"The Whitecourt Trailblazers have officially kicked off the 2026-27 sled season with our opening Executive Meeting! We are now looking forward to our first General Meeting of the season scheduled for October 15th, which is coming up fast.
I am hoping to see all of my seasonal sledding friends, as well as lots of new faces at this meeting so the club can make plans for the upcoming season.
One of the first events the club participates in is the annual Alberta Powersports Show in Edmonton. This show is an important opportunity for the club to showcase our local and Golden Triangle trail systems and infrastructure to the general sledding community. The hope is to attract people to our community and utilize our trail system. Attracting sledders to Whitecourt to ride the trail system with either a seasonal trail pass or a day pass is critical in keeping the trail system in our community open and viable. Please plan to buy a trail pass, buy tickets on our annual raffle and ride in our planned rallies and events as a way to support our club and snowmobiling across Alberta.
The next major event for the club is to complete the trail cleaning for the season.
This initial trail cleaning normally starts in October but this season, we recommend the members not to consider trail cleaning until there are some levels of frost on the ground, due to the extremely wet conditions. There are several major washouts along the trail system right now; one near the Athabasca Look-Out and the other near the Sakwatamau River. Both of these areas will need some heavy equipment brought in to make trail repairs before our grooming operations can commence.
Last season the trail system was cleared on probably five different occasions due to the extreme storms and wind events that resulted in extensive blowdown.
The weather has changed and the club needs to address this ongoing work; we cannot continue to rely on the same small group of volunteers to complete this work every season.
If you are able to donate some volunteer hours over the upcoming season for trail cleaning or other events, please contact Candyce through the club’s social media platforms or through our website.
Finally, if you put any faith in the long-term forecast for our area for the upcoming 2026-27 winter season, the prediction is for an above average snowfall.
We had some incredible riding conditions and a nice long season last year. Here’s to hoping for another stellar sledding season. Ride with respect, ride sober and ride safe. I hope to see you all on the trails this season. "