Ontario snowmobilers gear up for banner season after $3.9M provincial lifeline

Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs trails near Blyth, Ont. in Decemvver 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

An incredibly snowy start to this winter may have many shaking their fists at the sky, but, not snowmobilers who are banking on a bumper year, out on their snow covered trails.

“It’s certainly trending that way. We like cold, we like snow, and we’re getting lots of that, in the early season,” said Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs CEO, Ryan Eickmeier.

But up until two weeks ago, at least some of the 30,000 kilometres of snowmobile trails in Ontario were going to be closed this winter.

“We had pegged about 4,500km of trail across Ontario to close for this upcoming season. Obviously with the intention of looking at ways to bring it back in future years,” says Eickmeier.

That was until the Ministry of Transportation came through with a $3.9-million cheque to help balance the books for the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, who say revenues from trail permits were not meeting the rising cost of trail maintenance.

“The things that we consume, fuel, steel, lumber, all of those things have gone up over the years, and it’s caught up with us. And in order to maintain a 30,000 plus kilometre network, that reaches all corners of this vast province, we needed to make some changes, and we needed to have this critical investment from our partners at the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario,” says Eickmeier.

Despite a bumper snowmobile season last year, more and more snowmobilers are buying multi-day passes, not year-round passes, which has impacted snowmobile clubs ability to maintain trails across Ontario, says Eickmeier.

“Costs during the COVID years went through the roof. And now we have seen those permit sales come back down to earth and actually regress a bit, while costs have continued to rise. So all of this was an effort to try to balance the budget, ensure that we are putting the proper maintenance, the proper funding into the trails that we have,” Eickmeier added.

The provincial cash means it’s full steam ahead for this snowmobile season in Ontario, as trails slowly open across the province.

“When we look outside today and we see the snow falling again, this could be a season for the ages.  One where we have excellent trail availability from December all the way through to April. It’s certainly shaping up that way,” says Eickmeier.