The President for the South East Sno-Riders says time is running out for snowmobilers.

Mitch Gobeil indicates that most riders are aware of the coming warm weather and took to the trails this past weekend.

“The snowmobile season is coming to a close so people want to get in their last ride in,” comments Gobeil, who adds that, in light of the recent snowstorm, the conditions were actually quite good.

Gobeil heard that so many sledders made use of the trails on Saturday and Sunday that the gas stations in both Woodridge and Silver Birch Resort ran out of fuel.

Still, heavy traffic does not necessarily bode well for snow that is beginning to melt. “With the warm weather and the amount of snowmobile traffic, the trails have taken a beating,” states Gobeil.

Now that temperatures are entering the positives almost every day, Gobeil feels it is only a matter of time before the trails become unusable. Already, he and his team have had to change the way they are maintaining the routes.

“We normally groom 24/7 and our whole trail gets done every week,” he explains, “whereas this week, we’re only going to groom at night because when it gets above freezing you can’t pack the trails properly.”

With grooming limited to the nighttime hours, Gobeil notes they will simply not be able to groom all 950 kilometers of the trail, adding that only the main routes will be groomed from this point forward.

Looking back on the season, Gobeil says it started slow and it started cold, but the heavy snowfalls received in the latter parts of winter made it one to remember.