34 | Snowmobile VERMONT RUTLAND COUNTY Club News Chittenden Dammers It’s summertime and the living is easy. The sleds are resting comfortably as well as the groomer. Most riders have moved on to warm weather passions and can only dream of ripping down a perfectly groomed trail. The club continues to move forward with planning and preparation for the 2019 season. We are coming off of a decent season with a good beginning, a challenging middle and a fantastic last month. All this contributed to a successful grooming year as well as a robust membership count of about 335 members. The club is alive and well with a great core group of members, officers and board. For the 2018/19 season we have President Dave Dutton, Vice President J. Rod Sherman, Trailmaster Doug Todd, Secretary/ Membership Chair Annie Southworth, Treasurer Charlie Robbins, Landowner Liaison Dean Southworth and Social Chair Jill Dutton. Our board members are Bobby Evegan, Jessie Cronk, Mark Oldenburg, Jack Blue, Tim Anderson and Dean Southworth. Let’s not forget Gwen and Paul Racine who do most of the grooming. Looking ahead to some possible projects, we have discussed North Pond as a reroute to eliminate the steep one-lane trail and to enable grooming on that trail. The other project in the pipeline is to move the trail off of Wildcat Road. This is part of the Forest Service acquisition of the former 2,500 acre Johnson Lumber tract of land that includes the log cabin that was viciously burned down by arson this past spring. We are still asking, “Why would someone do this?” It looks as though this project may be moving by the winter of 2020. It will be much safer to be off Wildcat Road, not to mention easier on the carbides. Other than those projects, it’s just all the constant stuff like debrushing, clearing blow downs, maintaining bridges and filing our yearly non-profit tax report. See you Sept. 4 at our next club meeting at the Mountain Top Inn Tavern in Chittenden. Charlie Robbins, Treasurer chittendendammers.org Like us on Facebook Mount Holly Snow Flyers Last winter was a season of cold and snow to begin, followed by a warm up that never seemed to end, only to have March bring tons of snow. It may not have been the best season we’ve ever had, but it turned out pretty good in the end. As we look forward to the upcoming winter in a few short months, the Snow Flyers have been busy preparing for it. We have put in multiple grant requests to enable the club to purchase a newer Tucker. Our old 1996 model has had some major issues in the past few years. It’s time for an upgrade. Being broken down on the back side of Salt Ash in the middle of the night was not fun, not to mention the other multiple problems that kept happening. We have also put in grant requests for debrushing some of our trails, along with upgrading our signage. As always, we keep looking for ways to continually improve our local trail system. The Snow Flyers, in conjunction with all the other Rutland County Snowmobile Clubs are holding their First Annual Charity Golf at Green Mountain National Golf Course on Aug. 10. It will be a 1 p.m. shot gun start. Cost per player, which includes dinner and a goodie bag, will be $95. Teams will be made up of four players. Individuals may sign up as well and we will place them on a team. There will also be door prizes, raffles, a 50/50 drawing, various golf skill games and gift certificates for the winning team. The proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Vermont Achievement Center Mitchell Therapy Pool and Child First Advocacy Center of Rutland County. The clubs are also holding a raffle for a new Husqvarna lawn tractor with a dump trailer, cost for the raffle is $20 with a limit of 360 tickets. All the money raised through the tournament and tractor raffle will stay with the local charities that have been selected. All the county clubs are also actively seeking tee sponsorship at a cost of $75 or any item or service that may be raffled off. Sponsorship forms, player forms and other information can be found on the Snow Flyer Club web page www. mounthollysnowflyers.org or email the club at mounthollysnowflyers@gmail. com. Dale Sutherland, Vice President mounthollysnowflyers.org  Like us on Facebook Poultney Valley Snowmobile Devils We actually had a good year for snowmobiling in Poultney. Well, it was at least much better than the past three years. I was able to get a couple good rides in. One ride was to the new Otto’s Cones Point General Store. Thanks to the new owners and to Gary Rupe for getting a trail opened to this new destination for a great lunch spot. Put this on your  ride agenda for next year!  We had a great turnout for our 45th Annual Pancake Breakfast. We served 230 people including 51 free breakfasts for landowners. We will be doing another fundraiser on Aug. 11 serving hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and drinks at East Poultney Days. Come on down! The money we take in at these events helps us with our donations to local Poultney organizations, including the fire department, senior center, school band, library and Project Graduation. This keeps us in good standing in our community, with the club being recognized as an important part of the community. We  will be entering a float in the Fourth of July parade. The theme is