Question to groomer operators

[jr37]

Does your club/organization do training for groomer operators? Do you do yearly refreshers? Is there a video available on gooming?

We had an incident this winter that leads me to believe that basic grooming practices need to be reviewed onced in a while. I think that maybe some experienced operators could be offended by being told they need a refresher every year. I wouldn't want to lose any operators, but I think that some basic dos and don'ts should be gone over again.

What do you guys do?

 

[Deleted member 10829]

I was trained for a couple of hours and then was on my own. The training was good though but you really have to learn "on the job", just like anything. I am not aware of a training video and I have had no further training since and I don't feel I need any more.

What was your "incident"?

 

[Sno-Bandit Gary]

Sorry to here about your accident. I was trained by some very experienced groomers.We had the advantage to have a Tucker that sat two people and was able to ride along and then eventionally take the wheel. I am also curious what clubs do for training when you only have a one seat tractor.

Here is a link to the ACSA site. There is a reference guide half way down the page for groomers. It is aboutr the only thing I have found on the web.

http://www.snowmobilers.org/resources.asp

Gary

 

[groomerdriver]

Back in the early 80's I was taught how to drive by a very experienced guy. In the five clubs I've groomed for since, only 1X did I have somebody want to ride along with me the first time.
I don't think I "need" a refresher but I do listen to people if they've come up with a better way or different way to groom a trail.

Sitting around over a beer or soda and talking before/after the season and sharing a new trick, recounting a situation, etc. can only be a good thing.

And OH YEAH....I can see some of the long time groomer guys getting pretty pissed if you told them they had to take a refresher course.

I too am curious as to what happened. If it was an instance of a new(er) guy turning a drag into a pretzel, well that just goes with the territory. If it was an experienced driver that did something just plain stupid, that's another story.

PM me if you'd like to share the situation.

 

[jim_golding]

Our club has an informal training program where the more experienced drivers take out someone and lets them ride along, then drive for a while. This may happen a few times before we let them be the lead driver. We also have a smaller Track Truck to start them out on before we move them up to the Tucker.

It also helps when the trainee has some previous experience with heavy equipment, they seem to pick up on it rather quickly.

We don't have an annual referesher

www.kettlerangesnowriders.com

 

[mrsrunningbear]

U.P. Thunder Riders of Watersmeet have a Drivers meeting every November and you must be there if you want to drive. We are all experienced drivers at this point but the trail boss goes over everything again! He reminds us of the dangers and goes over again what to do if something happens, he asks us questions about situations that could happen and expects the right answers out of us.

Back in 05 when I first started to drive I was taken out on a 6hr run, I watched and learned for the first 3hrs, then drove back the other 3hrs with the trail boss sitting right there. After my first few solo runs he was out on the trail on his sled checking my job to make sure he was happy with it.

U.P. Thunder Rider drivers know this is part of being a driver for the club and our Trail Boss is GREAT he expects alot from his drivers, he makes them be accountable for the dangerous job their doing.

I think refresher training is important for everyone

 

[jr37]

Linda, I would like any/all the info you could give me on this, from your groomer meeting in November. PM me if you need my e-mail or home address.
That is if you are willing to share that info.

Thanks,
Jon