Out-of-town sledders get a cold welcome in Castlegar.

[W.O.T.]

I was in Castlegar this past weekend and was surprised to find the lack of hospitality in this community towards sledders.

The hotel where we usually stay at wasn't interested in our business at all, so we got a room in town. We woke up Sunday morning to find that someone has slashed the tires on one of our friend's encosed trailers while it was parked outside of the reality office at some point in the night. Unfortunately the Super 8's cameras don't cover that section of parking lot, so there was nothing the police could do about it.

After talking with some of the locals I was informed that there has been controversey within the local snowmobile club with regards to people coming in from out of town and riding in Castlegar. I am considering approaching the local Chamber of Commerce, but not sure there is anything they can do.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this in Castlegar?

 

[MATTIAC]

I was in Castlegar this past weekend and was surprised to find the lack of hospitality in this community towards sledders.

The hotel where we usually stay at wasn't interested in our business at all, so we got a room in town. We woke up Sunday morning to find that someone has slashed the tires on one of our friend's encosed trailers while it was parked outside of the reality office at some point in the night. Unfortunately the Super 8's cameras don't cover that section of parking lot, so there was nothing the police could do about it.

After talking with some of the locals I was informed that there has been controversey within the local snowmobile club with regards to people coming in from out of town and riding in Castlegar. I am considering approaching the local Chamber of Commerce, but not sure there is anything they can do.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this in Castlegar?

not personally, I have a good friend who lives there, ill ask him some questions. revy used to be similar until the skihill opened. then the town realized the money the sledders bring in vs the hippy ski bums, now they love sledders

 

[takethebounce]

Nope, never.

Just the opposite. The locals are easy going and helpful. They do like to keep their secret areas to themselves at first but are usually usually good to show you around if you don't know the area.

We don't stay in town, but go in to get fuel, and Timmies of course. Plus we quad and dirt bike out there all summer as well.

If its the local club who has the issue with out of town sledders then I would contact the club. Not much the town of Castlegar can do and likely wouldn't get involved. I know we have ridden with club members/organizers in the past and haven't had any issues and found them helpful.

I am sure that some of them could be upset if out of town riders are not contributing with memberships/trailfees and such. I know we have deposited donations in the club box at Grizzly when we were out there.

I know many of the Kootenay riders use this forum so maybe they have more insight.

 

[sledderdoc]

Thats too bad .........

 

[MATTIAC]

Ya. Exactly right if the out of towners aren't paying trail fees. My neighbor is the ex Bc snowmobile club president. I'll talk to him too see if he has any insight

 

[OOC ZigZag]

Sad to see the Gorby chit going on. Love to catch em in the act pretty sure a pipe wrench to the melon would fix it though.:d

 

[powderpilot]

The Castlegar Snowmobile Association had an open members meeting in January because people (past members) were boycotting the club. One of the comments was to keep the membership local or put a cap on it to stop it from growing.

I actually ran in to Mark on Monday and he told me about the tires. Totally BRUTAL!!!

I always welcome people to the area, sledders or not, they all bring much needed revenue to the area!

 

[OOC ZigZag]

The Castlegar Snowmobile Association had an open members meeting in January because people (past members) were boycotting the club. One of the comments was to keep the membership local or put a cap on it to stop it from growing.

I actually ran in to Mark on Monday and he told me about the tires. Totally BRUTAL!!!

I always welcome people to the area, sledders or not, they all bring much needed revenue to the area!

If your serious about attracting out of towners talk to your local RCMP and get them to start protecting our chit and do their jobs and police the community and stop hassling sledders like what went on in Valemount this winter. Reports of vandalism and theft will deter us from contributing to your community. The gorby mentallity thing well anyone who posesses it can suck my azz, Just another way of saying loser low life mentallity.

 

[clarkydubs]

this chit pisses me off, i could see something like this happening in nelson, with all the enviro junkies around here.....but in the most redneck town in the kootenays...wouldnt expect it at all.

ten bucks says it was a couple of loser's that are too lazy too get a real job, drunk out of there mind jealous of your sick setup. 9/10 this is the case.....
were not all a$$holes in the koots, keep coming and keep droppin those green backs!!!!!

 

[powderpilot]

If your serious about attracting out of towners talk to your local RCMP and get them to start protecting our chit and do their jobs and police the community and stop hassling sledders like what went on in Valemount this winter. Reports of vandalism and theft will deter us from contributing to your community. The gorby mentallity thing well anyone who posesses it can suck my azz, Just another way of saying loser low life mentallity.

Don't think we have that problem with the police around here, and I hope we never do! Sounds like a gov't cash grab to me.

The club area is just not that big or that busy. Not to mention there are at least a dozen different places to ride within 30 minutes of here, so it would be tough to target sledders from any one area.

 

[OOC ZigZag]

Don't think we have that problem with the police around here, and I hope we never do! Sounds like a gov't cash grab to me.

The club area is just not that big or that busy. Not to mention there are at least a dozen different places to ride within 30 minutes of here, so it would be tough to target sledders from any one area.

Good buddy of mine lived down there and he said it was the best riding he had ever done, One of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He said the first yr he rode there 4 diffrent production crews were out filming. Chitty thing is I never got a chance to ride with him down there, He got hit by an avy someone else triggered on Hall mtn. He did tell me there is a ton of area to ride down there. Told me about a high alpine meadow finger that went for miles and miles that he was going to show me. Why would he local snowmobile club not want as many members as they can get? Your gonna cap the number for such a big area? Would think they would want more members to help out their operation.

 

[moyiesledhead]

Would think they would want more members to help out their operation.

It's actually a double edged sword for a small club. More members does mean more money, but it usually also means more trail maintenance.....which requires more money and more volunteer time......it can turn into a viscious circle. In Cranbrook our grooming requirements were up drastically this year, putting more stress on our equipment and volunteers. Eventually our cat was in such bad shape from being overworked that we had to stop at the beginning of April. Not saying clubs don't appreciate the income, but there is another side to it.

 

[kootenaycat]

If your serious about attracting out of towners talk to your local RCMP and get them to start protecting our chit and do their jobs and police the community and stop hassling sledders like what went on in Valemount this winter. Reports of vandalism and theft will deter us from contributing to your community. The gorby mentallity thing well anyone who posesses it can suck my azz, Just another way of saying loser low life mentallity.

Lived here all my life and this is an isolated incident. There were a couple of local thieves stealing toys a couple of years ago but they must have been taken care of, been pretty quiet for a while now.

I hope the Castlegar club doesn't start talking caps or locals only, that's a pretty absurd mentality for a small town like this to not push the tourism. Granted there are dozens of great riding areas not in their tenure, so if it does go that way, ask a local (non member) and I'm sure you'll still have a great time sledding the area.

Kevin

 

[Timber_Tramp]

The BCR weekend ride was in Gar at the end of Feb. We stayed at the super 8 as well and never had a problem. The locals showed us around the hill and were more than friendly.
The local club did an excelent job of grooming , knowing that there were 20-30 of us on this ride.
Given the chance , Id go back.The area has some great terrain thats close to town and could give Revy some competition as a destination for a sledding holiday.

 

[Highmaintenence]

Very disappointing to say the least! Some people just have too much time! Ass hats!

 

[powderpilot]

The BCR weekend ride was in Gar at the end of Feb. We stayed at the super 8 as well and never had a problem. The locals showed us around the hill and were more than friendly.
The local club did an excelent job of grooming , knowing that there were 20-30 of us on this ride.
Given the chance , Id go back.The area has some great terrain thats close to town and could give Revy some competition as a destination for a sledding holiday.

Actually the BCR ride was another point of contension at the meeting. I found the thread on BCR that the ride was happening and tried to get the Club involved to help accomodate the extra bodies, extra grooming, and a barbeque on the hill to raise funds for a generator that we had been trying to buy for Ladybird cabin.

Some of the members at the meeting thought the town was going to be over-run with sledders. The folks that took you out while you were here were the ones that stood up on behalf of the Club at the meeting.

The official head-count on Saturday was 14. The BCR crew was kind enough to donate the generator and re-emburse the club for the food that was bought for the BBQ.

It turned out to be a lot of whining for nothing, and the BCR crew really stepped up and made it a positive experience for the Club and local business.

 

[Murminator]

Sounds like a hand full of folks don't rely on sledder money to survive

 

[retiredpop]

I was in Castlegar this past weekend and was surprised to find the lack of hospitality in this community towards sledders.

The hotel where we usually stay at wasn't interested in our business at all, so we got a room in town. We woke up Sunday morning to find that someone has slashed the tires on one of our friend's encosed trailers while it was parked outside of the reality office at some point in the night. Unfortunately the Super 8's cameras don't cover that section of parking lot, so there was nothing the police could do about it.

After talking with some of the locals I was informed that there has been controversey within the local snowmobile club with regards to people coming in from out of town and riding in Castlegar. I am considering approaching the local Chamber of Commerce, but not sure there is anything they can do.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this in Castlegar?

There will always be the people who feel they have exclusive rights to use"their" land and outsiders should not be allowed. As a result they will do stuff like this to get their point across as wrong as it may be.

There must be a different story about the hotel where you usually stay. Business is business for those folks so something must have happened to their establishment because of some sledders actions in the past. We are all representatives of the sport when we pull into a place to stay or even to fill up with gas etc. Unfortunately some people leave a very bad impression and we all suffer for it.

 

[Skadi]

this makes me really sad... I saw it coming a while back with the drama that was playing out stirred up by a few bad seeds who are trying to keep an area all to themselves. It amazes me when people think this way!! I get it, I really do! i came from a small area that started to see a major influx of motorsports users over the last few years and now all our honey holes are tracked up when we want to go hit them... But you know what? You go find another honey hole, you improve your riding and exploring skills and see what other areas you can open up!! Growth of the sport is hard on many levels but important also. Keeps our prices down (hopefully!) with some competition among the major slad manus. Means it's easier on the gear makers to lower their prices and offer a wider variety of things... provides some people with the opportunity to treat this 'sport' like a sport and attempt to make a living at it -by guiding, filming, riding for film, whatever. This sport is growing and it's a GOOD thing!!

I'd say focus on the positive and keep trying to leave a positive mark on each community you travel to as possible. threads like this are good because it steps up awareness that those of us who travel to an area are bringing income into that area!! hotels, food, gas, trail fees... I tried to point this out a while back but there was still a lot of anger by these few bad seeds and a lot of negaitive energy... now maybe enough people have noticed it and can show how growing the sport is POSITIVE and how traveling to a new area brings all sorts of revenue into that area for the locals that don't even ride. Like someone said. Revy is a PRIME example of this. There are a few other towns down here in the states that wouldn't exist in the winter were it not for sledding and they embrace it and attract people like no other!

there are always gonna be bad seeds though... we just need to try to support those are fighting the good fight for us! I know there are a lot of club members who disagree with this 'keep it to ourselves' mentality... but there are a lot who 'get it' and are fighting to change the views and the influence of the 'bad seeds'!

Personally my trips up there have been great but I've heard some grumblings after the fact. The majority of the people I have met on the mtn have been wonderful and helpful and VERY enjoyable!! I hope this can get turned around as this is a beautiful area and it would be nice to see the community grow from an influx of winter tourists as well!

 

[frock]

How do we even know the vandalism was done by sledders protecting "their" area????????????????????

This could have been a bunch of drunken azzhats out to wreck something and your buddies trailer happened to be the first thing in the way.

Your bad exoerience at the first hotel could have also been just a coincidence, maybe it was d!@kheads night running the desk or maybe the pigs ate his little brother and he was havin a bad night and you were the first person he could vent on :d.

just sayin