Huge snow dump not necessarily a good thing for Sudbury area snowmobile trails

Morning North6:18Ice is too thin for snowmobilers

If the recent snowfall has you itching to get out on your smowmobile, that's fine as long as you stay away from lakes and rivers. The ice is still to thin to be safe. Chuck Brethat of the Sudbury Trail Plan Association told us more about trail conditions.

The first dump of snow has many northerners pulling their snowmobiles out of the garage but Sudbury police and trail groups are pleading with skidoo enthusiasts to stay off the lakes and trails.

Azilda resident Kevin McAllister is on his snowmobile for the first time this year. While he would rather be elsewhere, for today he's just making a track on the front yard for his kids.

"I just live down the street here, so I'm skidooing on Whitewater lake all the time," he said.

It might look like conditions are ripe for snowmobiling on the trails and lakes, but the ice is barely a few centimetres thick on Whitewater lake.

The thin ice didn't stop one snowmobiler from going out on it this week.

He and his snowmachine ended up in the water.

The man managed to escape, unharmed, but was handed a careless driving charge.

Neither ice nor snow makes it good to go

Sudbury police sergeant Randy Hosken said weather conditions haven't been right to freeze the ice sufficiently.

"We've had a couple of cooler nights, a thin layer of ice formed on the lake, and then with the snow coming in the last couple of days, I think it's misleading for some people," he said.

Snowmobile Trail Plan president Chuck Brethat said the snow is actually hindering trail conditions.

"Unfortunately, the bad part about this snow is we didn't really have much cold weather before the snow came. And underneath that snow, there's not a lot of ice, there's not a lost of frost in the ground," he said.

"So this snow is actually kind of a bad thing because it creates a blanket of insulation and will prevent the frost getting into the ground."

Brethat says it will be at least a few weeks before it gets cold enough to freeze the ground and lakes.

McAllister said he'll stick to the front yard for now.

"It's really dangerous when you're out there," he continued.

"In these conditions, you never know when it's safe or not. Don't go out too early like this and accidents shouldn't happen."

Snowmobilers are also being warned that this last dump of snow might be covering up hazards like rocks and logs.