It's a really involved process and most people don’t realize that. As soon as the season is done at the end of March, we get a couple of months off. But by the end of August or so, we're back at it. Guys are running out on the trails with their own trucks so they can clear the brush and trees that are down. We check that the DNR’s mandated signs are up. And that’s just the start.
In our area, we have a lot of low land, so once it starts getting cold and we get a little snow, we have to work real hard freezing up the swamps, which takes hours and hours and hours. We take the groomers out to push snow into all the waterholes. They turn it into a kind of slush that freezes better. A lot of people don't realize swamp water is actually warm because of the vegetation rot. So it's tough to get everything to freeze solid. It’s a lot of man hours.
Additionally, because we come across a snowmobile crash every now and again, all groomer operators have been certified in emergency first aid and CPR. As far as I know, we are the only club around that has those certifications throughout.