Snowless trails hurt local business - KOTA Territory News

Snowless trails hurt local business

No snow, or a lack thereof, means slow business for those in the snowmobile industry.

If you take a drive in the Northern Hills this time of year, you'd usually see feet of snow, and plenty of people enjoying it.

But, this year the snowfall is scarce, even here near Spearfish Canyon Lodge, which is typically swarming with snowmobiliers by now.

Linda Ahlers, General Manager of the lodge, was hoping for a good year, which is why she added 10 new sleds to the lodge's rental fleet.
 
"It's pretty painful. As you can see there's just not a lot of snow and it's a huge part of our business that we're missing out on. We have not rented very much, yet. And probably won't, you know, we've got to get a much better snow cover than this," says Ahlers.
 
Travis Kohnen has made the trip from the east side of the state every year since 2004, but he says this year it's just not the same.
 
"I can't ever remember it being this thin out here. Usually we run a couple miles out of Trailshead and start playing in the powder and stuff. And this year you really got to look for it, and it's really thin," says Kohnen.

The snowmobile trails opened December 15th. Click the link below for the Game, Fish, and Parks Department's snowmobile conditions map:

http://gfp.sd.gov/to-do/snowmobile/map.aspx