{"id":5491,"date":"2012-02-09T07:17:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T12:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=5491"},"modified":"2012-02-09T08:55:33","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T13:55:33","slug":"morning-read-snowmobile-season-brutal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/02\/09\/morning-read-snowmobile-season-brutal\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Read: Snowmobile season “brutal”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’ve been touching bases with winter sports and tourism people the last week, just to see how they’re doing, and the mood out there ranges from “hanging in there” to downright “ugh.”\u00a0 Particularly hard hit are snowmobile-related businesses.<\/p>\n

More sleds are getting out on trails in some parts of the North Country and Vermont, but snow cover remains remarkably patchy to nonexistent in many areas.\u00a0 This from the Glens Falls Post Star.<\/a><\/p>\n

Patti Stetson, owner of the Black Bear Restaurant in Pottersville, called the drop in business this winter “brutal.”<\/p>\n

…Stetson, whose Route 9 eatery is on the North Warren Snowmobile Club trail system, said business is off 50 percent or so, which has forced her to cut back hours for staff members.<\/p>\n

And with fewer customers, tips aren’t great for those who are working.<\/p>\n

“We’re right down to a skeleton crew, and even the ones who are working are hurting,” Stetson said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similar pain is being felt in Vermont, according to the Burlington Free Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenging winter,\u201d said Alexis Nelson, trails administrator for the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers. \u201cWinter is having an identity crisis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As of this week, VAST is exactly halfway through its 16-week season, and only a very limited number of snowmobile trails are open.<\/p>\n

There is limited snowmobiling in some high-elevation places, such as near Jay and Eden. \u201cBut you can\u2019t do a 150-mile loop, and that\u2019s what people like to do,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WKTV<\/a> interviewed folks at New York State Snowmobile Association’s annual meeting earlier this month in Rome, NY, and the mood was downright bleak.<\/div>\n
\n
NYSSA President Gary Broderick says the mild winter is having a major negative impact, first for snowmobiler’s fun, and second for the businesses that support the sport.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He said, “it’s been a terrible year. It’s been very hard on the snowmobile clubs that build the trails throughout New York and it’s very hard on the business that support snowmobiling and benefit from snowmobiling across the state.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So what are you seeing out there?\u00a0 I’d particularly like to hear from parts of the central and western Adirondacks, and the Tug Hill, where snowmobile tourism is an essential part of the winter economy.\u00a0 I’d also love to hear from business owners.<\/div>\n
How’s the sledding season look from where you sit?<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been touching bases with winter sports and tourism people the last week, just to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[48,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5492,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5491\/revisions\/5492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}