Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Early Winter 2016 | 55 Featured Club The use of an Alpine as a groomer eventually became impractical and the group decided they needed to try something else. They contacted the local snowmobiling club across the Canadian border, Three Villages Snowmobile Club, and set up an agreement where they would drive their full-size groomer across the border to groom the trails. Drift Dusters paid the Stanstead club $100 per season according to Rod Barrup. “Once a full-size groomer was being used on our trails, we had to make them wider. That’s when I took my John Deere 850 bulldozer and started widening the trails out. It took a month or so, but I ended up doing all of our trails going all the way from Norton to Derby and down to Burke. We didn’t ask for much permission back then. Most of the locals knew snowmobiling was good for the area. I even remember when the interstate was being built, we used to ride snowmobiles down the unfinished road bed to Orleans.” Rod was also responsible for constructing the infamous “River Trail” (Trail 14) that goes underneath the interstate to this day. By the mid ‘70s, the trail system was growing and covered all the towns east of Lake Memphremagog, as far south as Burke into Caledonia county. By this time, the board decided that they needed to purchase a full- size groomer for the club. Cecil Wright, a club volunteer, located a late ‘70s Bombardier Ski-Dozer 252 that was being sold by Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire. Rod Barrup, along with Carl Hackett, traveled to New Hampshire to pick up the 6,000-pound machine. They split the cost of the machine because the club didn’t have the money to purchase it. They were able to acquire a used drag from Three Villages Snowmobile Club in Stanstead, Quebec, and they retrofitted it to work for the trails. “It had a gasoline engine and operated with two sticks and I couldn’t ever steer that sucker,” Carl said. “I had to add hydraulic cylinders to the drag to help maneuver it. It’s no wonder that Cannon Mountain sold it to us for so cheap.” The poor maneuverability of the Ski-Dozer never stopped the dedicated group from grooming the trails throughout the evening to maintain the trails for everyone to enjoy. “We only paid $6,000 for the Ski-Dozer, but that was a lot of money back then,” said Rod. In the early 80s, the club traded the Ski-Dozer for a newer Bombardier Ski-Dozer 302 Diesel groomer. The newer groomer made the long trips to Burke tolerable. “It took us so long to groom the Burke run, that someone would groom all day to Burke, and switch out with another operator at night to drive it back,” said Ed Jenness, past president, past groomer operator and current director for the club. Ed, now in his 43rd year of service to the club, has served in many capacities including serving on the board of directors. “We had a dedicated group of volunteer operators that would run the Ski-Dozer for hours, just to get a days worth of riding in the next day.” In 1978, the club made history by establishing the first international snowmobile trail crossing the Canadian border in the country. In the spring of 2016, it was renamed as the Dave Berube and Dana Parenteau Memorial Trail. Founding club members Rod Barrup and Carl Hackett purchased this Bombardier B-12 Snow-Bus which, besides its obvious recreational application, was also used to groom the trails. This photo of founding member Carl Hackett’s grandchildren was taken in the 1980s. The 1984 Tucker Sno-Cat was purchased as a second groomer to keep up with the ever-growing mileage of the club’s trails.