The President for South East Sno-Riders says all things considered, their trails are in great shape.

A lack of snow this winter meant the club was unable to start grooming, until just recently. Mitch Gobeil says parts of the southeast received about three inches of snow in the last snowfall and that was enough to get going.

"I was fielding all kinds of phone calls as were other board members about when are you opening your trails, when are you opening your trails," recalls Gobeil. "We went out to go look and we decided to give it a go."

Gobeil says majority of their trails have now been groomed. He notes Trails 58 and 263 which run from Woodridge to South Junction have been groomed. So too has their system of trails that go from South Junction, Moose Lake and Buffalo Point, up to the Whiteshell. They have also groomed Trail 29, which goes around Moose Lake and back to Woodridge. Crews have also been able to groom a portion of Trail 58 going north towards the Trans Canada.

"There's not lots of snow out there," he says. "But they are very ridable."

Gobeil says their volunteers spend a lot of hours ahead of time, clearing the trails of debris and adding signs. He notes it would be frustrating to then go an entire winter without being able to offer sledders a place to ride. For that reason, he says he is excited to be open.

But, if the lack of snow kept sleds off the trails for the first part of winter, the frigid weather might now be the deterrent. Gobeil says there was not a lot of traffic on their trails last weekend because of the cold weather. However, he says without much of a snow base, whatever is there will melt quickly once the weather warms.

Gobeil reminds riders that due to provincial regulations their shelters are locked because of the pandemic.