Photo courtesy of the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club One of five trail groomers operated by the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club to maintain 235 miles snowmobile trails.

CALUMET – With this winter’s Snowmobile Season over, the Keweenaw Snowmobile Club says it was a successful year on many levels.

“Overall, it sounds like business was just as good financially for our businesses, so overall, I think this winter was a great season,” said LaPorte.

Snowmobile traffic overall was steady this year, Club President Ryan LaPorte, said.

“In talking with businesses from Toivola to Copper Harbor, it was steady but not as overwhelming as the past two years.”

Exact numbers aren’t known yet. LaPorte said while his club does not have trail counters, the My Trail organization does. However, they will not be able to collect data until the snow melts, and the Keweenaw Snowmobile Trail Club typically does not receive information until some time in May.

The near-record snowfall was beneficial in some ways, but not in other. LaPorte said the wide regional distribution of snow provided ample opportunity for riding elsewhere.

“With most of the U.P. and northern half of Wisconsin, some of Illinois and Minnesota all having trails with snow throughout the season,” he said, “that certainly did not congregate as many people here as in the past, which resulted in good overall trail conditions for the riders that were visiting here.”

The intense snow also contributed to constructing good trail bases. On Brockway Mountain (part of Trail 3), the club was able to build an eight-foot deep base.

“In some areas we’ve got some really, really deep base that will take a little while to melt,” said LaPorte, “but the majority of the trail system was three to four feet of packed snow on the trails, so that’s usually a good sign a great year.”

Trail conditions were good this year, owed to efficient maintenance, due in part to the completion of the club’s maintenance facility in Calumet Township. The new facility provides storage for the club’s five trail groomers, a clubhouse and kitchen for club members.

“The facility really improved the ability to maintain trail grooming equipment,” LaPorte said, “which resulted in a better trail riding experience for the riders.”

The facility permits consistent equipment is available to groom the trails nightly and open some new trails this year, including an additional five miles just south of Copper Harbor and the Freda Loop, between South Range and Toivola.

“We were able to add 15 miles there,” said LaPorte, “so we were able to get back to our full assigned trail mileage this year.”

The Keweenaw Snowmobile Club is a non-profit organization responsible for grooming and maintaining the 235 miles of snowmobile trails that run from the hamlet of Toivola (roughly 15 miles south of Houghton) to the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula at High Rock Bay. It takes a fleet of 5 groomers to keep the trails in pristine condition from early December to the end of March, LaPorte said.

Funding is provided from the DNR for the snowmobile program. We get an annual grant from the DNR that provides for the majority of operations- equipment, repairs, fuel, routine maintenance, insurance, trail improvement projects (bridges, culverts, gates, etc). However the grant does not provide for labor to run the groomers. It is up to the club to cover those costs.

“We cover those costs through the following ways- sponsors, donations, raffles, memberships, and volunteers,” LaPorte said. “Without these funding mechanisms, we would not be able to groom the trails as often as we need to due to the high traffic we experience.”