Riding with his children: Chelsie, Paul, Josh, and Neil.
With the mild winter, the lack of snow has impacted outdoor recreation in the Pembina Valley like snowmobiling.
Kory Van Damme, President of the Pembina Valley Snowkickers describes what the membership is doing these days.
"Patiently waiting. And I know when we (he and reporter, Robyn Wiebe) had talked on Friday, I think we had higher hopes that we would postpone this interview for a few days with a glimmer of hope. And, I guess, it is an inch or two closer, but we still need probably a minimum 6 inches before we really have any meat to work with, for lack of a better term."
The Snowkickers groom and maintain snowmobile trails from Morden to Cartwright and up to Holland.
"From what I hear from the guys fishing and whatnot, it sounds like the lakes and everything, once we do get a good dump, we'll be able to just hit the ground running. It is a lot of work to get the signs up and everything and get that first pass done, but we are for the most part ready. We actually bought another tractor unit this year. We will be ready when the snow does come."
More volunteers are always welcome to join the team, as directors, or for those looking for a simple and practical commitment, to put up signage along the many miles of trails.
For those just getting into the sport, Van Damme recommends taking an online snowmobile safety course.
"It's just all-around good snowmobile safety. It shows you the hand signals and what they all mean. It really is a good thing to do so when you meet another snowmobile on the trail, you know what signs they're doing to say there's more people coming behind them or if they're the last person in their group and then that way you don't have to worry as much about somebody coming around the next corner.
He is holding out hope for the snow to come to finish off the season well, noting every year is different.
"It's weird. We go from one crazy busy year (last year) to maxing out and then we go to this year where we're just waiting and we might get half a season possibly, but we'll take what we can get, and we'll be ready, and getter done when the time comes."
He encourages sledders to stay hopeful, adding while it's great to ride close to home, there are other areas in the province with groomed trails and are covered by the Snoman Snopass, to tide people over until we get more snow here.
The Snopasses are what generate funds for the clubs, in addition to the Snowkickers Fall Social and the Annual Snowkickers Lottery, on now, to keep fuel in the groomers and repairs on the equipment.
Find more information on volunteering, trails and supporting the club on the Pembina Valley Snowkickers social media page.
