36 | Snowmobile VERMONT Connecticut Valley Sno-Riders and the Godbouts. Every year they welcome snowmobilers to this remote trailside camp. It is embraced and celebrated by everyone. We will be watching the weather and remain hopeful our next report will include stories of magnificent Vermont snowmobiling. Until then, take the time to check out your sleds, gear and accessories. Keep informed. Keep in touch. Keep snowmobiling. Mike Mutascio, Secretary vtvast.org/lunenburg-polar-bears.html Like us on Facebook Polar Bears club members arrive at The Roost following a snowy ride up Corridor 1. Northeast Kingdom Snow Blasters As I write this, Old Man Winter’s versions of the weather this past February are in the past, with temps the warmest in over 100 years and virtually no snow. My last groom was two weeks ago as groomer access to our upper elevation trails was cut off due to lack of snows and bare grounds in many areas, especially the powerline. We usually move the Bully off Brousseau Mountain Road during low snow periods in order to access those trails, but there is a logging operation this year preventing that. Huge thanks to Canaan for offering to groom those trails for us! Each year, I hope that we get to experience an old fashioned Vermont winter with deep snows and cold temps. It is not looking good this year for sure, but, remember last year? Hopefully, by the time you read this, we will have another storm like last March where we received over 24 inches of snow, which let us ride to the end of the season. Wishful thinking! There are lots of events going on such as the rescheduled barbecue, the poker run with the Drift Dusters and a benefit comedy night with the Canaan Border Riders. Please check out our Facebook page, which is now at 2,650 likes, for details of all events. It certainly has been a pleasure working with our neighboring clubs. I am hoping this continues in the coming years. I am sure it will get bigger and better than ever. DavidDiminico,TrailsCoordinator&Groomer northeastkingdomsnowblasters.com Like us on Facebook LAMOILLE COUNTY Smugglers Notch Snowmobile Club The 2017/18 season started off strong with a decent amount of snow falling in December. We were able to get our Tucker 2000 groomer out on the trails earlier then we have in the past couple years. Mother Nature threw us some curve balls in January with some warm temps and then a couple weeks of deep freeze. The early part of February brought some more snow and for a couple weeks we had the snow base back on our trails and were just waiting on a little more snow to really make the trails flat and smooth. Needless to say, we ended up receiving some rain and 60 degree temps, which demolished our trails. On the bright side, March is looking pretty snowy, which is good because we are all hoping to get a few more weeks of winter before spring arrives. Our groomer operators logged some long days and nights in our Tucker 2000 this winter. The multiple winter thaws led to the Lamoille River spilling over its banks and flooding a few sections of our Corridor 15 West in Cambridge. After the thaw, winter returned, which made for lots of ice on our trails as well as large ice chunks left on the trail from the river. We were encountering ice on our trails in places where we have never seen ice before. As you could imagine, this made for some interesting grooming and resulted in some long shifts in our groomer. A big “thanks” to our groomer operators, Mike Spaulding, Terry Carpenter, Dustin Turner and Dean Parmiter. Club members, along with the other clubs from Lamoille county, helped with the annual Military Appreciation Ride-In. This was held on Feb. 17 at the Oxbow Park right off from Corridor 15 (LVRT) in downtown Morrisville. This was the second year the event was held in Lamoille county and the weather was perfect. The ride- in was a success and is a great way to show appreciation to the men and woman serving in the military. Lamoille county clubs brought some of their groomers to display at the VAST Military Ride-In on Feb. 17.