Lack of ice, snow has Labrador snowmobilers scrambling for new routes

With just two months to go until the Cain's Quest snowmobile endurance race in Labrador, a lack of snow and ice has competitors looking for new routes.

Wayne King and his Frenchies Outdoor Shack team is scouting new routes for the race, which begins March 7, because some of the ones they've taken in past competitions aren't currently usable.

"Right now some of the routes that we previously used on Cain's Quest at this point in time are not passable," said King. "Going from lake to lake is not frozen up, and it forces you to take portages through the woods, which in most areas we haven't opened up because we didn't need to in the past."

King said colder weather in the forecast might help.

"Next week we're going to get colder temperatures but we're going to need a lot more snow to cover up these areas," King said. "Hopefully our frost and snow conditions will improve to make sure the race goes off as planned."

It's not just racers who need to be cautious in Labrador. Sid Pain, who heads up Nain's ground search and rescue team, posted a safety warning on social media after a week of temperatures hovering around 0 C meant less than ideal conditions for ice along the coast.

"It just created a higher risk level for travellers on the ice," he said. East of Nain there's no ice at all, which Pain said is unusual for this time of year

 "It's a late freezeup this year. [There's] not as much ice as usual and there's sort of bad patches and holes in every direction.… Some of the traditional routes that would be frozen at this time may not be safe."

Before travelling early in the season, Pain said, people should always check the ice, which should be about 10 centimetres thick for snowmobile travel.

"Just because another snowmobile has travelled in an area does not mean it's safe," he said. "They may have got lucky and got out of a bad area fast. Somebody who follows that track may not be as successful."

Queen's University geographer Robert Way, who is from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, has spent much of his career studying the effects of climate change on Nunatsiavut. 

"We're well below the average for this day of the year," Way told CBC News. Sea ice has not had the cold temperatures necessary to form that it usually has had by this time of year.

The long-term trend is toward less sea ice off Labrador's coast and a shorter winter, he said, although there have been years that vary from the trend.

"If we look at the long term change back to the late '50s we have about 30 less days where there's actually snow on the ground in Northern Labrador," Way said. "That's not inconsequential."

Labrador will see even less winter as the years go by, he said.

"Long term, we expect that we're going to lose another month of winter," he said. "We expect that changes are going to continue and potentially accelerate depending on what happens with the emissions coming from industrial sources."

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