The weather forecast for above-zero temperatures the next couple days will complicate holiday snowmobile riding.
In Cochrane, Polar Bear Riders president Kenny Johnston recommends staying off the trails when they’re soft and wet.
South of there – in the district bounded by the Tri-Towns, Shining Tree, Foleyet, Timmins and Iroquois Falls, trails are not open yet.
OFSC district governor Gilbert Fortin says packing is being done to freeze swampy areas, and the snow the past week is a good thing-bad thing scenario.
“The good thing obviously to make up the trails, but it’s a bad thing to try to get frost into those swamps, because it creates too much insulation,” he outlines. “So we have to go out there more aggressively to bring down the frost.”
Those plus temperatures limit work to nighttime, when it freezes again.
“It looks like it’s going to be going back down to negative territory in the next 72 hours, so we’re hopeful,” Fortin remarks.
There’s more from Gilbert Fortin in this audio link: