#175 between Madawaska & Lake•

St Peter trail improvements are completewhich should allow an earlier opening.#168 south of Combermere has re-•

opened.Enjoy the Ride!

Snow Country! TrailsUp Date:

This gentleman points out thatthis machine is maintained andoperated by club volunteers.


Here is an idea that is long overdue,a touring loop in Districts, 7, 10 and11. Snowmobiling in an area that isoften forgot about, but this is a sectionof trail that will satisfy all snowmobilers,even the avid snowmobiler. SCO (Snow-mobile Central Ontario) has workedhard to bring you a new organic regionalloop in the RTO 12 region. This sametourism regional office is also knownas Explorers’ Edge, this is how we cameup with the name, Explorers’ EdgeLoop.

This tour offers prizes for those in-terested in this suggested ride this sea-son, for those who are interested seethe details below.

What is Explorers’ Edge

In 2009 the Ontario Ministry ofTourism, Culture and Sport establishedthirteen regional tourism organizations(RTO) to promote tourism in theprovince. Included in the mix is RTO12, also known as in the marketplace asExplorers’ Edge (EE). With the mandateof promoting tourism in AlgonquinPark, the Almaguin Highlands, Muskoka,Parry Sound and Loring-Restoule. EEworks hard to bring visitors to the

region in the shoulder seasons, includingwinter. With Districts 7, 10 and 11found within its borders, they welcomedan opportunity to speak to SnowmobileCentral Ontario about the riding here.“Here in our region you’ll find the verypopular Round Algonquin Park (RAP)Ride,” said James Murphy, ExecutiveDirector of EE. “But you’ll also findthousands of kilometres of OFSC trailsthat run through three Districts. Avidriders will probably discover that anactual loop around the entire region ispossible, with shorter day trip optionsavailable. Someone who knows theregion will be able to travel that route,and explore the many fine dining, at-tractions and accommodations alongthe way.” We here at SCO couldn’tagree more that an organic regional

loop exists, and we set out to prove it.In consultation with avid riders acrossthe region, including Al Dare of WilsonLake Resort in Port Loring (who isalso a founding board director ofRTO12), and Bill Park, owner ofRosseau Road Power Sports & MarineLtd. and president of the South SeguinSnowmobile Club, we mapped out OFSCtrails to help us define “Explorers’ EdgeLoop” that runs the perimeter of theregion.

Explorers’ Edge Loop

In preparation for this ride, youshould consider obtaining OFSC mapsfor Districts 7, 10 and 11; this will giveyou a good overview layout, and helpyou interpret the written directionsthat follow below. We are also suggestingthat riders use the OFSC TOP trailsbecause of the many services that areavailable on this route, but snowmobilerscan choose their own routes

There are many places to stage forthose interested in the EE Loop ride;throughout Muskoka, Parry Sound,North Bay, and all around the region.

Let’s get started, say we are startingoff in Port Sydney, this town is close to

Highway 11 and the TOP D. There arefuel stops, restaurants like MuskokaMidway Cafe and places to stay, likethe Pine Lodge Inn that are trail acces-sible. Heading out towards Baysville,south east on the D103B, this trail willtake you there. Baysville also has fueland restaurants. Continuing south onthe D103B, down to the TOP B, thentravel east to the D101B an d then northto the village of Dorset. This villagealso has fuel, motel and Zackary’s’Restaurant. Riders need to get off themain trail and take a short trail rideinto Dorset, just follow the signs. Backon the D101B and head north to Dwight,services are available in this village aswell, but one must take a short ride offthe main trail into town for these serv-ices. Continuing further north on the

A New Loop for Touring Snowmobilers

Here is the view from the groomer’sseat of the D103B Trail

Zachary’s Restaurant in Dorset


D1010B, travel to the next town ofKearney, via the D101B that runs intothe TOP D that leads towards Kearney.If you need fuel or services, it’s a shortride into town from the main trail. Car-rying on north and if you have timejust a short ride north from this town,on TOP D, there is a short trail off tothe east, the AL301, which takes youto, what the locals call the “Ice Caves”.This spot has been a destination formany sledders in the past, 1/2- 1 hourtrip off the main trail. The loop con-tinues north on TOP D all the way toPowassan. On this interesting route oftight and twisties there are services inSundridge and South River, but youneed to take secondary trails into thesetowns. The AL306 into Sundridge givesyou several options to many serviceslike the Caswell Resort, fuel on Hwy124 and Northridge Inn and Resort.Once you have made it to Powassan onTOP D, you need to head west on theD102C and then onto C110D towardsRestoule. Note: This loop does offerlots of services when compared to othertours, but please, do not pass a gasstation without filling up, please be pre-pared. Restoule has fuel, restaurantsand the Crow’s Nest Motel and Restau-rant. The next town on the loop is PortLoring, continue on the D102C to, south

west on C106 to Arnstein then west onthe C105D into Port Loring, this townhas fuel, restaurants, two resorts andthe Northland Motel. You can continueon the D102C down to the village ofArdbeg, where the Logger’s StationHouse has fuel and a restaurant. Onceyou are in Ardbeg double back for ashort distance, from Ardbeg on the604/ C104D and head west to the TOPC and then head south towards ParrySound on TOP C. Once you are in theParry Sound are there are tons of serv-ices, they even have a Tim Hortonsthat is not far from the trail.

There are plenty of places to stay

in the Parry Sound area, all of whichhave trail access. At the south end oftown use the 209 trail, you will passthrough the Log Cabin fine dining; the

trail goes through their parking lot.There are so many places here thereare too many to list. You may find thatyou pass the Quality Inn on the trail;this is the iconic Jolly Roger, which hasbeen the place to stay for sledders for along time. Carrying on, go south onthe TOP C, this trail for the most partparallels the 400 highway while headingtowards Bala. The TOP C goes throughthe Wahta Mohawk reserve and joinsup with the C101D, which takes youtowards Bala, there is a short hop intoBala if you need fuel or services, butcarry on in the same direction on theC101D towards Gravenhurst and hookup to the TOP D north on the otherside of town. This trail takes you toBracebridge, lots of services here onthe trail and then continuing northtakes you back to your starting point inPort Sydney.

A Loop for Everyone inOntario’s Favourite Travel

Destination

Explorer’s Edge Loop is a trail ridethat everyone can enjoy, from the sea-soned rider to the newbies out for theirfirst tour. Thanks to the many snow-mobile clubs along the way, this routeis well signed and easy to follow. Thereare also lots of services, restaurants,

and accommodations along the route,to help make your tour even more pleas-urable. This is not a race or rally; it’s atour for those looking for somethingdifferent. Snowmobilers must have avalid OFSC permit properly displayedon their sled.

Explorers’ Edge SnowmobileLoop Contest

To make your tour in the regioneven better, Snowmobile Central Ontarioreaders can enter to win one of ten$50 gas cards this winter courtesy ofExplorers’ Edge! To enter, and to learnmore about this great region, visitwww.explorersedge.ca/EEloop Andpost photos of your tour in the regionat facebook.com/explorersedge.

Hopefully all trails on your tour willlook like this!

Its okay to ask for directions whiledoing the EE Loop


In a recent interview with the OPP,SCO was able to get some interestingfacts on snowmobile accidents and theproblem areas that are still causingsnowmobiling fatalities here in Ontario.SCO sat down with Sergeant LarryButterfield of the OPP Central RegionSAVE Team. (Snowmobile, ATV, VesselEnforcement) The following is whathe had to say about this disturbing sit-uation.

SCO: What immediate history do snow-mobilers have with fatalites around theirsport?

Sgt. Larry: Last year there were 12fatal accidents here in Ontario, with 13people that lost their lives, one of whichwas a passenger.

SCO: What are the causes and where arethese accidents happening?

Sgt. Larry: Six of these accidentswere attributed to speeding and threewere loss of control. But these 13 fa-talities also were equally divided, halfon the lake and with the other half,there was alcohol involved. Only threeof these accidents happened in CentralRegion, while the balances of these fa-talites were in the North East regionof Ontario.

SCO: How have snowmobilers done withthis problem in the past?

Sgt. Larry: In the 2006/2007 seasonthere were 14 fatalities in Ontario. In2007/2008 there were 16, in 2008/2009there were 22 fatal collisions. In2010/2011 snow season there were 17fatalites, 5 of these were in CentralRegion. Out of these accidents, thecauses had the same pattern and hap-pened in the same type of places aslast year.

SCO: Looking at last year’s numbers, itlooks like we are headed in the right direc-tion.

Sgt. Larry:No, we’re not. Rememberlast year’s short season and this canexplain why there were so many acci-dents in the North; this simply has todo with available snow and the locationof the snow to ride on. Our northernoffice noticed a big increase in snow-mobile traffic last season.

SCO: Let’s talk about the speeding issue,both on the trails and on the lake.

Sgt. Larry: First off, there is no law

for speeding on the lake, even if thesnowmobile club has a designatedmarked trail with stakes on the lake.The speeds that the modern snowmobilecan reach are high and snowmobilersare hitting, ice huts, islands and iceridges (pressure cracks). There is nolaw against this speed, therefore thereis no enforcement, but snowmobilersshould drive within their limits andwhile night riding never out drive theirheadlights. These are significant prob-lems that continue to contribute to thehigh numbers of fatalities. The numberof fatalities on the trail is significantlylower; the 50 kph limit along with theenforcement has something to do withthis. There is no doubt that speed kills.

SCO:The other significant issue you men-tioned was impaired driving, what areyour thoughts on this?

Sgt. Larry:Yes, after looking at a 10year study on snowmobile fatalities, al-cohol is still a problem. Looking atthese numbers over the years, it is thesame thing year after year; the numberof fatalities is mirrored from year toyear, with both 50 % fatal accidents onthe lake and impaired driving addedinto the equation leads into a biggerproblem. Alcohol mixed with speeding,as they say, is a recipe for disaster!

SCO: So where do you see the future ofthese issues heading?

Sgt. Larry:The OPP believes in andwill continue to target social intelligence.The OPP will continue to target speed-ing on the trails with the use of radar.And we will continue to target drinkingand driving. Our SAVE Team officersare well informed and prepared for thisup coming season. Hopefully we cansee a decline in these numbers in thefuture.

SCO would like to thank SergeantLarry Butterfield of the OPP CentralRegion SAVE Team for this knowledgeand input into this SCO story and staytuned for our next issue of SCO. Thisis when Sgt. Larry talks about thenoise issue with snowmobiles in hisnext interview.

Central RegionSAVE Team Update


Will Rogers, who died in a 1935plane crash, was one of thegreatest political sages .

There are two theories to arguingwith a woman. Neither works.

OFSC District 7 MuskokaBox 987, 1 Robert Dollar Dr., Bracebridge ONP1L 1V2 1 800-328-7245 / 705-645-3123

• Algonquin S/C• Baxter S/C• Du-Ya-Wanna S/C• Happy Wanderers S/C

• Highland Rovers S/C• Hill & Gully Riders• MLSTA• Muskoka Sno-Bombers

• SMART S/C• Snowcrest Riders S/C• Tall Pines S/C

OFSC District 7

Muskoka Sno-Bombers:The Backbone ofSustainable TrailsBy Dustin Cleveland,

Club Secretary

The Township of Muskoka Lakesis unquestionably dominated by privatelyowned lands and as such the importanceof consent from private landowners forsnowmobilers to use their land cannotbe overstated. Landowners are withoutdebate the backbone of sustainablesnowmobile trails in Muskoka, and thisexample, to follow, is an absolute testi-mony to this. We recently lost permissionto access lands in the area of BaldwinRoad, resulting in a considerable sectionof Trans Ontario Provincial TOP con-nector C102D as we knew it, to be lost.Although an Alternate Trail has beenestablished through the use of already-existing trails, it does not refute thefact that the loss of one consentinglandowner can cause desolation for theClub and for trail users. The reasonsfor land use permission being revokedmay include any number of factors,and in this case, the property changedhands and unfortunately the buyer wasnot consenting. But for other cases asmall number of snowmobile trail users,probably within the number of fingersI can count on just one hand, haveabused the privilege of accessing privateproperty. For one example, leaving thegroomed portion of the trail and phys-ically vandalizing private property.These cases can and should be prevented.A snowmobile trail is a fragile entity,and takes time and effort to conduct.However just one act of disrespect can

leave the Club and all other snowmobiletrail users at a loss.

The Prescribed Snowmobile TrailLand Use Permission form, a legal doc-ument, clearly states the following inrelation to staying on the trail: “I, theowner/occupier of the premises dohereby give the undersigned namedlocal snowmobile club permission tolegally enter, establish, groom, maintain,and sign and use that potion of thepremises herein designated by me forthe exclusive purpose of allowing validpermitted and exempted snowmobilesand their riders to use said designatedpremises for snowmobiling”. This season,and for all the seasons to come, onbehalf of all landowners, club members,and permit holders, I ask you to respectthe trails and keep in mind what is in-volved in creating and maintaining thesetrails we all enjoy each season. Untilnext time, keep it between the corridormarkers!

Highland Rovers: UpdateBy Gary Irving,Club PresidentI am proud to say that the Highland

Rovers S.C. were the first in District7 to open a portion of our trail sys-tem, the TOP D from Kearney toBear Lake where we join up withDistrict 10. Chas Clark, our District7 Governor and I had mentioned inthe previous issue of Snowmobile!Central Ontario that we had receiveda grant from the OFSC to repair and

upgrade our section of the TOP D(Seguin Trail) and we had just com-pleted the upgrade before the snowhit the ground. This along with ourdedicated groomers made it possibleto provide riders with some earlyseason riding. I was out on December28, 2012, for my first ride and wassurprised to see the volume of sledsout already. We are all itching to getsome sled time after a long wait forwinter to arrive. Right now, there

This shows an old section of Secondary Trail 33, where land usepermission was revoked in 2006because of vandalism to privateproperty. Please stay on the

marked trails!

By Margaret Kenwright,SecretaryRide Around Lake Muskoka, this is

a Great Day Trip. Start from anywherearound Lake Muskoka and the trailswill bring you full circle, it’s easy! Noback-tracking and no getting lost.The second time, try it in reverse forfun – well ok, in forward gear, but inthe other direction. The route de-scribed in this story is in a clockwisedirection around Lake Muskoka.Choose the spot easiest for you to ac-cess and jump right onto the trail. Afavourite day ride for us is to start atC101D at Southwood Road. Travelingnorth, towards Bala, C101D coverswide open granite ridges and thencurves somewhat through hilly woods.Wooden bridges and some corduroyingtakes care of the creeks. A large trailmap is at the intersection of C101Dand C114 where we turn towardsBala. The TOP C114 is a picturesque,rolling trail created last year to helpreduce lake crossings, and extends toMuskoka Road 38. A short distanceto Hwy 169 and through town, thetrail continues on snow-based BalaFalls Road. Before the trail heads intothe woods again, we pass Bala Falls,where all the Muskoka lakes flow intothe Moon River, then Georgian Bay.Past the Cranberry Marsh, just northof Bala, we pick up C102D towardPort Carling. Both trails are tight

and have hilly turns in the woods andthe long, wide hills of the hydro right-of-way are really enjoyable and scenic.Crossing the locks in Port Carling,Lake Rosseau is on one side with theIndian River on the other. Every year,the Township of Muskoka Lakes storesand then installs the floating bridgenear the small locks. Leaving PortCarling when we cross Silver Lakeand trail C102D that continues acrossBrandy Lake, through Milford Baywith its farmlands and then on toBracebridge. These trails from BrandyLake through to Bracebridge are main-tained and groomed by theSnoBombers. Turning south onto TOPD trail, we enter the wonderfulPipeline toward Gravenhurst. If youhave never ridden it, the experienceis well worth the road travel inGravenhurst. Continuing on TOP Dtrail, we can pick up C101D againand continue home. Snowcrest Riderskeep the pipeline and C101D in greatshape even with lots of weekend traffic.There are several good restaurantsand fuel stops are in Bala, Glen Or-chard, Port Carling, Bracebridge andGravenhurst. Check out the MSR(Muskoka Snowmobile Region) TrailMap for locations. Call MSR at 705-645-3123 or 1-800-328-7245, or visitwww.msrsnowtrails.com for permitand trail map distributors.

Safe Sledding!

MLSTA: Ride Around LakeMuskoka, RALM

Tall Pines S/C: UpdateBy Gordon R.McBride,Club Director

Our groomers have been out topack the trails already and we nowawait a decent snow fall in order toproperly groom and officially openthe Tall Pines trail system. Trail workon trail #62 to Kennisis Lake andD101B past Maple Ridge Road, thatwas mentioned in the last issue havebeen completed. We hope our membersfind the changes beneficial particularlyon trail #62 which has always been a

challenge to groom due to the extremeterrain. Kawagama and Lake of Baysare unsafe for the most part whilesome small lakes are frozen, howeverthe ice remains thin. Cold weathershould firm these two lakes in thecoming weeks. As always check beforeyou venture out onto any ice. Traildetails and social events can be foundon our website www.tallpines.org.Check out our Poker Rally on theevents page, this a fun event and agreat cause raising funds for the camp'sdialysis facility as well as our club.


are a lot of trails open in the Province,which is certainly a good start to

what I hope is a long and snowy sledseason after. Happy Sledding to All!

By Dan McCormack,

Club Director

There is still not enough snow totruly get things properly underway on

our portion of the MSR trail system.There are lots of nasty rocks and “watercrossings” which need more attentionfrom Mother Nature before we can send

out the groomers for packing muchless actual grooming. Hopefully theheavens have opened and snow is onthe ground. That said there isn’t muchelse to report on our trail preparationwork other than the routine stuff isdone. It’s up to the snow gods to kickstart things. In the meantime, this articlewill continue last issue’s trend of fo-cusing on some sled history. This timelet’s highlight Ski-Doo and talk aboutJ. Armand Bombardier, here was a manwith an eye for making things work.He long wanted to produce a machinecapable of carrying a person over snow,in the heartland of Quebec where therewas a lot of snow. As early as 1949 hebuilt a machine with an engine whichhe designed, but was far too expensiveto produce. He sought out other suitablee n g i n e s ,but therewere waslittle toc h o o s efrom. Hesettled onthe Kohlers i n g l ec y l i n d e rengine andin 1959 theS k i -D ogwas introduced. Its’ simplicity was its’attraction. He used rubber drive sprock-ets turning an endless rubber belt. Itcaught on quickly and by 1963 over5000 machines had been produced. Bythen the name had been changed toSki-Doo - a name which became ab-

s o l u t e l ys y n o n y -mous withthe neww i n t e rsport. Nom a t t e rwhether youwere ridinga yellow ma-chine with ablack bellystripe orsome othermake, youwere Ski-Dooing. Mr.Bombardierdied in 1964and thec o m p a n ycontinued togrow, nowunder thecontrol ofother family

members. The $30,000 advertising budg-et in 1964 expanded to $5 million by1970. A dealer network of over 2,000got the product onto the snow. By 1970,the Rotax engines were the mainstaypower source, because Bombardierbought the Austrian company outrightto ensure continued supply. CompetitorMoto-Ski was bought out in 1971 toobtain additional production capacity.Numerous suppliers who produced seats,chrome plated parts; plastic mouldingsand winter clothing were also boughtout and amalgamated into the Ski-Dooorganization. In the early ‘70s, Ski-Dooowned 40% of the world snowmobilemarket and this was, at a time whenthere were about 150 competitors ratherthan just 3. In 1974 Ski-Doo producedits’ 1,000,000th snowmobile – a TNTand by 1994 the 2,000,000th machine,the Ski-Doo Summit. Quite impressiveif you consider that’s an average of57,000 + machines a year up to thattime. Ski-Doo’s success had drawn theattention of the huge Outboard MarineCorporation in the late ‘60s. They werelooking for a fast way into the snow-mobile market to compliment theirJohnson and Evinrude outboard line.It’s a little ironic that Ski-Doo held offOMC giant back then and ultimatelybought the remnants of OMC Companyout in 2001. Ski-Doo even took a run atPolaris Industries in 1980, but theywere unsuccessful due to U.S anti-trustlaws. Over the years, many of us haveowned a variety of Ski-Doo productsbearing famous model names such asElan, TNT, Blizzard, Nordic and ofcourse the Olympique. Those nameswere iconic in their time - so much so,that Canada Post issued a commemora-tive stamp marking the retirement ofthe Olympique name in 1979. Yellowhas largely been the trademark for Ski-Doo, although several models over theyears have had other colour schemes.The first departure from yellow wasprobably the 1972 Nordic which wasmostly black. Like all of the machinesof the early snowmobile era, Ski-Doohad their strengths and weaknesses.Back then, my old snowmobile suitswhere jammed with spark plugs forthose extra long 5 mile rides, whenplug fouling put me onto the side ofthe trail or the end of a tow rope. Evenso, I look back to those days with somefondness of those machines as they hadunmistakable character to go along withthe colourful characters that drove them.Congratulations to Ski-Doo for bringingthe great sport of snowmobiling to themasses.


The rally is followed by a dinner,awards and music provided by LouMoore once again. Lou is a local cot-

tager on Raven Lake and if youhaven't heard him perform you reallyshould attend.

Happy Wanderers S/C: Snap-Shot of Ski-Doo History

Snowcrest Riders S/C:AccomplishmentsBy Bob Clarke,Club President

As I am entering the last year(6th) of my third term as Presidentof Snowcrest Riders SnowmobileClub, I am taking a moment to lookback at the accomplishments of thisorganization over the last five years.

We have replaced three of ourfour club sleds , refurbished two sledgroomers and purchased new one.We upgraded and purchased all newsafety equipment, and upgradedmuch of our smaller equipment suchas chainsaws, ice drills and brushingequipment. We built a 240 foot baileybridge to reopen and improve 30kmsof Top Trail, with funding fromthe Provincial and Federal Govern-ments. We replaced the Scot-Trac Groomer with a newer Piston Bully100 and this past June received a2012 New Holland Tractor with anew drag. Snowcrest Riders havehosted Chamber of Commerce afterhours meetings and have partneredwith the Town of Gravenhurst withthe first ever Town of GravenhurstSnowmobile Tourism Task Force.Yours truly was appointed Chair ofthis municipal task force whose man-date was “to work collaborativelyto examine ways to maximize the

snowmobile industry offerings inGravenhurst, offering a diverserange of activities and positioningGravenhurst as a four season tourismdestination”. We have presented a 7page business plan to the Town ofGravenhurst that deals with areasthat require improvement. SnowcrestRiders began an annual fundraisinggolf tournament 3 years ago, andhave added a snowmobile safari toour annual Pancake Brunch. We haveraised approximately $35,000.00 forcharity and continue to support com-munity events. All of these accom-plishments are a true testament ofthe dedication, efforts, and achieve-ments of our Admin staff, groomeroperators, landowners, businessesthat support us, our club volunteers,and to everyone who purchases atrail permit from Snowcrest Riders.All of the above, working togethermakes our communities strongerand sustainable in the winter monthswhile providing a family recreation.Some of our landowners are alsolocal business people and understandhow working together has a positiveimpact on our communities. Thankyou all and a job well done.

SMART: Thanks VolunteersBy Lisa Martin,Club TreasurerAs I sit and write this I am watch-

ing the snow fall and the weathernetwork is forecasting colder weath-er for the week ahead. Hopefullywe can get out and start packingour trails soon to prepare them forthe groomer. Last fall a group ofclub volunteers got together, to re-

place the railings and decking onthe Copp Bay Bridge. Thanks toDon Martin, Ron Martin, TomWideman, Michael Wideman, RandyMartin, Jack Martin, Kaylee Martin,Bruce Martin, Cody Dietrich, JimFouracre, Brent Holden and MichaelHolden. The work was done in thepouring rain and shows the dedi-cation of the volunteers to get thejob done. On December 22nd an-other group of volunteers got to-gether to put in the floating bridge.This bridge connects the SMARTclub and the Baxter club on trail15 across the Black River. Ron Mar-tin, Don Martin and Greg Rapsonhad tried to place it in the week

before, but the water was too lowand they needed more manpower. Iwould like to thank Ron, Don, Greg,Jeff Rapson, John Swailes, BobMcKellar, Bud Knowles, Andy Dun-lop, Pat Coulis and Wendell Macllel-lan. With that extra manpower anda couple of extra inches of waterthe bridge was in place in 1 hour.Without volunteers these jobs, andmany others, would not get done.Having these jobs done is essentialto being able to open our trailssafely. We are all excited about get-ting on the trails. It is importantto remember, and this cannot besaid enough, that as a rider youare the one responsible for howand where you ride. Use the re-sources available to you to help youmake smart and safe decisions sothat your experience is enjoyableand safe. Use the OFSC and localclubs’ trail status reports. Ride onlyon OFSC designated trails and stayon those trails. Know the weatherand how it can impact trail condi-tions let someone know where youare going and when you plan onreturning. Keep to the posted speedlimits on the trails and always rideon the right side. Do not drink andride. Let’s make this a fatality andinjury free riding season. Visit usat www.smartsnowmobile.ca for cluband trail updates. RIDE SAFE.RIDE SOBER. RIDE SMART.

Algonquin S/C:New Director

Meet Algonquin Snowmobile Club’snew director, Terry Wilson. He ischanneling his Viking heritage,

looks after fundraising for the cluband he specializes in an offer you

can’t refuse!


By Chas ClarkDistrict GovernorLast issue I told you that a

$178,000 bid had been approved bythe OFSC’s External Funding Task-

force for the repair of TOP D be-tween Sprucedale and RochesterLake Road near Kearney. A typicalsection was the infamous waterholes

just before Highway 11. This iswhere the groomer constantly brokethrough the ice giving the snow-mobiler a wet and rough ride. The work was completed on budg-

et and on timescale with the addedbonus that we could now declare

this an early open trail. Indeed, thetrail was groomed on Boxing Dayand opened limited availability onDecember 27th, the first trail openin District 7. This was not all plainsailing, as it was discovered thatthe wood decking on one of bridges,on this section of TOP D, was com-pletely rotten and this was repairedby the local club with club funds.What was great is the local ATVclub came and helped out with therepair as they use this trail duringthe non- winter months. Perhaps,and this is just a thought, that thismay be the future where the localsnowmobile and ATV clubs combineinto one club, to look after and fundthe trails that they both usethroughout the year.I was trail patrolling this stretch

of trail before the New Year and Iwas stopped by a sledder whowished me a Happy New Year! Healso thanked me and the volunteersfor all the hard work we put in tomake the trail so good for the riders.That really made me feel that ourefforts are appreciated, so next timeyou see a club volunteer or groomeron the trail, stop and thank themand give them the warm feelingthat they are appreciated andvalued.

OFSC and their Frameworkfor Change (FFC)

You will all have heard of theFramework for Change (FFC) thatwas presented by our President atthe AGM at Blue Mountain. There

have been several bulletins on thissubject that have come out sincelast September. This coming week-end is the first meeting by the Gov-ernors to review the initial researchand modelling that has been carriedout by the OFSC staff on a proposalthat could radically change the faceof organized snowmobiling in On-tario. Following my District Boardmeeting where FFC was debated atlength, I know that there are manyquestions that need to be answered,so keep your eye out for the nextOFSC bulletin on this topic. Havea great season on the trails, be safeand enjoy the winter. Let it snow!

District 7:TOP D Improvements

Before

Repaired

After

After

Before

During


Look closely at this rearsuspension, there is an ice

scracher mounted on this rail.SCO is courrently testing

several ice scratchers that areon the market. So stay tunedfor our next issue of SCO for

these results

OFSC District 11 Near North Trail AssocuationBox 237 160 Pinewood Park Dr. North Bay ONP1B 8H2 866-338-6682 / 705-495-4333

• Almaguin District S/C• Argyle Ryders S/C• Bonfield S/C• French River Snow Devils• French River Snow Voyageurs

• Mattawa & Area S/C• Near North Snowdrifters• Nipissing Veuve River S/C• North Bay S/C• South Shore / Restoule S/C

• Temagami Trails / NNTA S/C• West Nipissing S/C

OFSC District 11

Almaguin Distict S/C:Touring the Bonfield and North Bay TrailsBy Blair Ballantyne,ADSC Director

Well we had a white Xmas andwe are all anxiously waiting for thefirst ride when the trails open up.This reminds me of one of our lastrides near the end of last season.Two of our Sled Head friends, mywife and I took a three day saddlebag

trip up to the North Bay. We coveredthe area on Feb.28th to Mar.1st. Wehad just received a good dump offresh snow, the conditions were great,so we headed north on freshlygroomed ADSC trails picking up TOPD north to C105D that brought intoSouth River for fuel. We also staidfor lunch at Antonio's at this stop.We had to share the trail with severaldog sled teams out for a run, butthey seemed to appreciate us slowingright down and letting them pass.There is a fair bit of road runningon the TOP D trail in both the TroutCreek and Powassan areas, but dueto the fresh snow this was not a prob-lem. We took A102D across wellmarked Nosbonsing Lake to the Atrail to BF201 to our hosts at TheDinner Bell Motel & Restaurant. Thisa great place to stay, and eat or can

be used as staging. As they were fullat the time, we rode over to theiroverflow B&B on the lake where wewere treated, like Royalty. Day 2 werode the NB 300 series trails in and

around the Mattawa River ProvincialPark area. Every trail was groomedto perfection and their trail NB308that takes you north to A102Q hasgot to be one the best trails we've

ever ridden, even rivaling the supersnow highways in the Cochrane area.What a blast! We took A102Q to ADsouth to our lunch and fuel stop atThe Portage Restaurant. After anothergreat meal we headed down A2 andback to Bonfield to our B&B home-away-from-home. Day 3 we took theTOP A trail south to A101D andover to the TOP D south and thenswung back home. Our thanks go outto the Bonfield and North Bay clubsfor a great ride. When they get thesnow, they sure put down an amazingproduct! If you haven't had the chanceto ride in this area yet, you owe it toyourself to check this area out. Hopeeveryone had a great holiday andwe'll see you on the trails. Ride Safe,Happy Trails!

West Nipissing S/C:UpdateBy Rheal Rivet,District Rep

We would like to take this oppor-tunity to wish you all a prosperous andhealthy New Year 2013. Our secondwish is to get an abundance of snow sothat snowmobilers can enjoy theirfavourite sport.We are present-ly writing thisarticle in Ot-tawa as we havebeen blessedwith our firstgrand-daughterand are here tolend a hand. Itis unfortunatethat WestNipissing doesnot have all thesnow that our Nation’s Capital has re-ceived to date; it sure has plenty of itand have no place to put it. From ourconversations with the volunteers athome, we still need another 12 cen-timetres of snow and more cold weatherto freeze the creeks and ponds before

we can really start the 2013 snowmo-biling season. Even though the snow-mobile trails in West Nipissing are notofficially open, our relentless volunteersare still working hard to make sure thetrails are in top shape. For example,planks have been replaced on theTemagami River Bridge and improve-

m e n t swere madeusing abulldozerto D-trailb e twe enTo m i k oLake andA - T r a i lback inMay. Hopeto seeeveryone

out for our Poker Run, (see the eventspage) this activity has been held forthe past 35 years and is always a sold-out event year after year. Please enjoythis upcoming snowmobiling season,we encourage you ride safely and enjoyour trails.

South Shore RestouleS/C: Share Your TripsBy Helen Vaillancourt,Club Treasurer

Since 1965, my husband and I haveput thousands and thousands of kilo-meters on our sleds travelling over On-tario and Quebec. Snowmobiling outof North Bay, District 11 offers manyopportunities for day trips to Mattawa,Temagami, Restoule, Port Loring, Stur-geon Falls and even Temiskaming Que-bec (BTW, A Quebec trail pass notneeded here as long as you don’t goany further than the first restaurant)Longer trips involving overnights toNew Liskeard, Cochrane, Timmins,Smooth Rock Falls and Hearst wereeasily done. Going west from NorthBay to Sudbury, Espanola and SaultSte Marie are well mapped out. Anothergreat trip 5 day trip has been west toNairin Centre, Espanola and then northto Chapleau, Timmins, Cochrane, Kirk-land Lake and back home. Quebec Tripshave involved going to Quebec City,right from our back yard, 4 days down,

visiting the carnival for 2 days andthen 4 days back. Trailering to RimouskiQuebec and spending 6 days on thetrail on the Gaspe Peninsula is afavourite. Most of your readers haveplanned and taken snowmobile trips.Consider giving your itinerary to yourclub office so that when requests comein for trip planning and ideas, youroffice will have some help at hand. Yourplan should show day by day, total kilo-meters, the trail numbers to be travelled,where to fuel up, the name of the hotelfor the evening and its phone numberas well as the cut off time if one hasto cancel the accommodation.( One timewe ran into huge impassable snowdriftsin the Gaspe and had to change ourwhole route “on the fly”, cancelling re-served accommodation, booking otherrooms etc) It’s important that phonenumbers be confirmed and accommo-dations booked ahead of time. Shareyour trips with your club. Good snowand good plans equal good experiences.

Trail improvements by volunteerClaude McGrath

We were the first ones to leave amark on these perfect trails

We shared the trail with severaldog sled teams out for a run


Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the greatest political sages ever known. “Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.”

Mattawa & Area S/C:By Jeff McGirr,Vice PresidentI am pleased to report on behalf of

the Mattawa & Area Snowmobile Clubpermit holders and volunteers thatmany of our trails are listed as ‘limitedavailability’ in fact the MASC was thefirst club south of District 15 to offeravailable riding. This ‘limited status’did not come without a ton of effortfrom volunteers, the support throughpermit sales from our members andMother Nature’s cooperation. We arealso pleased to report that MASC permitsales are up over last year! And this in-crease in support from you will be re-flected in the trails we all ride. With

the completion of two new bridges byCalvin Forest Products Ltd. on thenewly designated TOP A112A trail

that runs through the foot hills of theLaurentian Mountains reports fromboth Matt Viel the MASC GroomerSupervisor and the rider ship are thatthis trail has become even more scenicand legendary than ever before. Wehope that you will come explore thisroute this winter. We have been hardat work developing information signageand trail guide billboards for the trailsystem and are expecting to have every-thing completed by mid January. Wewould like to thank NECO CommunityFutures Development Corporation fortheir support. While you are touringthe Mattawa-Bonfield area, you mayhave the opportunity to stop at one ofour areas local business, while thereask for MASC 50/50 tickets, they are$2 each and you can win up to $2000cash! (Draw is March 30th 2013) andall proceeds will go back to improvingthe trails you ride! Stay in touch withour club and receive operations statusupdates directly through our websitewww.mattawasc.ca or facebookwww.facebook.com/mattawasc. We hopethat the cold and snowy weather willcontinue to produce what looks to beanother great winter and are lookingforward to seeing your smiling face onthe trail this winter!

North Bay S/C:Trail Update By Brian Baker,

Club PresidentWell here we are and unfortunately

we’re not out on the trails enjoyingour passion. It’s hard to believe thatwe are experiencing an almost carboncopy of last year’s poor winter weather.NBSC and our contractor, RanDonCrane & Leasing, recently completedtwo new steel replacement bridges onTOP AD. Both bridges were funded byOntario’s Tourism Development Fundby way of the OFSC, with our clubpaying approximately 10% for this proj-ect. Please remember that NB301,MA150 and MA101 have been desig-nated a TOP Collector trail connectingTOP A to TOP A1, a distance of 90kilometres. The new designation isTOP A112A and the new signs are al-ready installed and the new numberingis included on this year’s District 11trail guide. We have decided to leavethe NB301 signs in place for at leastthis season along with the new A112A

signs. Due to budgetary and groomingissues, NB303 and NB305 have beenpermanently closed. Trail NB304 willbe open from NB308, the Olrig ForestAccess Road, to the Lookout where thetrail will end. Our nine trail guideboards will be installed this season andwe have a few new sponsors, includingScott Hutchison Contracting. Our‘Think Snow Fundraising Auction’ washeld December 1st at The Portage andwe had an excellent turnout at thisevent, it’s our club’s major fundraiserof the year. We have sent out a newslet-ter to all of our new trail permit buyerswho included their e-mail address ontheir permit application. We are tryingto improve our communications withour riders by making them aware ofour website at www.nbsc.ca as well asour Facebook page at http://www.face-book.com/#!/NorthBaySnowmobile-Club and Twitter athttps://twitter.com/Northbay_SCPlease send us your comments [email protected]

Argyle Riders S/C:Ready for WinterBy Jake Weller,Club President

We are out packing the trails andgetting ready to stake. We will post onour website when the trails are openand the lakes are staked, hopefully thiswill happen shortly. We are going toopen an Alpine trail from the AR509 tothe D102C which will create a scenictrail and shorter route when travelingthe land trail from Ardbeg. Signageand stakes will be installed so this trailwill be easy to find. The Argyle Ridershave re-decked the bridge on the WolfRiver and a complete re-build of thebridge at Weller’s Folly has been com-pleted and ready for use. It looks quiteimpressive if we do say so ourselves,not as much fun as it used to be withno chance of falling out through thesides anymore!

Once again, thanks to all our permitbuyers who again supported us thisyear, without you we would have noclub. A note of interest; if you go on-line and buy your permit, it costs ourclub $11.00. On second thought, I mustapproach the OFSC office and see if

they will allow us to deduct $11.00from the portion we have to send themfor each permit we sell directly to ourmembers. Just an update on the paintedturtle and hog nosed snake debacle(refer to Argyle Riders.com if you didnot receive the last newsletter). Thevolunteers were out packing the trailstowards ESS Narrows when the bladeon the groomer pushed up a foreignlooking object. You know what it was?Yep, it was a painted turtle and hognosed snake all intertwined and hiber-nating for the winter. I’m thinking we’regoing to have a new reptile next summer.Maybe the area is going to be full ofSnurdles! Now this is a whole new setof problems; protected area, biologicalstudy, new road crossings, signage post-ings, enforcement, consultation withenvironment, oceans and fisheries andthe MNR before any construction proj-ects can begin. This should be good forat least a dozen jobs, with any luckthese jobs will happen in our area.Hopefully we can have a good seasononce and everyone can get their moniesworth. Our new bridge on A112A trail

The Ontario Trillium Foundationprovides grants to non profit organiza-tions to help fund a variety of projects.While the application forms are dauntingto an amateur, as everything must bedone online, financials imported etc., itwas worth while to persevere. Recently

we were awarded a grant to purchase aMogel Master Drag to replace an an-cient, many times repaired drag. Thisnew drag will do a better job on ourtrails and will save down time. We aregrateful for the support of the TrilliumFoundation.

Trillium Foundation SupportsSouth Shore Restoule S/C

Page18 SNOWMOBILE! Central Ontario January 2013

Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the greatestpolitical sages ever known. Enjoy the following

Never miss a good chance to shut up.Always drink upstream from the herd.

If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

By Bob Island

It has come to our attention thatmany snowmobilers do NOT havetheir suspension set up properly. Ifyou ask them a question about theirsuspension, their reply is often, “Itcame from the dealer this way.” SCOhas interviewed several dealers onthis issue and here is their take onthis issue, “We leave the suspensionset-ups to the owner, we don’t knowhow they ride, so we leave the sus-pension the way it came from thefactory.” So many riders do not taketime to figure out their own set-upsand just go riding. As a snowmobiler,I can understand this thought, theexcitement of “just go riding” espe-cially after the first snowfall! But theproper set-up will improve your rideand it will enable you to get the bestride possible from your sled.

SCO had the opportunity to talkwith Adam Robinson who is an expertin the world of motocross and snow-cross suspensions. He has spent the

past decade of snowcross seasonstravelling with Factory Teams like;Ryde FX, Scheuring Speed SportsAmsoil Team and the OTSFF RaceTeam. We had the opportunity todiscuss sled suspensions and the prop-er setup for both race and today’strail riding. The following Q and Ais Robinson’s suggestions for sus-pension setups.

Basic Set-ups

SCO: Ok, where do you start?

AR: The first consideration is shocksprings. The OEMs do a great jobfor 75% of the riders, the other 25%that includes lightweights and heavy-weights, if you can’t set the appro-priate pre-load on your suspension,it will never work properly. For ex-ample: If a heavyweight rider hasthe spring settings in the stiffest po-sition and the sled is still saggingtoo far down, the fix is the rider willneed to upgrade to a stiffer set ofsprings. The OEMs have a range ofsprings available for different sus-pension setups.

SCO: What do you mean by pre-load?

AR: That is a term used to describethe spring adjustments for the properride height. Even today’s economysled models have adjustable springpositions or pre-load that gives indi-vidual riders the option to accom-modate their weight and ridingability.

Near North SnowdriftersSC: Big Improvements! By Neil Gutjahr,Club PresidentThe season has begun and as of

New Years Day we have begun toopen trails. The Near North Snow-drifters manage trails from Sundridgeto Trout Creek. Our club has spent agreat deal of this season’s budgeton trail creation. We have a new trailthat connects directly to Sundridgeon Lake Bernard. The extension ofour NN410 (on the west side of Hwy#11) has eliminated a bunch of roadrunning. There are now a couple ofkilometers of new trail west of thetunnel on the C105D trail that runseast and west through the Village ofSouth River, this trail passes underthe new Hwy 11 via a tunnel. Wereceived sponsorship support from30 local businesses as well as thethumbs up from the following mu-nicipalities; Sundridge, South River,Machar Township, Strong Township,

and Joly Township. We want you tocome snowmobile here, stay a whileand please buy your permit from us.There is a lot of activity here, wealso have dog sledding and ice fishing!Watch for new billboards on our trailsystem located in key intersections,including the South River and Sun-dridge arenas. Also new this year isa laminated map for sledders thatyou can slip easily into your tankbag pouch for convenient viewing.They can be obtained at any of ourpermit distributors as well as someof our sponsors.The Near North Snowdrifters’ web-

site is extremely informative; pleasevisit for designated parking info, anup-to-date map, trail conditions, permitpurchase and many other details aboutthe area and our wonderful sport ofsnowmobiling.

www.nearnorthsnowdrifters.com

How to set up your Sled’sSuspension

Scheuring Speed Sports theAmsoil Team on the podium

Ski-Doo MXZ has pre-loadnumbering, making it easier to

match both sides!

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SCO: After you have the pre-load set,what next?

AR: Pick out a block a time inorder to make some adjustments, makenotes for each step of the way. Ridethe sled through a particular sectionwith the stock settings, on most pre-mium sleds on the bottom of thefront shocks there is a compressionsetting adjustment. Before you makeany adjustments though, find thestock setting by counting the numberof clicks all the way in, record thatnumber, and return it to the stocksetting. The next part is trial anderror with adjustments of NO MOREthan two clicks at a time. Test rideand record the results .These testrides should be over the same terrainon the same day.

SCO:What type of reaction do you lookfor in the front?

AR: If the front is too soft it willbottom too easily and roll in the cor-ners, if the front is too hard the sus-pension will not have enough traveland will send too much feedback tothe rider. There is a balance here,which each individual will call perfect.

SCO: There has been a lot of talk aboutthe front, what about the rear?

AR: Absolutely, but remember the

front is always done first and onceyou are happy with the front adjust-ments, then you move to the rear.The rear suspension generally hastwo shocks and torsion springs, likethe front, set the springs first. Firstyou measure from the rear bumperto the ground then measure with therider in full gear and position in thesame location. There should be a dropof 1 to 1 ¼ inches with the rider on

the sled, this is called rider sag, andonce you have achieved the rider sag,you can move to the front rear shock.This shock is the most forgotten yetthe most important. This shock doesthe majority of the work in the rearsuspension, it takes all of the hitsfrom bumps first, and it also controlsweight transfer contributing tobite/traction on acceleration. Weighttransfer is very important for cornerto corner acceleration because theskis need to be on the ground. If thesled is wheeling on acceleration, thereis another adjustment: the limiterstraps can be tightened up one notch.Remember to make only one adjust-ment at a time and test ride everyadjustment, making notes as you goalong.

SCO: Is there is standard set of adjust-ments that anyone can use?

AR: No, these adjustments are in-dividual and are a personal preference.Besides, the OEM stock settings arefor the middle of the road, you canmake your personal settings basedon the OEMs settings, but manyprefer their own.

SCO: What about a new sled? Can anew rider get a head start on suspensionadjustments?

AR: The only thing that they canset is shock spring pre-load, afterthat, the best thing for a new sled isto ride it and experience the stocksettings. Later on you can change,but always use the stock settings as aguide.

Advanced Set-ups

Higher end performance sleds all

come with premium shock package,these are rebuildable and they loadedwith adjustments. First a note on re-builds; our research has shown thatthis very seldom happens. Shocksshould be, at the very least, takenapart and cleaned, with fresh oil addedand be recharged with nitrogen everytwo years or every year on a high

mileage or a sled that has been riddenreally hard. Now for some adjustments,some shocks have High Speed Com-pression damping (HSC) and LowSpeed Compression damping (LSC).The difference between these two ad-justments is; low speed is for smalltrail bumps, while the high speed isfor; you guessed it, big spine tinglers!During our interview with Robison,he made a point about these com-pression settings, these settings reallydo change the characteristics and han-dling of the sled. Once the HSC andLSC are dialled in for a racer, heleaves it alone, he spends most of histime changing the springs and diallingin pre-load settings. There is also re-bound adjustments, this setting con-trols the rate of extension of theshock or how fast the shock comesout after being compressed. All ofthese settings make difference, so aspreviously mentioned, take notes, tokeep track of where you have beenand keep track of where you aregoing. Ride smooth and ride Safe!

New Shock Purchases

If you are considering a new or af-termarket shock purchase, you shouldreally look into to support servicethat goes along with the shocks. Thisis critical, Robinson recommends FOXShocks, he said, “they really extendthemselves to the consumer”. FOXShocks have been a standard on manyperformance models on both ArcticCat and Yamaha snowmobile for sev-eral years. They have several modelsthat range from Trail, Cross countryand snowcross race shocks, so what-ever your needs, Fox is a worthy con-sideration. Now for some more goodnews, we have a FOX SHOX Dealerin our area; the name is FLYBYUMotorsports in Utterson, just southof Huntsville. For more informationsee their ad in SCO’s Marketplacesection.

This Polaris set-up is goof proof,the clicker has a directional arrow

for hard and soft

Here is a close look at a race shockremote reservoir from Ryde FX, theblue dial is LSC and the red dial

is HSC

FOX FLOAT 2 shocks camestandard on many new OEM

sled models



Members of the Muskoka Sno Bombers having atrail side rest.

These sledders are amazed with the tracks onAlgonquin SC goomer.

Blair Ballantyne sent this picture in aftersharing the trail with this moose on the loose.

Jack Bradley is at the International Air-port in Costa Rica and he can’t wait to go

sledding. Hey were do you put the gas in this thing?

Zach one of many Algonquin SC volun-teers checking out the trails.


January 23: Algonquin SC’s Annu-al Chili Cook off at the club housenear McCann Lake January 26: Snowcrest RSC Annual

Pancake Breakfast: Begins at 10am atthe Walkers Point Community Centreon Walkers Point Rd. All you can eatbreakfast, $8.00 per person.

February 2: NRSA SnowmobilePoker Run, in Chalk River, ON visitwww.nrsa.ca for more detailsFebruary 2: Another highlight in

West Nipissing is the Crystal FallsAnnual Poker Run.February 2: Argyle Riders Poker

Run starts Saturday at the Argyle Li-ons Community Center with registra-tion open at 10:00AMFebruary 8, 9: The SMART club to

host its annual Valentine’s Day Ridestarting at the Groomer Shop, Pan-cake breakfast from 8-9 am followedby a ride on the trails, also a BBQ atthe end. Cost is $30.00 per person.Call 705-686-7653.February 9: Tall Pines / Dorset

Lions Camp Poker Rally, that our an-nual poker rally will be held at the Li-ons Camp again this year, just offCounty Road #8, DorsetFebruary 16: Hill & Gully Riders

Annual Open House and AntiqueSnowmobile Shine and Ride. Locatedat maintance shop - Beaver MeadowRd.February 16: Snowcrest RSC An-

nual P E T (Prostate Extreme Team)Ride of Hope: Registration on FridayFebruary 15, 2012, the place to stay atthe Residence Inn by Marriott February 17th: 3rd Annual “Family

Day & Fun Run Stonecliffe:www.missinglinksc.caMarch 2: 16th Annual “Bow-Tie

Classic” Snowmobile Rally & SilentAuction, Cost: $ 20 per hand with a $1000.00 Grand Prize. Stonecliffe,Website: www.missinglinksc.caMLSTA Club Rides / Saturdays:

January 26 & February 23; Wednes-days: February 6, 13, 27. Destinationswill be emailed prior to each ride. Addyour name to our email info list! Con-tact [email protected]. Weleave at 10am from a meeting place onthe trail and return by 4pm. Pleasejoin us!

BonnechereCup,Eganville

February 22, 23, 24, 2013For the past 38 years, The Bon-

nechere Cup has hosted professionalEastern Pro Tour ice oval snowmobileracing at the Benson Sports Oval. TheBonnechere Cup has snowmobiles reach-ing speeds of 100mph, as well as vintageand ATV races on the ice.Some of the greatest names in snow-mobiling history have experienced the‘thrill of victory and the agony ofdefeat’ right here at our track. Nameslike Lee, Vandolder, Riemenschneider,Wahl, Vessair and of course, Villeneuve,have all shaped the course of their ca-reers at the Bonnechere Cup. Come andsee for yourself, history will be madeagain, as the top drivers chase downanother $20,000 + prize purse.

PRO Champ #74 Dustin Wahl

Feb 2-3, 2013,Amsoil Kawartha Cup, Lindsay, ONFeb 9-10, 2013,National and Regional Event, Barrie, Feb 15-17, 2013,Grand Prix Ski-Doo De Valcourt, Val-court, QCFeb 23-24, 2013,CSRA Triple Crown Event, Sudbury,ONMar 23-24, 2013,National and Regional Event, Kitch-ener, ONMar 29-31, 2013,National and Regional Event Finals,Barrie, ON

FEB 2-3 Manitoulin Pro ChallengeManitowaning, Ontariowww.manitoulinprochallenge.com(705) 859-3335FEB 9-10 Boonville Snow FestivalBoonville, New York, USAwww.boonvillesnowfestival.com(315) 942-4756FEB 15-17 Grand Prix Skidoode ValcourtValcourt, Québec,www.grandprixvalcourt.com(450) 532-3443FEB 22-24 Miwel/Toromont-Cat

Pro EasternTour Ice OvalRacingSchedule

Club Events

SCO Touring ContestAnnounced

CRSASnowcrossRacingSchedule

Snowmobile Central Ontario hasteamed up with the good people atGamma Sales. This distributor has of-fered up several prizes for touring par-ticipants and for club volunteers thatwork on the EE Loop. There are prizesfrom Coldwave to be given to the clubvolunteers; these prizes will be distrib-uted through the Districts as a draw.The winners of these prizes will bepublished in the next issue of SCO.Touring participants also have a

chance win GMAX and ZOAN helmetsand Coldwave gloves for their EE Loopstories and photos. Please email yourstories and photos of your EE Loopexperience to the SCO editor, [email protected] the end of the season the SCO staffwill select the best story and the bestphoto, first prize for the best story is ahelmet and second prize for this contestare a pair of Coldwave gloves with thesame prizes for the best photo and the

second best photo. All submitted storiesand photos will become the propertyof SCO which has the right to editthese submissions for their own use.All prizes are final with no returns orexchanges. Best of luck to all andabove all else, Ride and Enjoy!If for some unknown reason, that

part of the EE Loop trail network haslimited conditions; SCO is advisingparticipants to do most of the EE Loopas soon as possible. So be creative, do

your tour, but above all, have fun andsend us your stories and photos!For more information on this touring

contest visit www.snowmobilecentralon-tario.com Snowmobile Central Ontariowould like to thank the OFSC Districts7, 10 and 11 and all the clubs and theirvolunteers in these districts, we knowand appreciate all the hard work thatis being done, thank you all!

OFSC: TryOur Trails

For anyone who has ever wantedto try snowmobiling, Family Day LongWeekend provides an ideal opportunity– and now Ontarians are invited totest drive available OFSC trails at nocharge for a permit! In cooperationwith the Honourable Bob Chiarelli andhis Ministry of Transportation of On-tario (MTO), the Ontario Federationof Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) is cele-brating Ontario’s mid-winter statutory

holiday long weekend with the launchof a 2013 “Try Our Trails” Permit toencourage more people to get outdoorsand enjoy winter by going snowmobil-ing on OFSC trails. The new permit isavailable at no cost to those who pre-register online and is valid only from12:01 AM Saturday, February 16 until11:59 PM on Monday, February 18,2013.

Bonnechere Cup & CanadianVintage ChampionshipsEganville, Ontario,www.bonnecherecup.ca(613) 628-3633MARCH 2-3 Le Grand Prix CFMOTOSt-Évariste-de-Forsyth, Qc,(418) 459-6555MARCH 9-10 Grand PrixDesjardins de RobervalRoberval, Québec

DATE OF INDUCTION:February 16, 2013CAREER SPAN: 1997 - 2008BRANDS REPRESENTED:Arctic Cat, Ski-DooAGE AT INDUCTION: 37Once in a generation, the trajectory ofa supreme talent meets the potentialof a rare opportunity, and a new era isborn. For snowmobile competition in

the 1990s, this occurred when BlairMorgan discovered the sport of snow-cross. The result was a monumentalleap in popularity of both racer andsport, and cataclysmic changes in thesport of snowmobiling.Blair Morgan was more than just atalent: He was a tour de force, arrivingunheralded out of Prince Albert,Saskatchewan, in 1997 with blazingspeed, creativity and a unique stylethat transformed snowcross and madehim an instant fan favourite. Drawingupon his successful career in motocross,Morgan singlehandedly popularizedthe stand-up style of racing that revo-lutionized both snowcross and the entiresport. He was the inspiration for allOEMs to start building the rider-for-

ward designs that are toady’s snow-mobile standards. In one glorious decade,Morgan would redefine the upper limitsof success, winning 89 National events,13 points championships, five ESPNX-Games gold medals and multipleRacer of the Year honours from thesport’s media. Though his greatest ex-ploits were in competition, Morgan isalso credited with launching the sportof snowmobile freestyle thanks to hisfinish line displays early in his career. With his domination came rewards, asMorgan reestablished the viability oftruly full-time professional snowmobileracer for the first time since the end ofthe Sno Pro oval era. He was amongthe first snowmobile racers to createtheir own professional team and the

only person to have a signature-editionsnowmobile from two different manu-facturers. A career-ending injury froma motorcycle accident forced his re-tirement from competition in 2008.

SnowmobileHall of Fameto recognizeBlair Morgan

This eventfeaturing 200of the world'sbest snows-ports athletes,will take placeJan. 24through Jan.27, 2013 inAspen, Colo.This year there are five disciplines ofsnowmobiling including Adaptive, BestTrick, Freestyle, Snowcross, and Speed& Style.

Taking a close look at the snowcrosslist of participants, from the list of 20below there are only 5 Canadians invitedthis year, this number is down consid-

e r a b l ywhen com-pared to 5and 10years agowhen thisevent wasdominatedby Canadi-

ans.

Invited Snowcross X-GamesParticipants 2013

Athlete Name CountryZach Pattyn USAMathieu Morin, from Quebec CANDerek Ellis USAColby Crapo USA

Tucker Hibbert USALevi LaVallee USATim Tremblay, from Quebec CANRoss Martin USARobbie Malinoski , actually Canadian USADarren Mees USAKody Kamm USAEmil Ohman SWELogan Christian USAJustin Broberg USACody Thomsen USAKyle Pallin USAGarth Kaufman USAPetter Narsa SWEJohan Lidman SWEIain Hayden, from Ontario CANDave Joanis, from Ontario CAN

ASPEN2013

Iain Hayden, OTSFF’s Team Rock-star Energy Polaris, a snowcrossracer from Ontario. Invited to com-pete in X-Games Snowcross.

Nolan Rosko-Fong is an 8 year oldfrom Kirkland Lake, his favourite thingsto do are snowboarding, and dirt biking,but he loves snowmobiling. Nolan doeshave an older brother Jakob who racesPro Lite on the Rockstar Energy RacingTeam, Nolan does look up to and

idolizes his older brother’s racingsuccess. SCO: What do you like about racingNovice 250?NR-F: When I started racing the

smaller 120 Mini Z there was no airtime, now with the Phantom 250 itsfast and I like the air time, it’s easy tohandle and fun to ride.SCO: What’s the difference between your250 and 300?NR-F: The 300 is really fast and

gets big air, you know what, I like my250 better because it’s easier tohandle.SCO: How did you do at the races in

Cochrane?NR-F: I won the 300cc class and

got two 2nd place finishes in the 250class. SCO: What is your favourite part aboutracing Novice 250?NR-F: I really like the feeling being

out front and that you are winning,but it’s not about winning it’s abouthaving fun and riding my 250 is lotsof fun.SCO: Is there anyone you would like tothank?NR-F: yeah, Uncle Joe, my Dad

the mechanic, Bill Moffatt for sponsoringme, my mom, my brother, my Aunts

and Uncles, my Grand Parents andanyone else that I missed.Interview

with NolanRosko-Fong#715

Snowcross racing at CalabogiePeaks

WINTER

sco january 2013 issue

Documents

tmotion rear suspensioncan

sco innovationaward

effortskidoos tmotion

sled testing

theirnew summit mountain

whilethe sled

new summitwill

time of year