Month: January 2026

January 15th, 2026
Snowy Range Snowmobile Club Meeting Minutes
Secretary Update: 179 members in total. This breaks down to: 13 premium business memberships, 12 associate business memberships, 70 families, and 84 individual memberships. This is far and away our biggest season! Thank you for the support.
We need logos from many of our business members, especially new members this season, to put logos on our website and Facebook page.
Treasurer Update: $18,783.52 in checking account. Wyoming Trail Alliance has pledged $500 to go towards a beacon check station (note: these will be restricted funds, to be used exclusively for this purpose). Additional ~$1667 transfer in progress from PayPal to checking initiated 14Jan2026 from recent memberships.
How much should we contribute to WSSA scholarship fund? Local Search and Rescue donations? We will vote on this next month.
Beacon Check Signs: All are in place on the mountain and working. Albany, Green Rock, Chains End, Lake Marie. Third antenna on Green Rock beacon check station is broken. It is currently functioning but will need repaired in the off season.
Safety Shelters: All in place with plenty of wood. Please be sure to pack out all trash and encourage others to do the same. Bring an armful of wood in if you stop by. Two of us stocked Quealy on the 4th, it was nearly empty of wood inside.
Trails: are really solid and well groomed. Not a lot of sled traffic this season with the warm weather means less whoops too. Truck that got stuck above Albany was removed, no lasting trail impact from that.
Cameron recently talked to Stan (grooming contract holder). He said things are going well. They have added a cat based out of the Ehlin Road trailhead outside Centennial.
Access: Sand Lake Road is closed to riding with the logging operation off of Fallen Pines. They have been busy up there running logging trucks so please give them space.
Cameron checked with State Trails on the plowing contractor for the Ehlin Road trailhead as there were some issues with keeping the road open/plowed. Contractor was checking the webcam, which showed a dry parking lot, not realizing the road in the trees was blowing/drifting and needed plowed.
Heads up: the normal plowing above the State’s winter maintenance end point at Green Rock has ceased. If you park above the skier lot, beware it could blow in while you ride and may not be cleared for some time. It is getting cleared but not with the same regularity.
Snowpack: Snow has some bad ice layers in it with degrading interfaces. Decent total depth at higher elevations. Most riders report surprisingly good conditions (valley weather has been ridiculous & skews perception, but thankfully up high winter is still happening). Eastern Wyoming Avy Observation team has
reported better snowpack structure in the Snowies than in the Sierras, but neither are good. You should expect reactivity especially when a new snow load is added & travel with caution in all avalanche terrain.
Projects: Wyoming Trail Alliance voted to donate $500 towards a beacon check station to be installed at the Green Rock nonmotorized access point (primarily used to access Libby Creek backcountry ski terrain). Medicine Bow Nordic Ski Patrol wants to partner with us for this and Ken Cramer attended this meeting to discuss details. We need to work on finding out project cost and how to fit this in with permitting. Some additional funding sources were discussed, one being Albany County Rec Board grants.
Curtis with Wyoming Trail Alliance had a proposal for snow updates. Monthly video to be posted on social media outlets with digging a snow pit. Cameron was supportive and said he and Clyde would be open to filming their pits when they dig them as part of their guiding work. This could also be a collaborative effort with Med Bow Nordic Ski Patrol.
WSSA Updates: February 1st is the WSSA scholarship deadline. https://snowmobilewyoming.org/scholarship/
Fun Days is in Cody this year. Registration is open on the WSSA site: https://snowmobilewyoming.org/wssa-events/#!event-list
Safety: Article in Cowboy State Daily: snowmobile crash near Cody. Snowmobiler hit bridge, sled ended up in creek. Rider was hurt. There was some safety equipment stored in a nearby safety shelter that local rescuers were able to use to help the rider and eventually get him evacuated via helicopter. We may partner with Albany County Search and Rescue to cache some rescue equipment in a similar way in our safety shelters (several club members are involved SAR members). https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/01/13/snowmobiler-plunges-15-feet-off-bridge-and-survives/
Two avy deaths in Wyoming so far this winter. Snowmobiler southeast of Afton, WY in Labarge Creek. https://avalanche.state.co.us/report/62184da5-20ab-4158-8c93-eaee91b4f7d7
A skier south of Teton Pass. https://avalanche.state.co.us/report/5346271e-ce29-4c36-b2a6-09e21db1c9ed
Education Opportunities: Cameron reports there are 3 remaining openings in the upcoming Motorized Level 1 avy course, and several openings in the Level 2 avy course. They are at the end of this month, January 29 & 30th for Level 1, January 31st and February 1st for Level 2. Reach out to Cameron at 3C Guiding if interested. https://www.3cguiding.com/avalanche-classes/aiare-level-1/ and https://www.3cguiding.com/avalanche-classes/aiare-level-2/
Post Meeting Note: Apologies for those that had issues with Zoom tonight. Thanks for the emails bringing this to our attention.

December 18 2025, 6:00 PM MST

Snowy Range Snowmobile Club Meeting Minutes

Westgate Sports in Laramie.

Attendance: Mitch, Cameron, Justin, Sunny (officers) plus about 10-15 more in person. Good number of folks online. 

Secretary Update: 76 current/paid members. 13 are businesses (7 premium, 6 associate), 33 families, 30 singles. Cameron’s video call for membership was effective last time, and brought in a dozen or more members shortly after the Facebook video was posted. 

This is lower than our usual total, but the season hasn’t really even started, and it is considered really good compared to other clubs throughout the state. 

Snow Update: one good storm early in the month, but not much since. Ice layer has formed from sun + wind, about 2 inch icy layer on the surface now. Will be a nasty bed surface for future slabs in terms of avalanches.

Safety Shelters: Chimney is installed on Lake Marie shelter. Solar panels are installed. Matt is heading up Sunday to finish wiring up lights. Other shelters are in place by the time you’re reading this. 

Grooming Update: Grooming starts soon. Trails are being packed in and marked with shelters going in shortly. 

Treasurer Update: $16384.07 in checking. Additional funds pending transfer from PayPal from recent memberships: approximately $3200 in transit.

Beacon check signs: 

Beacon Check stations going up soon. Cameron will put the GreenRock beacon check station up soon. Keith will put the Chains End sign up. Matt will put the batteries in the Lake Marie sign when he’s up there. 

Discussion to have them at Ehlin Road trailhead, GreenRock skier parking area, and one for the Sierras. The current Sierra’s beacon check sign has marginal reliability (solar powered), so we are interested in replacing it with the fully battery powered Ortovox model like we have elsewhere. The Ortovox uses D cell batteries and has been solid for us over the years. These need to be ordered ahead of time, so it will not occur until next fall. Justin put this up for a vote: to purchase 3 beacon check signs next season. This is to help the whole community of area backcountry travelers and better unite us, which would be impactful for garnering support of future development projects (e.g., parking lot, permanent Quealy shelter, etc.). 

Discussion ensued: can we get some financial support from the ski community? Medicine Bow Nordic Ski Patrol: could we arrange with them to help manage the skier area beacon check sign? Store & maintain. 

How about the Sierra side: Carbon County Avy Observation folks may be interested in supporting or maintaining a sign in the Sierras? 

Whatever is done, will not be soon as the signs take time to get ordered and constructed. 

If we pay for these signs, we need to make it clear the Club paid for them (this can be done in the sponsors section of the signs). The signs are permitted under the USFS grooming permit, but the face design was approved by USFS. So if we change it, we must update the permit. The design at the Lake Marie shelter is approved: likely makes most sense to stick with that design so not required to update the permit. The sponsor section of the signs is where we can denote who funded the signs. 

Justin reached out to Jordy about putting a State Trails beacon check sign up at GreenRock skier area for this season. They’re going to check if there is one available and get back to us. This would be a good pilot program of no cost to see if the sign get used at that location. 

Parking Lots: Keep using Ehlin Road this season. 

Albany USFS lot will be plowed (though the lodge parking spots will not be to our knowledge). 

Sand Lake Road is being plowed this season for a logging operation. The road is plowed for haul trucks: not for public access. The logging operation is primarily off Fallen Pines Road (about 1.5 miles up Sand Lake Road from WY-130) but there will be heavy traffic on Sand Lake Road. Don’t drive a truck up there. The forest is still open but beware of hazards. See USFS announcement for additional info: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/mbrtb/newsroom/releases/safety-announcement-sand-lake-road-plowed-timber-hauling-not-public?fbclid=IwY2xjawPBknBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE4SE5qRmRTYzRoQlZwcVI0c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHthgaoWO5zdu-PYSgopqMXiKI3G1qt1hdKTFwimhILMMA_dX9hEWV1QEgVt3_aem_e3nssdCHq6NI_CnRsMe8Wg 

WSSA Updates: Scholarship applications are due February 1st. Get your snowmobiling kid involved and they are likely to be awarded a scholarship if they write an essay. See WSSA website for more information.

WSSA Fun Days registration is online. First full weekend in March 2026 in Cody Wyoming.

Discussion of How to Increase Membership: 

Next year idea: $5 single $10 family memberships? Low cost to boost numbers? It was noted that Dubois only charges the WSSA rate, and they still struggle with membership numbers, suggesting that membership cost is not the primary driver of low club membership.

The Wyoming State Trails meeting and the WSSA fall meeting overlap with Hay Days, this hurts attendance at these local meetings and it hurts our state’s representation at Hay Days. There has been discussion about moving these meetings to not interfere. 

Could we sponsor State snowmobile maps printing in exchange for putting our name/QR code on it for more exposure? 

This is an ongoing topic nationwide: how to increase snowmobile club participation. 

Avy Class opportunities: 3C Guiding is hosting an avy class end of January 30th & 31st for Level 1, then February 1st and 2nd for Level 2. Level 1 is almost full (3 spots left), Level 2 is very open. Bringing in DJ Osborne of Mountain Slayerz to teach these (AIARE instructor). Connect with Cameron if you’re interested in these.

Next Meeting: As usual, 3rd Thursday evening of the month: January 15th, 2025 at 6:00 PM at Westgate Sports in Laramie, WY and on Zoom. Additional reminder email will go out the week of the meeting with the Zoom link.

Post Meeting Notes: in the weeks after this meeting, there was an influx of memberships, bringing total membership to 139 members (business, families, and singles combined). Keep encouraging your friends to join/renew! 

Wyoming Trail Alliance has initiated discussions between SRSC & the ski community about a beacon check sign, which has been met with interest and willingness to help support this project. 

Grooming is in full swing with trails marked and safety shelters in place. New light in Lake Marie shelter is installed. Quealy shelter was stocked with wood Sunday afternoon.

Several small storms have buried the ice layer in the snow, and the base has firmed up.