Monte Turre first rode on a snowmobile at the tender age of two, plunked down in front of one of his parents. At 10, he had his first snowmobile of his own. Now married and a parent of two children — one of whom is a little girl who will go for her first ride this winter — he’s involved himself in helping keep the sport alive in the area.
Turre joined the Tail Creek Snowbirds Snowmobile Club about eight years ago, and just a few years into his membership became president of the organization, which first formed in 1971.
“We’ve still got several active original members,” Turre said of the club’s first snowmobilers. The club now numbers around100 members, a number that has both shrunk and grown over the years as weather and economy takes its toll.
The club tried to get its first trail up and running last year, but a combination of unrelated incidents and uncooperative weather put a kibosh on their plans. This year, though, Turre said he and his fellow sledders are determined to see the 20-mile-long trail up and running.
“It’s not very long,” Turre admitted. “But it’s good enough for our first trail.”
The trail is made possible by property owners who have given the club right-of-way access. Unlike in some other provinces,which has a large amount of Crown land to use for trails, Alberta’s land is almost all private property. That means for a trail to go from point A to point B, property owners have to be on board.
“Landowner support for our current trail plan has been very good,” Turre said. “We’ve had some trouble with some property owners due to off-season use of quads on the trails.”
Turre said the club, which only allows snowmobilers to use the trails, does what it can to keep ATV enthusiasts off the trails all year round, but what it really comes down to is respect.
“The quads and dirt bikes tear up the trails and the property,” he explained. “Landowners don’t want us around when that happens.”
He said the club hasn’t had any concerns brought to their attention from last year, and hopes all will go according to plan this year — up to and including proper winter weather.
“We did great last year until the new year,” Turre said. “Then the weather changed.”
The melting-freezing-melting cycles wreaked havoc, melting snow and freezing moisture, leaving the trails a mess of attimes soggy and icy tracks. The club’s groomer, purchased last year to help keep trails in fun, healthy shape couldn’t domuch against Mother Nature.
As long as she cooperates this year, Turre said the groomer will be out and the trail can get its first real usage trial.
“Our main goal is to provide a safe, family-oriented place for snowmobilers to ride,” Turre said. “We want kids from grandparents out there, having fun. We have zero tolerance for alcohol, drugs, and mischief.”
The club currently owns and operates three warming sheds in the winter season. The old Stettler tourist information teepee,located near Buffalo Lake, a hut donated by Al Tremmel and John Cowle of White Sands was moved to property near TailCreek and Highway 12, and the third hut is located north of Highway 601 near Pheasantback Golf Course.
These huts give snowmobilers a place to pause and warm up, wait out a bit of inclement weather, or just meet up with pals.
“It’s the community,” Turre said about what brings him back to snowmobiling every winter. “Getting out with your friends and family, playing cards at a warming shelter, poker runs and group rides.”
The community is a vibrant one, brought together by their love of being outdoors in winter.
“Last year we rode up to Bashaw, had supper, and rode back. The year before we went to Donalda,” Turre recalled. “There was about 30 of us.”
Poker runs bring in money for the club, which turns around and gives it back to the community. Between 1995-2013, the club raised about $24,000 for local schools, the Heartland Youth Center, STARS and a defibrilator.
The cost of the trail maintenance itself is paid for by memberships, which are $70 a person until Dec. 31. On Jan. 1, 2016,the rate increases $10 to $80.
The club rose from about 50 members two years ago to 100, and has been around the same. Weather plays a big part in whether or not the club can gain new blood.
“You don’t see what you’re getting if there’s no snow,” Turre said of the club. “It’s hard to imagine the benefit.”
The heavy use of the warming huts and the limited trails shows there’s interest, though.
Memberships can be purchased by going to the club’s website or Facebook page, at Romar, Heartland Marine and PowerSports, and Napa, Turre said. Or, they can be obtained by talking with members of the club.
