ANTIGO, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Many folks in the Badger State are celebrating the warmer temperatures, but snowmobile clubs are taking a hit. Ice storms and warm weather have clubs scrambling to clean up debris and keep the trails clean.
“If we wouldn’t have got this warm weather, we would’ve been about 50% ready to open this weekend,” said President of Antigo Sno-Drifters, Tim Grall.
But now, they’re even further away with clubs putting in extra hours to make sure trails are ready to open. “We put about 100-150 hours pounding signs in and brushing,” said Grall. “We had an ice storm come through, so we put about another 60 hours of hand brushing.”
Grall says it’s not out of the ordinary for trails to be closed until January, but they were hopeful that early snowfalls could open up trails and bring in business. “As far as an economic impact form last year, our visitors, our day trippers, and our overnights spent $48 million last year,” said Angie Close, Economic Director for Langlade County.
Not Bob’s Bar in Antigo relies on business from riders this time of year, and right now they are watching potential sales drive right by their location along Highway 45 “We watch trucks and trailers full of snowmobiles heading north, and it’s very hard to watch them go past us,” said Owner Sara King
Langlade County is looking to bring the trails back to life in early January, but Grall says they’ll need another four to six inches of snow to safely open up the trails.
Marathon County had opened a portion of the Mountain Bay Trail east of County Road J, but that was closed by Friday evening. That was the only segment of the county’s trail system to open following the early-season snow.
