Here it comes!

[tran-quill-icer]

It's hard to believe that people would leave their junk on the mountain when they are out playing around there, but they do. It's dissappointing to say the least.

 

[shawnmcgr]

We do not have the large amount of funds that greenies and heli-ski companies have to loby and countinually bombarde government officials with our side of the story. BC communities will suffer the most when sledding is run out of town! Sad but it is heading that way. What we have is numbers, sledders and communities. We DO NOT work as a unified group and until we do we're screwed.

This is what snowmobile & atv clubs and provicial snowmobiling/atv associations do. Join one and contribute to the effort to keep riding areas open. They do more than just groom trails. Heck ,the Calgary Club doesn;t even have a trail to groom!

Shawn.

 

[Jason LaRoy]

Do join a club locally and where you ride.Help these clubs anyway you can.Even if its writing a letter to government or just respecting the environment and each other.Help preserve this great sport,because it truly is a great sport that I want my kids to experience and enjoy.

 

[powerteker]

slave lake has no club, If I was staying here i would try to start somthing. I think slave Lake has some of the best snowmobiling in ab

 

[snochuk]

We do not have the large amount of funds that greenies and heli-ski companies have to loby and countinually bombarde government officials with our side of the story. BC communities will suffer the most when sledding is run out of town! Sad but it is heading that way. What we have is numbers, sledders and communities. We DO NOT work as a unified group and until we do we're screwed.

This is what snowmobile & atv clubs and provicial snowmobiling/atv associations do. Join one and contribute to the effort to keep riding areas open. They do more than just groom trails. Heck ,the Calgary Club doesn;t even have a trail to groom!

Shawn.

Yes Shawn this is what the clubs do and without their efforts we wouldn't have the trails and riding areas we do. Sledders as a group don't seem as well publicized and are seen in a bad light because of our few bad apples. Personally I think alcohol should not be allowed on the hills period....penalty....one year ban from crown land would be fine by me. Second offense...criminal charges,sieze sled if that is what it takes to clean up our image so be it. Penalty for littering should be a very close second. RCMP should be at the cabins on a regular bsais and doing random patrolling on the hills, the sport is big enough to warrant the patrols. In the present time of being green we will be a focal point as our sport is based on recreation by burning fossil fuels. We need more positive promotion of our sport/recreation and this needs to be done consistantly by everyone OEM's to gas attendants selling fuel. Until we use everyone we have we will not win....organizing and total involvement is the hurdle I was talking about.

 

[maxwell]

what good is a club in edmonton or calgary when all you ride is the mountains...which is where the issue is

 

[snochuk]

well surprise,surprise..like nobody saw this comming a mile away.Weigle isnt a scumbag or POS and i doubt if he takes any personal pleasure from seeing anyone die in the hills,what he is, is a very shrewd bussines man who takes any oppertuniy available to defeat his competition.
Where he and the greens use everthing to their advantage we snowmobilers do everything we can to f#&k things up for ourselves,from constantly riding out of bounds, drinking on the hill, littering,being drunken assholes to the waitress'es in town and completely ignoring avi warnings.
I truley hope everyone enjoys your rides up areas like allen creek,boulder and frisby that will be severly reduced in riding area.That will be the comming trade off in two to four years,mark my words. There will be an absolute ban on winter motorized use in the backcountry except for very limited areas.
These plans are already in the govs agenda

Yes Scotts we are our own worst enemy at times but I still say Weigle and every other cat/heli-ski operator want sledders out. Who will then use Canada's back country, not your average Canadian only the rich and guided foriegners that these businesses cater to, check who the clients are. There is enough area for everyone, just stop the expansion of these businesses who see fit to block Canadians from using Canada. Sorry but Weigle is a SCUMBAG and a POS.

 

[snochuk]

what good is a club in edmonton or calgary when all you ride is the mountains...which is where the issue is

ALL clubs are required as they are the grass roots of organizing,no matter where they are located!

 

[maxwell]

Yes Scotts we are our own worst enemy at times but I still say Weigle and every other cat/heli-ski operator want sledders out. Who will then use Canada's back country, not your average Canadian only the rich and guided foriegners that these businesses cater to, check who the clients are. There is enough area for everyone, just stop the expansion of these businesses who see fit to block Canadians from using Canada. Sorry but Weigle is a SCUMBAG and a POS.

weigle has MILLIONS of acres of territory. thats what really gets me.

basically from valemount to revelstoke

and here we are limited by everything. i know this isnt the issue but everytime i hear a noisy chopper (which doesnt effect the wildlife) it makes me mad that they can go so many places that we cant even get to so why dont they stay to those areas.

i love parking near the heli pads (in bounds) and watch the operators stare me down lol.

its kind of a kick in the teeth at the end of the year when some new areas open up. not that im complaining about it haha

"here im done with this now you can have it until the snow gets good again"

 

[rknight111]

I have a few things to say in regards to this topic. Firstly, I was involved in one of those incidents this year in Blue River, and as they indicate this is taxing on there workers and there operation, they don't say that we did all the work and recovery ourselves, they just moved the victim from the hill to there lodge. And there are heafty financial obligations that are associated with this as well. So there is some compensation for them.

Secondly, I spent 2 hours on the phone yesterday with an Coroner with the BC Government from Vancouver who specializes in Avalanche victims. We went through the entire incident, which we were exercising caution and playing in the meadows, trees and some very small slopes. After the interview he was discussing more prevention with me and told me about the requests for licensing, I said that would be quite hard for them to control and police all that, and I did not think that would be feasible. I suggested that mabie they can make avalanche awareness more recognizable to mountain sledders by bringing the manufactures in to the equation. Possibly adding an incentive to go get an avalanche course, by providing a rebate on a mountain sled after a AST1 avalanche awareness course is completed, mabie split 2 ways 1/2 the government and the other half the manufactures, that would work out to roughly $150 each. This will bring the awareness up alot and possibly prevent some of the deaths but not everyone. This would be a much more workable plan that what they have in the works. When you have taken the course you have more understanding of the snow and also you know how to read the avalanche reports better, which is something else that needs addressed. Without much training those reports are tough to fiqure out, mabie people just look at the initial chart but theres alot more to them.

I originally had this post up late last night and then deleted it as I was a little upset after reading the first journal article and had to rewrite it.

 

[sledderdoc]

The internet is a wonderful tool to spread our message and to unite sledders in general. I agree more education is needed and if more people actually speak out when your on the hill at the cabin etc. eventually people will get the message!

Places like on line forums are a great place to exchange information.
It would be nice to see our own publication that the public could see, something where the other side of the story gets told!

There are a lot of positives with sledding that people in general just don't see!

In the end though it is our responsiblity to govern ourselves and if we don't then someone else will.

 

[ZRrrr]

Just my opinion, but I find the clubs too disjointed and seperate from one another. Some are really good clubs, some not so active. Without a large cohesive voice nothing gets done. I have not seen too many media releases from some sort of Snowmobile coalition that has addressed this seasons tradegies. There is this really great silent majority. That's why I like the idea of the Blue Ribbon Coalition. They actually put up good fights and win their fights against some of the largest environmental extremist groups. Joining a club is good for regional efforts, but not enough for provincial or national interests. Lets face facts about our national group too....their interest lies with Eastern Canadian snowmobiling. Really, AB, BC and SK need a large voice with good media relationships. A letter here and there is a good start, but how about a lobby group. We NEED a larger voice to start changing this image that continues to build. Without educating the non snowmbiling community we will continue to look like reckless drunks.

 

[scrfce]

scotts it almost looks like you should be on a heli ski forum

 

[ferniesnow]

what good is a club in edmonton or calgary when all you ride is the mountains...which is where the issue is

Yes, the issue is in the mountains because of the Crown Land. Large tracts of private land (mining and forestry companies) in various parts of the mountains get sold to "green organizations" because they have the cash or have access to large amounts of cash. Regretfully, we can't compete to keep these tracts of land and eventually a piece here and a piece there will form a park or closed area.

The other part of your post regards the joining of clubs. All of the clubs contribute to Provincial organizations which in turn are supposed to be our voice in the big picture. Some of the Provincial Directors do this better than others and some of the Provincial Directors are more concerned or involved than others. Maybe the BCSF and the ASA could share or establish an Inter-provincial position strickly devoted to land issues?

On another note, join more than one club! If you are from the flatland, join a local club and get involved. When you go to the mountains, join a mountain club! Not only do you save the money required for trail passes but you increase the membership of the club and contribute valued funds to fight for the cause. I can't speak for VARDA and I don't know what the numbers are like in the Radium area but Fernie, Revelstoke and Golden have a large percentage of Alberta members and those numbers are important. When issues are brought to various land use tables and the local club has 150 (Fernie) or 850 (Revy) members versus a club that has 25 (Elkford) members who has the biggest voice? The Fernie club has more than doubled in size since it incorporated it's own grooming program and it will continue to grow as the membership continues to put more into the area.

With member's contributions and the positive spin on grooming, trail enhancement, environmental clean-up at the end of the season, cabin building, being sensitive to the needs of the corporate sponsors, etc. these efforts produce huge economic benefits to the community as a whole. When clubs fight local closures money, membership numbers, and the local businesses pull together and work together to support our cause.

The south east corner of BC is going to be a battle ground for many years to come with Friends of the Flathead, Wildsight, CPAWS, the Sierra Club, to name a few, lining up to establish parks and whole tracts of non-motorized land.

Get involved guys and gals and let's be heard!

 

[sledderdoc]

Good ideas FS i couldn't agree more. I have no problem joining a club. We normally go to Valemount so I guess it would be VARDA?
I like the idea of our provincial associations getting more involved but we need to join (by buying a pass) so they have the revenue and numbers to be effective!
We then need to partition them and let them know what we want! :d

 

[HRT Offroad]

Maybe we could get some representatives from the different clubs to post their club contact info...so that people know who to get a hold of and can start joining the club in their favorite riding area...if they haven't already! Strength in numbers...

 

[maxwell]

Good ideas FS i couldn't agree more. I have no problem joining a club. We normally go to Valemount so I guess it would be VARDA?
I like the idea of our provincial associations getting more involved but we need to join (by buying a pass) so they have the revenue and numbers to be effective!
We then need to partition them and let them know what we want! :d

varda isnt a club but..

but donations at varda go farther than a snowmobile club can take your $$.

goes directly into the mountain, trails, cabins, grooming, new areas, fighting the greenies.

varda has guys like curtis that do that all day. fight the government and try to expland our riding areas or keep the ones we have and maintain them.

if everyone made a decent donation every year to places like varda it would go alot farther.

 

[bbtoys]

Most of the clubs in B.C. are at the ASA show and if your are not able to attend I will take your advise and post our club info in October on this site. In Mcbride I am very visable and can be contacted almost evey weekend if you need info or want to join our club. Numbers are what matters to gov. people but alot of the time they are coming into meetings pre judging our sport. Many good points here but the one that matters the most is the fact that we as a group, not all, but that 5% of sledders that are not respecting the back country. It is this small group that makes us look bad, the avy deaths this year along with the garbage left in the alpine and drinking on the hills and out of bounds riding are all things that will come up in the next 3-4 months. I have to deal with this every year and unfortunatly it gets harder and harder to convince the complainers that it is getting better, because in fact it is not.
Meetings are already starting and I wish I could go into them with more than a promise that it is getting better, some real numbers to show that we as a group are getting better at respecting the back country. I can only hope that all the preaching about the garbage will have paid off when it comes time to go do the clean-up, atleast that would be one of the 3 things that would be a positive. What do you think guys and gals that rode here this year, will my job be a small one or the same as last year????
Thanks to all that did pitch in and not leave your litter on the hill.
SLEDDERS UNITE TO BRING RESPECT TO OUR SPORT.

 

[maxwell]

yes i will once again call out the guy last weekend....

who while i was driving past the dixon glacier info sign just happened to notice him

KICKING IT DOWN!! and i stoped him and said "wtf are you doing the glacier is open"...he replies.."OH i didnt want to get in trouble".

first of all. if its closed its closed. stay off. and just because you beat down the sign doesnt mean your "in the clear".

IT WAS open.

and i was the only one on the mountain besides his group. when i got back to my gas cans i found all there emtys scattered around my gas cans.

 

[sledderdoc]

Thats when you whip out your camera and take some pics of those guys, there trash excetera and post them on here. Seriously the more we make it known that that kind of behavior is not acceptable the less we will see of it eventually.