Work underway to prepare snowmobile trails in Sudbury-area

If Mother Nature co-operates, the snowmobile trails are expected to open in the Sudbury area within a few weeks.

Currently the trails in the Sudbury-area, known as District 12, are closed. Murray Baker, president of the Sudbury Trail Plan says trails are expected to open in the middle of January, which is about the same time as usual.

"The past few years we've been lucky in opening them up in the first few weeks of January," he said. "This year it looks to be more of a normal opening."

Baker says so far, the weather hasn't been ideal for grooming and getting trails ready.

"Without the cold, we don't get the swamps and lake frozen," he said. "That limits where we can open up and go."

Baker says the harsh winter we had last year was ideal for maintaining trails.

"This time last year, we were looking at staking lakes [to mark the trail]," he said.

"The other day, I checked the lake out near my place on one of the trails and in the middle, I only had three inches [of ice] so I came home. So we're a little ways away without some cold from [staking] the lakes. We now need more snow because you have to fill in all those gaps."

Baker says there's been delays because of an ice storm that hit the region in November, which resulted in downed tree branches.

"We've had to bring in heavy equipment to move [the branches]," he said.

"I think we're tiring our volunteers who are taking trees pff of trails. Many have caught up [but] there's still a few more to go."

Despite the delays, Baker says permit sales are going well. Provincially, he says about 74,000 have been sold. In this district, about 5,500 have been purchased, which Baker says is an increase to previous years.

"They're looking actually very good as far as people ready to get out and ride."