Winter is coming, or so hope the snowmobilers

It hasn't been a great season for snowmobilers around the National Capital Region thanks to a below-average amount of snow in Ottawa, especiallyin December.

To make matters worse,of the 38.6 centmetres that did fall in the capital by New Year's Eve, all but five had melted.

Club-maintained snowmobile trails across eastern Ontario have yet to open this year, with the authorities who negotiate the fragile patchwork of land-usepermissions begging permit holders to obey the closures.

For riders who have invested a small fortune in modern snowmobiles, insurance, and permits, the wait can be painful.

"Everybody feels strong on social media," said Wayne McDonald,who co-ordinatestrail groomingfor the Seaway Valley Snowmobile Association southeast of Ottawa.

"'Why aren't the trails ready to goyet? Because they should be, you know, there's snow on the ground.'"

Need 30 cm of snow on the ground

McDonald said groomers need at least 30 centimetres of snow on the ground in order to create a base that will withstand the traffic of hundreds of riders over the season.

McDonald says early snow isn't always good news either, as it's often followed by a January thaw. That's what happened last winter when he didn't pull his two 125-horsepowergroomersfrom his Avonmore, Ont., yard until Jan. 17.

Not far away in a workshop that sparkles like adentist's office, a fastidious Nick Carrey fusses over his low-mileage,high performance Bombardier snowmobile.

With no riding to do,Carrey satisfies his sledding urge by treating the sled to the kind of preventative maintenance many machines will never see. There's only so much more he can do, though.

"It's not pleasant," Carrey said of the wait."At least after the holidays is usually when we start riding our snowmobiles."

Wait could end soon

The head of theUpper Canada Snowmobile Region featuring 3,300 kilometres of trails stretching fromNapanee, Ont., tothe Quebec border says he understands people are "anxious to go" on the trails.

Peter Asquiniis also checking the forecast constantly, comparing it to buying a new boat only to see rain every weekend. Still, he wants riders to be patient because the trails rely on about 2,000 land-use agreements with residents in the region.

"All it takes is one landowner to say 'no' and you break the connection in the trail network,so now you've got pieces of trail that don't connect and you can't go anywhere," said Asquini.

With a major Monday snowfall forecast for much of the region, sledders may not have much longer to wait until they can hit the trails.