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40 Snowmobile VERMONT Milo Day Hazens Notch Snowmobile Club by Roger Gosselin Whos in the Groomer Tucked between the Green Mountains in the town of Lowell on the side of Vermont Route 100 sits a PistenBully Trail Bully patiently waiting to make its way out onto the Hazens Notch Snowmobile Club Trail System. The operator Milo Day can be found scurrying around the machine completing his pre-trip inspection while daylight is starting to dwindle away. Come on lets go shes ready to groom he declares before turning the key. Tonights adventure would take us east up over the mountain to the town of Irasburg. Hazens Notch Snowmobile Club established in 1979 is a club of about 150 members and maintains 46 miles of groomed VAST trails in the Southwest corner of Orleans County. Covering the towns of Lowell Albany Westfield and Irasburg the clubs trails traverse the sides of the mountain that splits their system in half. Milo an avid snowmobiler and a VAST volunteer since 1993 is one of four groomer operators for the club. Ever since Milo moved to the area from Jericho with his wife he has been dedicating thousands of hours to Hazens Notch. He has spent five years as the Orleans County Director and six years as the Orleans County Trails Coordinator. He currently serves as the Alternate Director of Orleans County and the Vice President of his local club. Yeah Ive pretty much been given a life sentence to this sport not that its a bad thing he said as he chuckled in the drivers seat of the Trail Bully. I am always pestering Darren the President of Hazens Notch in one way or another. As if all of that volunteering wasnt enough he also grooms for Country Riders Snowmobile Club his neighbors to the North based out of Troy. Grooming for Country Riders is pretty cool. I get to groom Trail 242 over the mountain which can be interesting sometimes. Its one of the highest elevation trails in the state. Milo began his grooming career under the wing of John McLane from Gihon Track Packers. Starting out as the passenger during several shifts with John Milo quickly began to fall in love with trail making. They both began grooming for Hazens Notch in 2002 and Milo has been doing it ever since. I really love doing it. I love being out on the trails whether its on my four-wheeler doing maintenance in the groomer or on my snowmobile. I love being able to take a really bumpy trail and making it flat. I can picture the lucky snowmobiler that gets first tracks in the morning after it has set up all night. They are going to have a huge smile on their face Milo like most operators usually isnt able to make first tracks in the morning after being out all night. Sometimes groomer operators arent able to ride snowmobiles as much as we would like to but at least we are out on the trails. When asked if there was anything about grooming that he didnt like Milo adamantly shook his head no. This has got to be my favorite trail to groom. he stated as we peaked over Lowell Mountain on Trail 100 near the controversial wind turbines. I can see way into New Hampshire on a clear night. The views from the top of this mountain are amazing. When asked what he thought about the wind turbines he simply saidNo comment with a smile on his face. Milos treks over the mountain in the groomer are usually solo runs. I like to groom by myself. Usually I get chatting with the operators from other clubs on the radio so Im not too lonely. Im known as being pretty talkative on the radio especially when the County Director is out grooming also. A survey of other operators in Western Orleans county proves that this is true. When hes not operating a groomer for one of the two clubs in Orleans County he is usually found doing some sort of trail work attending meetings or building new junction signs for the club. Milo pours his heart and soul into everything he does for snowmobiling in Vermont. In 2014 he received the VAST Presidents Distinguished Service Award as a direct reflection of the amount of time he spent in service to the sport. He was an integral part Come on lets go shes ready to groom - Milo Day Roger Gosselin photos