Team Pigeon
Active VIP Member
Gotta bring it here to the forums fellas, I got a beef with some Washington plate riders not paying up the $10 trail fees up Ladybird the past few weeks. Well, not only Washington, but also Quebec, Saskatchewan, Idaho, Alberta and some certain well known community locals. Them bright yellow collection boxes are the first thing you see getting up there to park.
I received disgruntled emails from members this week. Parking lot full, 15-20 people from Washington. No Washington dollars. One of my members mentioned the 'trail fee' subject to some of these people last weekend, heads all turned to the ground. Checked the box yesterday, netted a two week total of $40, CDN. Lame eh, 20 people @ $10 a head, you can add. GooseCreek had a bit more, $130 and a group from Oregon had their names on $50. I truly do appreciate the monies from in the boxes, but it's not relative to the trucks I see up there on a regular basis, truly disheartening. Maybe a bit of education is needed.
We burn 250L in diesel every two weeks which adds up to about 2250L a season @ 1.30L- average. 2 cases grease last week- should be good for a year. Snowcat engine almost cratered at the start of the season with mechanical issues due to the cold. Anyone notice the parking lot doubled in size over the summer? A D8 bulldozed it last summer, local logging company handled that for us. Double the size now means double the plowing duties that's been contracted most of the season. But it's sure nice turning your 4place enclosed around ain't it? Tandem axle deck truck is used to haul a 12000lb snowcat between the two zones: we are thankful the owner donates his time and money for these services.
Volunteer time. Ohhh ya, what's that worth? The grooming director resigned just after christmas so I added them duties to my list of tasks. Grant applications. The fall time fundraiser. We were also successful in helping a neighboring club's land issues in order to keep sledder access OPEN from commercial operations. We've been in operation for over 20 years and just renewed a 20 year term agreement with the government last month. Grouser repairs were made last month, took three hours with a welder and his rig. Firewood up at the Shaw a couple weeks ago, Ladybird should follow later this spring, that's a whole day that I can't ride- per cabin. I average a consistent 10hrs/week of volunteering time, all year long. The bookkeeper requires about 50hrs handling monies and mail. There's also a secretary and a vice prez.
What else? A second snowcat is being purchased for about 35K. Been saving up for that one for a few years. We had a lot of help from the locals and community with this project. As of late, I'm trying to fund-raise local tax money for a trail brusher to keep the roads open for all users of the area. Sold the skidsteer to pay for a plow/fueling truck for next season, finding something that ain't gonna fall apart has been an ignorant task. It really be nice to get 10cents on all them American beer cans we haul down but they don't take them at the depot. Maybe start buying you beer locally, Coors is 5% up here eh!
To close, if you think I'm painting everyone with the same brush, re-read my first sentence. The cheapest part of your day sledding is that $10. There's good people out there, I'll probably never know who you are. The message is aimed on those that don't g.a.f. rip and hammer up the trail for free. The reality of what it takes to run a non-profit volunteer club has gotta come to light and deserves some respect. Not just this club, but everywhere there's a groomer going at it in the middle of the night.
'Character' is defined when no-one's watching.
With respect,
Stephane Pigeon
President
Castlegar Snowmobile Association
I received disgruntled emails from members this week. Parking lot full, 15-20 people from Washington. No Washington dollars. One of my members mentioned the 'trail fee' subject to some of these people last weekend, heads all turned to the ground. Checked the box yesterday, netted a two week total of $40, CDN. Lame eh, 20 people @ $10 a head, you can add. GooseCreek had a bit more, $130 and a group from Oregon had their names on $50. I truly do appreciate the monies from in the boxes, but it's not relative to the trucks I see up there on a regular basis, truly disheartening. Maybe a bit of education is needed.
We burn 250L in diesel every two weeks which adds up to about 2250L a season @ 1.30L- average. 2 cases grease last week- should be good for a year. Snowcat engine almost cratered at the start of the season with mechanical issues due to the cold. Anyone notice the parking lot doubled in size over the summer? A D8 bulldozed it last summer, local logging company handled that for us. Double the size now means double the plowing duties that's been contracted most of the season. But it's sure nice turning your 4place enclosed around ain't it? Tandem axle deck truck is used to haul a 12000lb snowcat between the two zones: we are thankful the owner donates his time and money for these services.
Volunteer time. Ohhh ya, what's that worth? The grooming director resigned just after christmas so I added them duties to my list of tasks. Grant applications. The fall time fundraiser. We were also successful in helping a neighboring club's land issues in order to keep sledder access OPEN from commercial operations. We've been in operation for over 20 years and just renewed a 20 year term agreement with the government last month. Grouser repairs were made last month, took three hours with a welder and his rig. Firewood up at the Shaw a couple weeks ago, Ladybird should follow later this spring, that's a whole day that I can't ride- per cabin. I average a consistent 10hrs/week of volunteering time, all year long. The bookkeeper requires about 50hrs handling monies and mail. There's also a secretary and a vice prez.
What else? A second snowcat is being purchased for about 35K. Been saving up for that one for a few years. We had a lot of help from the locals and community with this project. As of late, I'm trying to fund-raise local tax money for a trail brusher to keep the roads open for all users of the area. Sold the skidsteer to pay for a plow/fueling truck for next season, finding something that ain't gonna fall apart has been an ignorant task. It really be nice to get 10cents on all them American beer cans we haul down but they don't take them at the depot. Maybe start buying you beer locally, Coors is 5% up here eh!
To close, if you think I'm painting everyone with the same brush, re-read my first sentence. The cheapest part of your day sledding is that $10. There's good people out there, I'll probably never know who you are. The message is aimed on those that don't g.a.f. rip and hammer up the trail for free. The reality of what it takes to run a non-profit volunteer club has gotta come to light and deserves some respect. Not just this club, but everywhere there's a groomer going at it in the middle of the night.
'Character' is defined when no-one's watching.
With respect,
Stephane Pigeon
President
Castlegar Snowmobile Association
