Fyi

[wirev]

Just received this email:
Sno-Eagles has encountered significant groomer issues this month. Currently all three of our groomers are down for repair work. We have not been able to groom our trails for several days and that is clearly evident in the condition of our trails. Right now they range from fair to horrible. This is distressing to Sno-Eagles as well as to the riders who come to Eagle River to enjoy our trails. Under these circumstances we obviously aren’t getting the job done. We apologize to our members, the visitors and the businesses that have been adversely affected.

We had an emergency Board of Directors meeting this morning to review the status of our equipment and made the decision to rent a New Holland tractor with Soucy tracks from Lulich Implement in Mason, WI. We are waiting for delivery but hopefully will have that unit in use today or tomorrow. As soon as we get it, it will be hooked to one of our drags to start getting out trails back in shape. We will continue to rent this unit until at least two of our groomers have been repaired and are back is service.

Providing great and safe trails is the most important job of Sno-Eagles. Our current situation will shortly be only a bad memory as we are able to again enjoy snowmobiling here in the “Snowmobile Capital of the World ®”.

Ken Storms, Sno-Eagles President

 

[Deleted member 10829]

It's great to see them proactive and addressing the issue in a transparent way and not running and hiding from it. What a bad break to have 3 groomers down at once. It makes me wonder though how old the groomers are? We trade our tractors every 3-4 years or before 1,000 hours with little or not down time.

 

[sweeperguy]

Where does Sno -Eagles groom, what county, area?

 

[polarismike]

Eagle River Wi.

 

[wirev]

Just joined the Sno-Eagles last year. Their equipment is a bit older and they are striving to get newer equipment. They poured some $60M into a groomer last year and now have problems this year. It's slowing down the purchase of newer equipment. I think they would like to get a new machine every 2 years but not sure. They have 3 groomers going almost around the clock. I know one groomer was down the whole year. It was not warrantee work but something the mfg was concerned about and wanted to fix. Engineers flew in from Germany [I think] to fix. Sno-Eagles area a good bunch of people. They are always one of the first clubs to get the trails set up, inspected, and approved every year. They are involved heavily in the community and the Derby. Many also work the Pond Hockey here the first weekend in Feb. 330 teams of 6-8 people and 30 ice surfaces. It's usually played on Dollar Lake which is where the original Snowmobile Derby started. This year the ice is terrible on the lake so they will play at the Derby. Was told they can make 26 surfaces for games. It's quite a spectacle.

 

[durphee]

Thanks for the update. We rode Eagle River Tuesday evening and they were in bad shape. We were told about the groomer situation so we can't complain. Just bad luck I guess. Good luck with the groomer situation, we will be back in 2 weeks!

 

[ddhanna]

We offered up a Three Lakes Trails unit to help out. Don't know the status of that. Eagle River has always been quick to help us with any stuff when needed. I'm sure they will get it straightened out soon.