The Missoula Snowgoers Club received an early Christmas present this year that will make snowmobilers who frequent trails in the Lolo area very happy.
"We'll be able to do a lot better job on the trial system. A lot of people use these trails up here not just snowmobilers, we'll be really pleased to have it” said Grommer Chairman Don Phillips.
Following 18 months worth of research, the Missoula Snowgoers Club finally received a new trail groomer, a $200,000 Bombardier BR 350, which replaced a BR 180 which was purchased in 2001.
“It will be really nice. It’s a big machine (and) it will cover a lot of area a lot faster than the old one (with) a lot less fuel” Lolo Pass Groomer Mike Cassidy told us. “And of course the maintenance will be a lot less…it's a new machine."
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks sets aside money to spend on 25 local snowmobile clubs and land management agencies each year to maintain the state's snowmobile trail system.
The money for the new machine came from the state gas tax, registration fees for resident snowmobilers, and fees paid by non-residents to register snowmobiles ridden on public lands in Montana.
“We provide the money because it’s definitely a benefit to the economy in the winter time, a lot of recreation users use the groomed trails” explained FWP Trails Grant Coordinator Jason White.
"This is going to benefit every person that rides a snowmobile” added Missoula Snowgoers Club President Kim Herman. “People like to ride snowmobiles. They boondock, they go off trail, but without the trail system in place, snowmobiling would cease to exist."
Snowmobile clubs all over Montana receive a new groomers usually every 10 years, depending on mileage that the machine puts on each year and how heavily it’s used.
“Hopefully we've got a really deep snow year again this year and we'll be able to keep the trials open better than we have in the past with the snow machine” Cassidy said.
The new machine isn't needed just yet, but when it does snow, it will be responsible for grooming nearly 400 miles of trail in the Lolo Pass Trail System.
- Allyson Weller reporting from KPAX in Missoula
