Trail User Fees

[bbtoys]

For those of you that did not or could not talk to to me at the ASA show about pass increases this is what has happened to us---Mcbride area.
Our club has never been a money motivated club as there were a number of grants av. to help out with our expenses. Late this summer all of the big money grants were pulled from the groups that supported us, hence they in turn had to deny the club the funds that we rely on to make your(sledders) visit to our hills an injoyable one.
Our club is 100% volunteer and in the past a number of us have pulled money out of our pockets to do things, but not this year as we thought going into this year that we had our club back on it's feet and a small amount of money in the bank to cover our costs and then the above happened. We as a club were caught off guard with no warning of this happening.
Why do we not have any money in the bank for a rainy day such as this??? As a managed trail system such as the ones we have that we groom and charge a fee to use, we were always not allowed to make a profit off of our users(legislated), hence no money in the bank.
The grant money was for parking lot snow removal, brushing of the trails and trail upkeep. Propane and cabin maintance were covered off by the club and donations.
Where is your trail user fee going?
$17.00 goes to grooming the trails and replacement of a $140,000 groomer
$ 2.68 goes to the govt. HST
$ 1.00 goes to the CAA for the buck a head program
$ 4.32 goes to the club now for the above and many more programs that
we now have to pay for.
As president of the club I am always av. to any of our users if they would like an explanation of our spending or our costs.
To those of you that have been so generous with your donations, a big thank you to each and everyone one of you, it has been because of your help that our club was able to to get to this point.
Now that we know where the money is not going to be coming from(govt. grants) as a club we will be out there looking and applying for all the small grants that we can find in order to keep the fees as low as possible.
Thanks for your support and sorry for any inconvience that this may cause. We hope you will still support us this year and the years to come.
Barry
250-569-0226

 

[2manykids]

Small price to pay, to go out and play.

 

[shoppingcart111]

As far as I'm concerned there should be another 50 cents to a buck per head going directly to Barry and Judy and the rest of the boys for all hours they put in keeping the riding areas open for us and all the work they do repairing damage from the a holes that seem to want to vandalize and rescues etc.

My hats off to you guys.

 

[SLEDBUNNYRACING]

Wow - that sucks that the grants are pulled without warning.
I have no concerns with paying trail fees.

 

[Murminator]

So Barry now that the grants have dried up are you allowed to make a profit? raise monies to have a rainy day fund?

 

[xrsrev]

Holy Cow! Thats alot for trail passes now! I understand it goes for a good cause but WOW! I have always paid the appropriate fees to ride on a nice groomed trail or not anywhere i have ever sledded. I have been coming to McBride for about 12 years now and paid every time. How r u going to police the people(Even Locals) that dont park in the parking lots and take back trails into the alpine? What about the people who refuse to pay the fee? As voluteers selling these passes i understand they are caught between a rock and a hard place but this will create alot of arguments and conflicts that those volunteers shouldnt have to deal with. I feel really bad for them in this upcoming season. Make sure everyone hears about these new fees before coming and understands why they went up! Just my 2 cents!

 

[j.c.higgins]

No problem, will always support McBride! Or any of the areas if we ride there.

 

[Caper11]

What were the passes per day last year? I can't seem to remember right now. and what is a trail pass worth this year did they go up?
everybody seems to complain about spending money on trail passes because they never got to ride on a groomed trail on their weekend there, but to me it's all worth it when you get a fresh grommed trail down to the truck.

My throttle thumb is getting twitchy just need some snow!!! Time to get up old man winter!!!

 

[pipes]

What were the passes per day last year? I can't seem to remember right now. and what is a trail pass worth this year did they go up?
everybody seems to complain about spending money on trail passes because they never got to ride on a groomed trail on their weekend there, but to me it's all worth it when you get a fresh grommed trail down to the truck.

My throttle thumb is getting twitchy just need some snow!!! Time to get up old man winter!!!

Believe me when I tell you that if the trail was never groomed you would notice the difference. I remember a time when Mcbride never had a groomer and the ride to the Renshaw was a bone jarring experience. That was 16 years ago, and not as many sleds going up there as there is now. I couldn't imagine what the trail would like like now if it were never groomed and with the number of sleds going up.


I don't have any problems paying for a trail pass. I just hope that everyone else bucks up. If you wanna play you gotta pay.

 

[Depsnolvr]

So Barry now that the grants have dried up are you allowed to make a profit? raise monies to have a rainy day fund?

any registered club should be able to make sufficient profits to allow for trailhead staff expenses, maintenance and future infrastructure projects. The trail pass formula includes all of these when looked at by government. Hopefully with this increase, the club will be able to bank some cash. All bc clubs have lost an extreme amount of support through grant funding and programs, the next few years are going to take some unique operations and ideas to manage sufficiently

 

[Shredder]

I remember a time when Mcbride never had a groomer and the ride to the Renshaw was a bone jarring experience. That was 16 years ago, and not as many sleds going up there as there is now. I couldn't imagine what the trail would like like now if it were never groomed and with the number of sleds going up.

I remember those days too. The 3' moguls made for a LONG trip into Renshaw.I think a membership and a yearly trail pass is a great way to show our appreciation to the people that work so hard year round making our winter playgrounds something to look forward to year after year.

 

[summitx]

Planning on buying the membership and season pass this year. Small price to pay to support the club that ensures we have a place to ride and stay warm.

I remember those days too. The 3' moguls made for a LONG trip into Renshaw.I think a membership and a yearly trail pass is a great way to show our appreciation to the people that work so hard year round making our winter playgrounds something to look forward to year after year.

 

[glengine]

Both club memberships and season trail passes will be available at our shop located on Main st. We are in the building that mcbride mountain sports used to be in. It's great to be in a building that is only two years old and set-up very well.. We will be glad to help out all that come in.

 

[mphfreak]

Dont mind paying the extra as long as the trails are groomed every couple hundred sleds.

 

[j.c.higgins]

Hotrods number is 90 - 100 riders and then he regrooms the trail.

 

[shellnekov]

I wonder how much local business contributes to the trail grooming. I know my group spends $10,000 in McBride every year snowmobiling. You'd think they would contribute more if they want this to continue. That is a steep increase, all being picked up by the sledders.

 

[teeroy]

that's a steep increase for sure. I certainly don't mind paying it, as long as the trail is groomed. been there a few times where we happily handed over our money only to find the trail had not been groomed due to some circumstance and no mention made of it. at 25 bucks a pop, if that happens I will be loading back up and wanting a refund. I sure don't mind paying to support, but I want my money's worth. I love riding, but am getting too old for 60+ kms of whooped out trail.

 

[shellnekov]

Whooped out is right, we ride Mon- Thurs. So we usually get full fees and NO grooms. Groom for weekend traffic only. 90-100 sledders. Will believe that when I see it. If we return. Sleddin is a big business in McBride and I personally dont see the town picking up their share of the expenses for trail grooming. Volunteering Yes, but how about good hard cash. $500 from a hotel to the local club doesnt cut it in my view.

 

[fredw]

it to me feels like 25 bucks a head is to much, family of 4 is now over a couple of hundred dollars for passes and fuel

 

[heyjude]

Whooped out is right, we ride Mon- Thurs. So we usually get full fees and NO grooms. Groom for weekend traffic only. 90-100 sledders. Will believe that when I see it. If we return. Sleddin is a big business in McBride and I personally dont see the town picking up their share of the expenses for trail grooming. Volunteering Yes, but how about good hard cash. $500 from a hotel to the local club doesnt cut it in my view.

Some clarification is needed here.

The McBride Trail Groomer is a private contractor. In previous years, the $15.00 passes went 100% to him (minus a decent sized donation to the snowmobile club). The trail pass costs have not gone up for years, but fuel, maintenance, etc, has increased. His portion of the passes is now at $17.00. Reasonable.

We now have been legislated to charge 12% HST on Tail Passes, which amounts to $2.68 having to be sent to the Government. That's almost $3.00 that we don't see any real benefit from. The actual trail passes are $22.32, add $2.68 HST = $25.00.

$1.00 from each trail pass is to go to Canadian Avalanche Association.

That leaves a balance of $4.32 from each pass to go to the Snowmobile Club. The funds will be used for Propane to heat the three mountain warmup cabins, clear snow from all the parking lots, maintain cabins and trails,
and all other activities that keep these trails available to the sledders. Many of these extras used to be funded by government programs that were cancelled this fall with no warning. We now have to pay for these things ourselves if we want sledding in McBride. Simple as that.

I have placed a list under the heading of "donations" of the individuals and businesses that have donated funds to assist the snowmobile club this winter. I will be keeping this list updated as the funds come in. We are hoping that sledders will take this list into consideration when they spend money in town.