Big Pete
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Posts posted by Big Pete
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9 hours ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:
Short story is that if the stump was on the groomed/travelled portion of the trail the groomer wouldn't miss it and in fact it may have been the drag from the groomer that took the bark off the stump on the last grooming.
In Ontario each club was supposed to have someonne whose responsibility it is to look for dangerous spots on the trail and direct having it repaired and also go out to accident scenes and take information and pictures for use by the OFSC in defending themselves. I believe the position was called Orr's (sp). I cannot say for sure if that is still a requirement of the OFSC or not. If the Quebec clubs had a similar club job the lawsuit results may have been different.
Yes every club is supposed to have a trained ORS responder. Their job is to document any/all3rd party incidents that could be a liability issue for the club/district/ofsc. That includes and injuries/fatalities, property damage, basically anything we might get sued for.
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14 hours ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:
I believe that I had read a few years ago that Quebec has the right answer. For lawsuits up to a maximum $ amount (can't remember the amount) If you sued and lost, you had to pay the other parties costs.
Too bad Ontario wouldn't adapt this system.
I might be wrong here but I thought the cap was $500K which was why the insurance included in the FCMQ is only $500k. But I also remember something to the effect that the limitation had an end date which was fast approaching (or may have even come and gone)..There was some big rumblings within the OFSC over a Quebec case where a rider from North bay was award3d $3.2M after being injured by hitting a buried stump on the side of the trail. The concern was that the case precedent could water down the Assumption of Risk agreement every permit buyer agrees to.
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/man-awarded-3-28m-after-snowmobile-trek-from-north-bay-to-quebec-ends-in-tragedy-1.6409886 -
5 hours ago, Spiderman said:
Yes they can and do all the time.
And the OFSCspends a ton of money defending clubs/district/federation against these frivolous claims. From my understanding very few suits are successful but you still have your defence costs. From what I have been told the courts in Ontario are very hesitant to award costs to the defence. Couple that with the whole contingency fees from the personal injury lawyers there does not seem to be any impediments to the plaintiff to file a suit.. the rules should changed so that if a plaintiff loses, they and their lawyers are accountable for the defence costs too. Would make them think twice before filing the statement of claim.
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7 hours ago, stoney said:
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And I am hearing more people use the wallat app to keep all their electronic files with them for these things as well - is it approved process, no idea......I have the old fashioned papers.....lol
Electronic proof of insurance is valid in Ontario, but may not be acceptable in other jurisdictions. From I have seen/read Alberta, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario are all areas that accept the digital insurance as legal proof
personally I have a hard copy with the ownership and a digital copy on my phone.
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Could someone explain what happened in 2019 to cause the closure of the trail to snowmobilers?
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29 minutes ago, soupkids said:
Got mine today
Me too. 10 days from order to receipt.
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1 hour ago, barberch said:
Got an email today that says my permit has been shipped!
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3 hours ago, signfan said:
How / why did they end up on $14? Some index to inflation? Or expected costs?
7% increase at each price point.
the new 4 year deal with MTO allows permit prices to increase by up to 7% each year. No indication on what decides the “up to “ level each year. Looks like it’s tied to inflation vs actual costs.
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7 hours ago, signfan said:
Secrets out.
Kinda funny values. Wonder how they were determined. Weird to see Ontario prices well under New Brunswicks.
The approved motion on permit fees at AGM set prices at
SeasonalOn or before Nov 1. $214 + $7.50 S/H
on or Before Dec 1. $244 + $7.50 S/H
aftet Dec 1. $294 + $7.50 S/H
Classic
on or before Dec 1. $171.20 + $7.50 S/H
after Dec 1. $201.20 + $7.50 S/H
Multi Day awaiting final confirmation from MTO but recommended at $48.15 per day with a 2 day minimum. -
2 hours ago, scottyr said:
Thats huge BUT I think I would rather pay $150 more for my permit and not rely on volunteers as much. The volunteers get burnt out and are hard to replace.
59 minutes ago, Strong Farmer said:It wouldn’t cost 150 more though be more like 250 more. Always waste in an organization when you pay for labour.
As rider base shrinks so do volunteers though. I like to see more of a balance though. Police force uses volunteers and don’t pay them for various activities too. Fire fighters same thing.
I actually think the $16.4M is light. Have not seen the actual report yet but I believe it looks at volunteer time only. What about all the donated goods and services that are donated such as use of personal tools/equipment or all the heavy equipment that contractors provide for little or no charge. I think you could make the number $20M quite easily.
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2 hours ago, stoney said:
Putting a figure on this can really help put it into perspective.
How is this valuable detail being communicated to those not involved directly, on a forum, etc…. any advertising being planned to get that out there?That’s a great question Stoney. The updated report will be released shortly. It is available to all clubs and districts through Club House. The whole report is an interesting read as it provides economic data such as employment generated, taxes paid to all levels of govt etc. it even breaks it down by district so local clubs can leverage this information with local municipalities and landowners when negotiating land use permissions. In the last report, snowmobiling generated approx 700 full time jobs in my district. Most landowners like to know that allowing use of their land is keeping somebody employed somewhere. It’s a powerful tool.
But if we don’t use it, it’s just another report gathering dust on a shelf in somebody’s office.
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43 minutes ago, Spiderman said:
That being the case, I assume fund raising for a club is important
Yes it is as most clubs have targeted the money at specific projects/needs that are not funded from permit dollars.
that said, fund raising sounds easy but it takes a tremendous amount of volunteer effort to raise any significant amount.
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Thanks Paul. It was an interesting 2 years as District Governor. You get a whole different perspective at that level vs the club/district.
hopefully will still serve on a couple of committees.
Peter
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3 hours ago, stoney said:
Yep - there is a ton of support in this industry by good people that allow it to be what it is, regardless of the shortcomings!
I am sure the extra few bucks a club might get from advertisers on trail maps, helps somewhere whether be fuel, tools, etc....
Which actually now makes me wonder with the new'ish template the OFSC uses for funding the clubs, does the advertisers moneys go into one big OFSC bucket or directly back to the club(s) that the advertiser is supporting, I would hope it goes directly to that club, but who knows now a days.
Any fund raising done by clubs stays with clubs. The OFSC does not control any of that money.
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2 hours ago, Yukon said:
There will be an official announcement from the OFSC soon.
When the announcement is made in the next couple of days keep this in mind.
some info from the updated Economic Impact of Snowmobiling in Ontario was released at AGM. The value of volunteer contributions through out the organization have been estimated at $16.4M annually. Based on approx 100,000 permits sold, that represents a cash savings of $164 to every permit buyer. That’s huge.
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Saw this today.
14/07/2023Re: Fuel Hose Wear - Potential Leak
Transport Canada Recall Number: 2023-377Dear Ski-Doo®/Lynx® Snowmobile Owner,
This notice is sent to you in accordance with the requirements of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. This is to inform you that your vehicle may contain a defect that could affect the safety of a person. BRP is conducting a safety recall.
This is also an emission-related recall in accordance with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Our records show that you own a potentially affected vehicle.
What is the potential problem?
The exhaust gas temperature sensor (EGTS) harness could be rubbing against the E-TEC main injector fuel return hose. This could lead to fuel leaks.
Fire could occur in the presence of an ignition source. In some situations, this could result in serious property damages, injuries or even death.
Which models are involved?
Model Year 2023 Ski-Doo® and Lynx® models equipped with an 850 E-TEC Turbo R engine.
What will BRP do?
BRP will repair your vehicle at no charge to you (parts and labor). The repair is to properly secure the EGTS harness to the chassis and inspect the fuel return hose condition and replace the hose if any wear is observed. The procedure should take less than 1 hour to complete.
link to recall. https://bit.ly/3DnxB01
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2 hours ago, skidooboy said:
how about, the funding to make/deem snowmobile trails permanent, so logging/mining, private entities, cannot disrupt them during season, without that entity paying for use, and or rerouting? ESPECIALLY ON CROWN LAND. Our region suffers from this yearly. so much money and man hours wasted when someone decides... we need to use this now, immediately... yeah, we know we told you we didnt need to this year but... I cant imagine just in our area, how much money has been wasted/lost in the last 20 years, to this. Ski
Agree 100%. Personally I think that secure land access is the single biggest risk to the sustainability of our sport. Without land access nothing else matters.
Funding is part of the solution and it may not be as expensive as one could think given, as you said, when you could be offsetting the costs with reduced costs of continuous reroutes. Legislatively there needs to be work done to reduce or severely limit liability/ exposure to landowners and trail
operators when user have “willing assumed” the risks.
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Grooming data is not very helpful unless you have the traffic data for the trail as well. Posting just the grooming data will only encourage the “chase the groomer” mentality which only exacerbates the problem of concentrating traffic on specific trails. Which would you rather ride, a trail groomed 7 days ago or a trail groomed yesterday. With out traffic data the rider would tend to select the trail groomed yesterday thinking it will be a better ride. But if you knew the trail groomed yesterday sees hundreds of sleds per day where the trail groomed a week ago see little traffic. Which one do you think is in better shape?
the idea of a regional permit is not new. The very first iteration of MOTS had a regional permit proposal. The province would have been divided into 5 regions (vs 16 Districts) each having its own permit pricing structure. There would still have been a province wide permit but at substantially higher price. The catch was that permit revenues for regional permits stayed in the region. The concept died a very quick death as it eliminates one region subsidizing another. There were also issues surrounding the combining of 16 districts into 5 regions. It would have been interesting to see a full analysis of the proposal.
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6 hours ago, Strong Farmer said:
I could use a pair for working outside. How long do batteries usually last?
in your case most likely some corrosion some where from going into cold and coming back inside. Wierd both stopped at same time.
My FXR Recon gloves are good for about 3 hrs on high and 6-7 hrs on low. On high no need for hand warmers on sled at any temp. On low I use the hand warmers on low too and have never hand cold hands. On really cold days I will carry a spare set of batteries just in case.
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I agree with Signfan. FXR customer service was 3xcellent to deal with. Had a problem with a spare set of batteries for my Recon gloves and they sorted it out no problem.
here is a link for LiPo battery care from FXR. Note the toll free number at the top and the location is Manitoba.
good luck.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0243/3479/4830/files/Lipo_Battery_Instruction_Manual.pdf
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On 2/9/2023 at 8:39 AM, Spiderman said:
Noticed a guy saturday come through the field we were in - his helmet had a red light on the back that was synched with the brake light.
That was kinda cool
I have a GMAX GM54 Snow Helmet that has an optional brake light kit that syncs the rear helmet light with the sled brake light. The light takes 2 AAA bstteries in the helmet and can be set to constant on, slow flash, fast flash or sync to brake light. A small transmitter is wired to the sled brake light and gets power from the brake light. Part number is
Led Brake Light Kit Fits GM54/GM67/GM78 -
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The official process (which is the minimum standard for all districts) is that trail status must be updated every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Failure to update the ITG will result in all trails showing as Red-Closed. This is a pure Risk Management policy. If trail status cannot be confirmed by the club it is automatically deemed to be closed. Districts are encouraged to update more frequently ( and I believe most do) especially at start/end of season when trail status is changing rapidly. As PLC noted above most if not all of the reporting relies on Club volunteers reporting on a timely basis. This fact raises its own unique challenges in delivering a reliable product to the end user.
as far as the actual process goes, for my district at least, clubs are required to report by email/text every Monday Wednesday and Friday morning. The ITG is updated as reports are received and it only takes a few minutes for the changes to be seen on the app. Like PLC states for D-5, our district administrator monitors email 24/7 and will update ITG virtually at anytime. It only takes a few minutes to update the database and can be done on a tablet/mobile device. If the DA can’t be reached, there are 2 of us as back ups.
for those that don’t like, use or trust the ITG, I would be interested to hear what the better alternative is that an be applied consistently across the province, from Kenora to Cornwall.
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Just a few pictures of what the clubs in D1 are dealing with. And they don’t do the situation justice. The snow last Friday was a welcome start but it caused a lot of damage in terms of downed trees etc. crews are reporting it looks like the ice storm of 1998. In my home club opening trails would normally take about 40-45 hours of grooming time. We are sitting at 55 hrs and we are not half way through the system yet. Any low lying areas are not frozen and there is a lot of accumulated water underneath the snow. And now we have another storm front Thursday-Friday with over 25mm of rain and +6.0 before the flash freeze on Saturday with more snow and forecasted extreme winds. It could be many more long hours for our volunteers before trails are safe to open. Hopefully the forecasted rain is lighter and the winds not as strong (or non-existent) as forecasted. With some luck we could have one of earliest starts ever.
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Is a permit required to ride on a lake but not on the OFSC trail?
in Main Clubhouse
Posted
this is the regulation from the MSVA which outlines the angling exception to trail permits. Note the bold highlight. This is often ignored by many who claim the exemption.
Licensed anglers.
While engaged in angling activities during open season, as defined in the Ontario Fishery Regulations made under the Fisheries Act(Canada), pursuant to a valid fishing or hunting/fishing outdoors card and a valid sport fishing validation tag, both issued under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997, and while travelling on Crown or other public land directly to or from the area open for angling, within the meaning of the Fisheries Act(Canada), if the trail is the only access route from the closest road to the area open for angling or is the only safe access route to the area open for angling.
A valid fishing or hunting/fishing outdoors card and a valid sport fishing validation tag, both issued under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997.
13b.
Anglers 65 years old or older or under 18 years old.
While engaged in angling activities during open season, as defined in the Ontario Fishery Regulations made under the Fisheries Act(Canada), pursuant to a valid fishing or hunting/fishing outdoors card and a valid sport fishing validation tag, both issued under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997, and while travelling on Crown or other public land directly to or from the area open for angling, within the meaning of the Fisheries Act(Canada), if the trail is the only access route from the closest road to the area open for angling or is the only safe access route to the area open for angling.
A valid fishing or hunting/fishing outdoors card issued under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 or,
(i) a driver’s licence,
(ii) a motorized snow vehicle operator’s licence, or
(iii) a birth certificate.