20 | Snowmobile VERMONT By Jesse Lambert I first started in the groomer when I was just 14 years old. I would be doing chores in my father’s barn and I would watch the groomer go back and forth all the time. One day my father told me to run down the road and meet the groomer at the crossing. Without knowing who was driving or where they were going, I ran out the door. When I got to the crossing, the groomer slowed and stopped. I asked the man driving, Andre Desserou, if I could come along for a ride and that was that. After that night I would ride with Andre every time he went out. The following year he started to show me how to drive myself. Andre has been a lifelong friend ever since picking me up on the side of the road that winter night. To this day, Andre will help us out with grooming trails when we need a driver. When I was 18, I started working for Bolton Valley Ski Area grooming ski trails and building jumps and half pipes. I worked there for five winters. It was an all-night job. Then, through farming connections, I met folks from the Middle Valley Polar Bears in East Randolph and started grooming for them. I groomed their trails for five years. We now own two groomers, a 2006 Tucker 2000 with a rubber track and a 1999 Tucker 2000 with a steel track. I groom a total of 108 miles of trail for three clubs, Buckaroos of 302, Newbury Border Riders and the Topsham Ridge Runners. I do all the maintenance and repairs on the groomers myself with the exception of biannual maintenance performed by Track Inc. In the winter, I am a dairy farmer by day and a groomer operator by night. One of our farm employees, Spencer Lamson, also operates one of the groomers and several other friends also help out when needed. They are Matt Powers, Mike Brooks, Elijah White and Jason MacAuley. Some funny stories I have from grooming were usually very frustrating at the time, but humorous now that I look back. I remember nights when my then girlfriend, now wife, went with me when I groomed for the Middle Valley Polar Bears club. She had college in the morning and I would promise her that I’d get her home by a certain time. The next thing I knew, she would be sleeping and then she would be mad as hell because she would wake up and I would be pulled over and sleeping, too. Another interesting story was from the night when I ran out of gas in my pickup coming back from grooming. My family was used to me being out all hours of the night and thought nothing of me not being home. I ended up walking from Groton for two hours before someone finally picked me up. I got home just in time to feed the cows. Then there are the nights when my kids go out with me. Amos is five and Levi is two and a half. Usually my wife and I plan a meeting place so they don’t have to go for the whole trip. Last year, Amos went out with me for six hours. The groomer was layered up with blankets and pillows and one very happy kid. My favorite part about being a groomer is that I am able to be out on the trails on my own and enjoying the peace of nature. I like doing the behind-the-scenes work that enables everyone else to have a good time. GroomeroftheYear JesseLambert-LambertFarm Jesse uses a paper map of the Groton trails to show his employee Spencer Lamson where he wants him to groom.