We had one of our Contractor's Generate this Page in an Effort to Help Our Riders Better Understand the Effort that Goes into the Grooming of the ATSC Trails.

Trail Conditions are Available at our Trail conditions page.

During the 2004/2005 Snowmobile Season the Trail Master is Johnny Morris. Johnny is a Long Time Member, Area Business Owner and ATSC Grooming Contractor. Johnny’s Father, Bill Morris, was the Backbone Behind the Starting of the ATSC and the Development of the Trail System we Ride Today.

 

In Order to Provide the Quality ATSC Trails you Ride Today the Club Currently Contracts to 3 Local Grooming Contractor’s… By Contracting to 3 Separate Grooming Contractor's the ATSC can Provide to it’s Riders a Complete Trail System Groomed on a Regular Bases... Unlike Some Club Areas that Have a Single Groomer and Groom a Single Trail Sections as Time and Snow Conditions Allow.

While you are Riding the Trail you May Feel that the Trail Grooming is an easy job… This Writer Would Like to Assure you this is not as Easy a Task as you May Feel... To Start that 45 Minute Ride you Just Enjoyed Took on an Average of 10-12 Hours to Groom... Yep the Groomer is Only Traveling About 4-7 MPH Unlike Your 40-60 MPH on your Snowmobile... If you Think the Travel Time is Just a Line, Then Speak to one of our Contractor’s about Riding Along… I am Sure they Would Enjoy the Company While Spending the 10-12 Hours Grooming on a Given Night.

Also Snow is a Very Tricky Material to Work with and does not Always do What you Would Like... The Groomer Operator is Constantly Making Adjustments to the Drag to Compensate for the Varying Conditions of the Snow...  The Moisture Content and Temperature have a lot to do with how a Trail Turns Out After it is Groomed.

Almost every Club tries to Groom Primarily at Night... Why? The Colder Temperatures and Lack of Sunlight Help to set the Base... Also the Lack of Traffic Helps to Give the Base Longer to Set Up (Harden), Something Like Concrete... But again, Depending on the Snow Conditions a Hard Surface is Not Always Obtainable.

There Probably is a Group that will Start a Trail Ride on a Given Afternoon and Wonder Why the Groomer is not Running... Well that Would Basically Just be a Waste of the Clubs Trail Grooming Monies...

As Stated Above the Trail Just Would not Have Time to Harden and Also Would Make for a Dangerous Ride for Both the Groomer Operator and the Snowmobiler… Night Grooming Allows the Groomer’s Light’s to be Seen in the Black Night Unlike the Day… I Would Hate to Meet that 11 Foot Wide Groomer Blade in a Corner at 40 MPH…

In the Past the ATSC has Tried to Groom as to Provide the Most Days of Enjoyable Riding and we Hope this Year will be the Same… If you See a Groomer on the Trail Give a Friendly Wave… and if you See  a Stranded Groomer I am Sure they Would More than Appreciate a Helping Hand.

Randall L. Erskine

Erskine Enterprises

Groomer – Owner/Operator

ITS 86 (Canadian Trail)