GUIDELINES FOR SNOWMOBILE TRAIL
           GROOMER OPERATOR TRAINING


A Resource Guide for Trail Grooming Managers and Equipment Operators:


Chapter 1 - Introduction To Trail Grooming
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Purpose of this Resource Guide:

The purpose of this resource guide is to provide snowmobiling agencies, associations,
and clubs with guidelines that are a resource for:
 
• Grooming recreational snowmobile trails to help improve the quality of trails and the effectiveness of grooming efforts and expenditures;
 
• Training snowmobile trail groomer operators on the proper operation and maintenance of grooming equipment; proper trail grooming objectives, principles,
and practices; and trail grooming safety issues;

• Increasing community awareness of snowmobile trail grooming requirements and practices, including the need for the public to allow proper set up time on freshly groomed trails and safe operating procedures for snowmobilers when encountering groomers on the trail.

          

A growing number of snowmobiles are operating on snowmobile trails today, which drives an increasing need for smooth trails that can keep traffic moving safely. This makes it necessary to optimize the use of personnel and equipment involved with trail grooming. Increased operational costs have also necessitated tighter controls on grooming operations to maximize the effectiveness of expenditures. Certainly, grooming
under conditions that do not allow snowmobile trails to properly set up is not advantageous or effective. This resource guide is intended to help grooming managers
and operators recognize various scenarios to help them optimize their effectiveness under as many winter conditions as possible.

Historically, area decisions regarding grooming scheduling have sometimes been driven by perspectives like “the public demands that we groom during the day so they can see the groomer,” or “the groomer operators are volunteers, so they need to groom fast so they can get back home.” Neither situation tends to produce effective grooming.

Scheduling productive and effective grooming operations can be challenging, particularly
in areas where there is no “slow time” and snowmobile traffic is heavy every day of the week. Grooming managers are continually challenged to make their grooming resources go further to keep up with the ever increasing demand for smooth trails.

               

This guide is but one tool to assist with the development and maintenance of safer, smoother snowmobile trails. The materials within are intended as general guidelines that may not apply to every local situation or condition and are not intended to be all
encompassing. At the same time, the materials within cover basic yet important grooming fundamentals and principles and also provide valuable tips that can help areas improve the quality, and durability, of their snowmobile trail systems if applied correctly.

Snowmobile trail grooming times, frequencies, and methods can be influenced by many variables including: temperature, type and depth of snow, terrain, snowmobile traffic volume and use patterns, wind, current or incoming storms, and avalanche or water crossing hazards.

Decisions as to when to groom and the implements to use should be based upon the informed judgment of the local grooming manager, following guidelines
and principles outlined in this guide along with guidance and program-wide stipulations from jurisdictional or governmental program administrators who typically control local funding levels.

The Groomer Operator Training Core Components Checklist on the following pages outlines topics that are important for groomer operators to know and understand and provides a snapshot of the topics covered more in-depth by this resource guide
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      Next Section - Groomer Operator Training

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