Snow Warriors kick off season

Despite the relatively thin snow around Lincoln, the Ponderosa Snow Warriors kicked off both the new year and the snowmobile season Jan. 2 with a virtual fun runt and food at the club house on Sucker Creek Road.

"This was the first thing we were going to try to do because we had to cancel the club dinner," said the club's new president Forest Mercill. Mercill took over as president last fall from Ron Zarr, who stepped down due to work and other commitments.

Attendance to the event grew throughout the day, although most members drove out to the club house rather than arriving on snowmobiles.

Mercill, who said he's still new to the position and a little green when it comes to knowing who to contact and what the procedures are, noted the thin snow wasn't the only issue a full-scale fun run faced. He said they also failed to take into account the need for a COVID-19 plan, since it was expected to be an outdoor event, on machines that inherently keep participants socially distanced.

"It was a lack of due diligence on our part," he admitted. "It was denied, but not for any reason other than we didn't give them enough time."

Regardless, the scaled-down event provided a chance to get the clubhouse up and running for the season. Mercill said with COVID-19 shutting everything down, they had put everything clubhouse-related on hold, but they hope to have it manned every Saturday and Sunday, both for guests and to help boost membership. As part of that effort, the club moved their meeting times from Tuesdays to the second Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. at the club house.

"One of thing things we've been hearing... is just access to the club," Mercill said. "We hope by doing it on Saturday it's more accessible to the membership, and they know on a consistent basis that people are going to be out here."

He said they would love to have anyone who wants to volunteer to host the clubhouse for a day.

"Hopefully we get quite a bit of membership and get people showing up and having it open" he said. "We get into a four or five year funk on it and people forget that it's here."

He said the goal is, if they said the clubhouse is open, it's open.

"We're shooting for getting it to where people know that, when the flags are flying, people are here and they can stop in and sign in. That's pretty invaluable for our grant writing and our accounts and all the stuff we need."

As part of that, they're making a change to clearing the parking lot they hope will help make the clubhouse more attractive to members and volunteers with families.

"Once we start getting snow, we're actually going to build up our snow piles a little bit differently and shape them so we have a spot for kids to come out here and sled," Mercill said. "If you host the clubhouse for a day, you've got a nice little sled hill right here."

Interest in taking a more active role in the club is also growing among some of the younger members, Mercill said. "It's really just a matter of kind of hounding them a little bit and making them feel welcomed and wanted and having them come out and play"

Although the season is off to a slow start, Mercill is confident the snow will come, even if it's later than usual. Club members plan to go out this week to work on clearing trails, and volunteers will also be needed for that. Grooming is also expected to begin this week as well. "We've been waiting for the snow and just haven't had it. We''ll be in contact with the Forest Service, getting the trails closed off and everything."

Mercill said there's still quite a bit of downed timber along the trails, and suggested anybody going out right now have a chainsaw with them.

Upcoming events scheduled for the Snow Warriors include the pancake breakfast and fun run Jan. 23, the moonlight fun run Feb. 27 and the pancake breakfast and scholarship fun run March 13.

For more information, contact the club at ponderosasnowwarriors@ gmail.com. Mercill can be reached by email at mercill@ hotmail.com or by phone at 406-475-5786.