PORTAGE LAKE, Maine — Some snowmobile clubs would fold if their groomer went through the ice, but that thought never occurred to members of the Portage Lakers Snowmobile Club. Instead, club members rallied together and raised funds for a new piece of equipment. Their determination was recently acknowledged, when the organization received the Maine Snowmobile Association’s 2013-14 Snowmobile Club of the Year award.
The award was presented April 12 at the MSA’s annual meeting held at the Pine Tree Camp on the shores of North Pond in Rome.
It was early in the morning, March 26, 2013, when club volunteer Ken Fones was operating a 2003 John Deere trail grooming machine. He was crossing the inlet at the northern end of the lake, having just completed Interconnected Trail System 85 and the Eagle Lake trail, when the accident occurred.
The ice was tested earlier in the week and was considered thick enough to support a vehicle, but fishing holes cut through the ice and water current running under weakened the ice.
The groomer broke through and was left sitting in 16 feet of water, though Fones was not seriously injured. With the aid of an excavator, provided by Mark Rafford of Ashland, the groomer was removed from the lake later that day.
“This is the sort of incident that can be a club-killer,” according to the MSA. “But within hours it was all hands on deck for club and community members who rallied to get the rig out of the lake. Then came the hard part — raising funds to purchase a new groomer and permanently move the trail off the lake and onto dry land.”
Bottle drives and a Groomer Appreciation Fundraiser Party raised thousands, and the sales agreement for a new groomer was signed. Then the club tackled moving the trail with a 15-mile reroute of ITS 85. More than 1,000 hours of volunteer time went into clearing the route and building two bridges, while the fundraisers continued. The club even put QR codes on trail signs so riders could donate to the club while on the trail using their smart phones. Through it all, the club continued to hold regular events and a radar run.
“The Portage Lakers are an inspiration to every club in this state,” MSA Executive Director Bob Meyers said when presenting the award. “This is how you do it and do it well, while at the same time remembering that it is only snowmobiling and it’s supposed to be fun.”
Jennifer Curran, president of the snowmobile club, said it was the tireless work of the volunteers that made the award possible.
“The Portage Lakers Snowmobile Club is an amazing group of volunteers that devote hundreds of hours of their personal time to the sport of snowmobiling,” Curran said. “Receiving the MSA Snowmobile Club of the Year is a great honor and is due to the dedication of these volunteers.”
Curran said the club won the same award several years ago.
“I don’t think it’s very common to win that award more than once, so that really shows what our club is about,” she said, noting the club has about 120 members, the majority of whom are from outside of the area but come to Portage Lake to ride. “We have a good core group of volunteers — probably 15-20 people — and they’re very dedicated to the club and our events. We couldn’t do it without them.”