'Tis the
Season for Snowmobiles
Rental Businesses Stress Safety
Thanks to the 10,000 
traversing
The members and volunteers of the Vermont
Association of Snow Travelers, Inc. (VAST), groom the
approximately 6,000 miles of trails in the state. Steve
Torrey, manager of Killington Snowmobile Tours at the base
of
Most Vermonters own their own snowmobiles. Visitors
to the state often trailer up their personal snowmobiles,
while others choose to rent from a local company and go on
guided tours or go off by themselves.
State law mandates all riders in
Brian
Villa, owner of Snow-Country Snowmobiles in Proctorsville in
the Ludlow/Okemo area, said snowmobile businesses meet all
these requirements for customers that are either going on
tours or just renting machines. Private snowmobile owners
make their own arrangements to comply with state law. All
snowmobilers are required to stay on VAST trails and respect
speed limits, which are 35 mph on state trails, 50 mph on
frozen lakes and posted speed limits on those public roads
that snowmobilers are allowed to use.
With 10 snowmobiles, Villa, who has been in the
business for 15 years at the same location, considers
himself a “very small operation that functions in the winter
for fun, not to make a living.”
Villa said he considers safety to be of primary
importance. As a rule, Villa doesn’t rent snowmobiles to
anyone under the age of 18.
“My customers have to go through a safety course
with me,” he said. “They watch a video, and then we go
outside and go over, first and foremost, the safety aspects
of the snowmobile, and the hand gestures and signs for
oncoming snowmobiles.” Villa said his snowmobiles go out at
least twice a day.
Snowmobile
With usually 10 guides at the Killington location,
“during the hours we are open we generally run 26
snowmobiles an hour,” said Torre.
Weirether said he believes the company’s continued
success has been based on its commitment to be responsible
to both the community and the land. “We groom over 30 miles
of trails, which are used by the general public as well as
our customers,” he said.
The one-hour tour from this location is the only
tour that runs on ski trails. A two-hour back country tour,
which is operated by Lynds and leaves from Spike’s Place, is
at the main operation facility on Route 100A with direct
access to the VAST trail system. The company’s fleet of new
Polaris 550 Trail Touring snowmobiles and Polaris XC-120
snowmobiles for children are serviced and fueled here. Most
of the individual rentals leave from this site, and can
travel 25 miles through the
Weirether said he believes that “rentals are
designed for people that are knowledgeable and have prior
snowmobile experience.” Both Lynds and Weirether pay close
attention to the capability of an individual renter prior to
turning a snowmobile over to that person. Sometimes, it’s
suggested that the individual first go on a guided tour to
become more familiar with the machine. Weirether said many
renters are people who bring their own snowmobiles, but may
need an extra one for someone in their group.
According to the VAST News,
Snowmobiling is big business in
Written by Marcia Stoller
Compliments of the Rutland Business Journal
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