manitouwadge club, officially no longer part of the OFSC.

[Snowberg]

Blackfly

Thanks for taking the time to put Manitouwadge into words. I used to work for Noranda back in the early 80's, was in maintenance working on muckers and scooptrams over in "3 Shaft". Funny, I was single, lived in the bunk house, hung out at the bar over at the hotel, i remember we used to leave our lunch boxes at the restaurant. When we went to breakfast our lunch was packed and ready to go, well enough of that, sorry for my boring reminising.

Even though I live in the US now, I ride with AO all over Northern Ontario and was thrilled to ride through Manitouwadge on a few occations in the last few years. Thanks to you and all the volenteers who made made it possible for us to come through and truely hope we will be able to again in the near future.

[Polaris1]

The 1st part of this post is directed @ the US sledders. When we started touring in 2000, we saw mostly US riders. Now they are few & far between. Which is more of a deterrent, the dollars @ parity or the lousy economy? I know people from the US that enjoyed the "good life" over here when the Canuck buck was in the toilet & they got a great premium when exchanging dollars. Now w/ the show on the other foot, they seem to grumble about how much everything costs here.

When Howard Hampton was leader of the NDP & a MPP from NW Ont', he complained about logs being cut in Ont' & trucked to Manitoba.

The Met Site in Timmins closed w/ the loss of 600 jobs & the ore shipped to Rouyn-Noranda for processing.

The reason for these 2 itemns was that the hydro (electricity) costs were cheaper outside of Ont'. Who's fault is that?

We are from Pennsylvania and usually go to Ontario twice -once for a long weekend then again for a longer 4-5 day ride.Its very hard to find anybody down here willing to spend the money to ride your fine trails.We had a group of 10 of us come up about 10 years ago,but now can only find one other guy willing to go for more than 3 days.We used to figure it would cost us about $100 a day american per person to go up between food lodging gas and beverages.As you guys know,its at least 2 times that now,probably closer to 2 and a half.I live in a blue collar town and everyone here is afraid to spend money due to the volatility of the economy.Until our dollar gets stronger,I'm afraid the number of US sledders is only going to fall.

[Ox]

IMO you need to factor in the lowering of the sledder age.

Just how many new people getting into the sport really - down here that is? Many of us here grew up in the snow yrs of the 70's and early 80's when Michigan was 4' deep by Houghton Lake and points beyond. Other than the lake effect zones along the Great Lakes, many of us don't get enough snow, long enough anymore to entice folks to buy a sled and try it, even if they could afford it. When the scare tactics change back from Global Warming and back to Comming Ice Age (like the 70's) and we have snow everywhere aggin, then maybe more will git into it. But even at that - around here anymore - folks git so uptight about you riding past their house or on their ground. Likely doo to insane liability issues. Not like back-0in-the-day. Of course that is what we like about the Crown Land!

Then - have you priced a new sled these days?

Heck - it's not a cheap hobby at all for those of us that have been dooing it since we were young kids.

I remember yrs ago in Wawa meeting up with a family that just bought 3 new snow machines. Mom, Dad, Kid. Kid had a 700 Mach, forget what the others were, but they were not lesser machines. New enclosed trailer, all new clothes, helmets, etc .... I hafta wonder if he bought a new truck to tow this stuff with too, or if he already had that? I was in awe of the amount of $ that this guy just dropped in one sh-bang to get into sledding.

I love riding, but there is no way that I could ever spend that kinda $ in one fell swoop. I've been playing this game for 35 yrs, and I usually have some lingering pc of the puzzle that is 10 or more yrs old. I started riding in Ontario with 20 yr old clothing/helmet. -40 was a test for it to say the least....

Now add that new machines have doubled in cost since the late 90's, while Average Joe in Mich/Ohio (and likely S Ontario) is making less than he did then... and exchange rate really is low in the grande scheme I think...

Only saving grace in the sled costs standpoint is that the 4 strokes will run a LOT more klicks in a lifetime. So there is at least that going for us. But then sled sales will fall in half doo to that fact, and the price will go up a little more aggin.

[02Sled]

One of the key problems every sport, activity etc. will face is the aging demographics associated with the baby boomers. It is not only sports but, employers, pension plans etc. that will suffer. With the aging population the numbers of people hitting retirement age is increasing exponentially and the numbers in the workforce age bracket is significantly diminishing. While some may not agree we need immigration to keep the country going. The WASP population has just not been sustaining itself. When I was a kid virtually every family had two or more kids. Now I see significant numbers of couples choosing not to have kids at all.

The ethnic mix coming into Canada for the most part have little or no interest in snowmobiles. A culture thing I guess, However I did run across a Mexican family at the sled show going all out for their kids to immerse themselves in Canada, They had never seen snow before and had just bought two sleds.

The clubs are going to see an aging population and membership with a smaller audience from which to draw for new members to sustain them going forward. The volunteer committees are doing what they can and seem to have some recent success in attracting new members however they have to work really hard to do so when the pool of eligible people is that much smaller.

[dweese]

The clubs are going to see an aging population and membership with a smaller audience from which to draw for new members to sustain them going forward. The volunteer committees are doing what they can and seem to have some recent success in attracting new members however they have to work really hard to do so when the pool of eligible people is that much smaller.

Nail on the head there with that one...

I would bet what we are going to start to see over the next few years, is clubs downsizings and shutting down some trails, and the smaller clubs joining up with other clubs to become a single super club to pool their equipment and members.

Everything else is starting to downsize in this world to stay on track, why should OFSC Clubs be any different.

[sleddog]

It's funny. Being an anal retentive detail oriented planner, I still have a ride flyer for a "Guys Only" ride I did out of Wawa in '98. Amazingly, the lodging, permit, fuel and food costs haven't gone up that much. Relatively speaking.

However, what has changed is this. We'd exchange a $1000 at the border and get back $1600, plus an additional $45 for exchanging $1000. Each person.

In addition, on this side, my home heating and electric costs have tripled. My fuel costs to work have increased by 2 1/2 times. My contributions to my health care and retirement have more than doubled. And I used to pay cash for a sled that now has to be financed for more than my dad paid for our first house.

Factor in my mistakenly taking my wife to Ontario in '04 and now my costs in the Great North double. A 4 day saddlebag ride for 2 last year cost just under 2 grand.

I am by no means done riding in Ontario. However, instead of 3 trips like in '05 & '06. It has to be a special occasion trip now.

When we Americans have the disposable income like we used to have, we'll be back more often, because the country and the people are second to none. God Bless North America!