Even though its season was virtually cut in half, snowmobiling may have experienced a revitalization this year.
Shawn Flindall, director of media relations for the North Bay Snowmobile Club, says the short-lived season this year may have brought more interest to a sport that had seen a decline in numbers over the past decade.
“I think this last year and the stay-at-home orders and what not have forced people to look for some other exciting alternatives,” Flindall said. “I can tell you that all the dealerships have sold out of everything. There is an obvious real booming interest in snowmobiling again.”
Snowmobile trails in the region were closed for the season on Friday following a week of mild, rainy and windy weather which damaged the trails.
“We’re all lovers of cold and snow so we’re a little disappointed to shut the trails down,” said Flindall. “This is a precarious time of year with lakes and waterways breaking down and opening up.”
Usually, Flindall says, the snowmobile season can last anywhere between 10 and 13 weeks depending on the weather.
Much of the sledding season this year was eliminated due to the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit closing trails in the region for over a month as a means to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The closure was bookended by brief, two-to-three week stretches where Flindall says conditions were ideal.
“The weeks that we did have open were fantastic,” he noted. “Sledding was really at its finest albeit for a short period of time.”
During those stretches, Flindall says he noticed an increase in people either taking up the sport for the first time or coming back to the sport.
“They got a really great first impression and a great introduction into snowmobiling this year because it was such a great season,” Flindall said.
“That’s one of the real positives out of this crazy COVID year,” he continued. “All those new riders and the back-to-sledding riders had a great start to snowmobiling.”
Flindall says because of the new interest, he wouldn’t be surprised if the sport saw a “revitalization” beginning next year.
Until then, it’s a waiting game.
“We twiddle our thumbs and wax our sleds and we sit on them and pretend,” Flindall joked.
