b'VAST NewsA message from VAST President Jeff Fay FIND THE HELMETtemperatures of early February were welcome to help freeze areas a little deeper. Still lacking normal season snow depth, some trails have been less than perfect, and some have been absolutely horrible. Rest assured, the clubs are doing the best they can with what they have to work with while keeping in mind rider safety and avoiding damage to grooming equipment. These are all factors that go into assigning a trail status of red, yellow or green on the trailWell, your over-ambitious magazine apps. The club has the besteditor mistakenly hid two helmets in knowledge of when their trails arethe last issue, so were giving out two ready for riders. Trust them. Theyprizes! Josiah Bair, age 6, found it on want you to ride, but they wantpage 30. And Brandon Welch found you to be safe, not damage yourboth on 30 and 16. I promise there is sled and, most importantly, notonly one in this issue, but its a tough damage the landowners property.one! This is a sport that we can only control certain aspects of, andIf you can find the helmet in this issue, So here we are, early February asunfortunately, the weather is notsend an email to editor@vtvast.org and this is being penned, a couple ofone of those. you could win a VAST t-shirt!months into the season, but notMy thank yous this article goes the season that any of us wereout to the folks that participated expecting. I know we were allin the inaugural Ride 25 weekend. hoping for early snow and greatThe report shows that 373 were conditions to start off the seasonsold, every county had takers, on the right foot around Christmas.and 73 clubs were chosen. With However, as weve seen, Motherlimited trails open and minimal Nature has failed to cooperate yetsnow cover, the conditions were again. less than ideal to say the least. ISnowmobiling on the We had the early snow, but alongdont think it was a terrible attemptproperty of others is a privilege with that came downed trees andat something new and as we track power outages across the state,future years to see what the datathat can be revoked at any time.all of which had to be dealt withshows us with regard to returnDedicated Club volunteers work yearbefore trails could open. As you allvisits, conversions, and areas ofround to obtain know, trails are maintained by clubchoice, changes may be made.permission from volunteers and when emergenciesFor those wondering the top five:almost 10,000 Woodford at 47, Brighton at 39,gracious landowners happen at home, that becomesDeerfield Valley, Derby, Greenwho are kind priority over clearing trees on theenough to allow the trails. Once the home emergenciesMountain Trail Blazers all with 15.use of their land for were tended to, all the clubs put inAfter that it was 34 clubs selling 1snowmobiling.great effort to open trails as timeor 2, and 34 clubs between 3 andMaintaining these permissions and the 14. Thank you to all that came tofuture of the VAST trail system depends permitted, many working non-stop.ride, thank you to the clubs thaton your actions.Unfortunately, that was a briefdid their best to provide a positivePlease respect landowners by:early season of riding as thefirst impression. Staying on marked trailswarm weather and rain cameHeres looking to an improved Properly disposing of trashshortly thereafter, putting manysecond half of the season. Half Obeying signageareas back to bare ground andtime is over and its time to ride!Keeping noise and speed flooded lowlands. The next couple of storms slowly beganStay healthy, ride safe and ride to a minimumthe cycle again of building thewith respect.Respect the landowners ever-important base. The frigidJeff Fay, VAST Presidentand ride responsibly!4 | Snowmobile VERMONT'