The weather was warm, the snow was deep and more than 100 snowmobilers made the trek north to Long Island Lake for the Pembina Driftbusters poker rally last Saturday.
Organizers were pleased with the turnout, which had hit the 100-person mark by noon, according to volunteer and Alberta Snowmobile Association rep Cliff Bromberger.
“We usually just run about 70 or 80 for a rally,” he said. “The weather and the snow conditions really help.”
Conditions were quite snowy along the 120-kilometre route, with snow drifting to waist deep or higher at some points along the trail — something any snowmobiler will tell you is ideal.
“The more the better,” Bromberger said.
“You can never have too much snow.”
Allan Schwartz, who traveled from Edmonton for the event with a group of friends, said while he’s fairly new to snowmobiling, he was looking forward to getting out on the trails.
“I’ve only been out to one or two rallies before,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to an afternoon on the trails out in the bush. It beats the heck out of sitting around home.”
Riders like Schwartz can thank a group of dedicated volunteers like Bromberger for getting the trail in shape and putting on the event — it’s not as easy as just putting a sled in the snow and taking off.
“It takes a lot of work,” Bromberger said. “I spent I don’t know how many hours clearing trails.”
There’s a lot of deadfall that must be cleared first, then it takes two people about a 16-hour day to run the groomer along the length of the trails.
“It’s all volunteer work; nobody gets paid,” he said. “I’ve spent three weeks of my holidays (working).”
The event was structured as a poker rally, meaning riders pick up poker chips number 1-50 at each checkpoint, then the rider with the highest point total at the end won $500.
Any profits left over after the prize is given out goes back into the club to help pay the operating costs.
