Buy a Snowmobile Pass?

In Colorado we are required too. It's only 30.25 USD but the fine is $300 for not having one.

It's a statewide registration as are all of the snowmobiling registrations in the US. The money goes to the state, not the clubs. The clubs get their money from memberships and fundraisers.

I register my sled but I don't register my wife's and kids sleds as they don't ride on public lands so there isn't the need. Once my oldest son gets the hang of it more I will take him with me and his sled will get registered.

I buy in-state, out-of-state tags, and a member of the local club. Spend the couple hundred dollars to support this great sport. Many of these guys that don't buy tags are the same ones that don't bat an eye dropping a few hundred at the local strip joint or bar! (Don't get me wrong- I still do that and buy my tags!) :face-icon-small-win

You are required to have a registration tag and it helps pay for grooming,with a dollar voluntary for search and rescue..25 bucks..... should be more for search and rescue!!!

For those in the states that have never been to BC, Canada, they do things different up north. There is no sled registration, but you have to pay a parking fee every time you go to the parking lot.

So in the states you pay a once a year registration fee of $20-$50 for every state you ride in.

In canada you pay $10-$20 PER SLED for every day you use a specific trailhead. Of course people try to avoid paying those fees, its ridiculous for those that have to ride there year round. Even if you buy a pass to one trailhead, you still have to pay if you go to another trailhead.

I have no problems paying $50 to ride for the week I travel to Canada, but would be very upset if i had to buy season passes to multiple parking areas every year... very spendy $$$. Americans dont know how good they have it!

phatty said:

For those in the states that have never been to BC, Canada, they do things different up north. There is no sled registration, but you have to pay a parking fee every time you go to the parking lot.

So in the states you pay a once a year registration fee of $20-$50 for every state you ride in.

In canada you pay $10-$20 PER SLED for every day you use a specific trailhead. Of course people try to avoid paying those fees, its ridiculous for those that have to ride there year round. Even if you buy a pass to one trailhead, you still have to pay if you go to another trailhead.

I have no problems paying $50 to ride for the week I travel to Canada, but would be very upset if i had to buy season passes to multiple parking areas every year... very spendy $$$. Americans dont know how good they have it!

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I'd pay it happily! Small price to pay for year after year of real snowfall. They could be down here riding on a 31" base of crusty mashed tater snow.

*Disclaimer* the area I RIDE in has these conditions. It's 15 minutes away. So yeah if I lived there I'd be stoked and not bitch about it at all. Fresh snow damn near every day, a 12 foot base is easily done.

Where I am located in Idaho we get many riders from out of state who do not purchase groomer stickers. Please don't start bashing, some people do buy stickers but many do not because they know that we have very minimal law enforcement. People will buy the Montana non-resident stickers because they know there is more law enforcement and the fines are much larger. I am on the local groomer board and it is unbelievable how expensive it is to run one of these groomers. It is also unbelievable how many people will complain about the rough trails and yet not purchase a groomer sticker.
Please, I know it is a few more dollars, but support the groomers where you ride. Without the support of the riders there can be no groomers and after a good day playing in the powder it is nice to have a smooth trail to ride on to get back to the truck.

Norona said:

Actually there are many areas that don't require, or rather don't check, which is why many people avoid, brandywine, rutherford which are the only two that charge and you can get a combi of both. It is pretty sad that many of the riders here in the whistler sea 2 sky, even some of the top guys who claim the snowmobile industry never helps them out have never bought a pass! Sad really. Hopefully there will be one pass for the whole sea 2 sky soon but unfortunately to check every morning at all the areas cost volunteer time and money for booths etc. so many will still go with out. And yes you do have to register a snowmobile in BC, it is $10.00 each year, big yellow decal, but if your from out of town you don't.

I personally buy a pass for Rutherford $150.00 and one for Brohm Ridge - $100.00 as it is a small club. $250.00 for the work that I see many people doing is nothing. If everyone bought one then things would be a lot better...we don't have it bad here....this is the best and easiest place to live on the planet, why else do you think you come up here...its the best!!

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That's exactly my point! you pay $250 a year to have unlimited access to 2 areas. In the states I pay $50 to ride ANYWHERE in the entire states of Utah/California, $25 to ride anywhere in Wyoming, $25 to ride anywhere in Idaho, $30 to ride anywhere in Montana and $30 to ride anywhere in Colorado. $160 to ride unlimited in 6 States. Americans have it good and should quit complaining about registering sleds and just do it!

It does cost alot of money to run a groomer. Also costs to maintain cabins and other facilities. I think it's not unreasonable that everyone who uses these facilities should help out with the costs involved. But what is reasonable?? Too many clubs in BC are starting to look at "tourists" as a cash cow. You get the wrong people in the executive and suddenly it becomes a buisness for profit, not the non profit societies of yesterday. Look at revelstoke, they are a victim of there own sucess, the locals are very much a minority, in the video in this thread the guy tells us that the majority of riders are from alberta, sask, and the states. The volume of riders pounds out the trails in an afternoon so they have to groom constantly, they have litter problems, caribou problems, boundaries from the government, etc. It's not about sledding anymore, it's turned into a buisness, and buisness' want to make money. Now instead of having to avoid the government yahoos who try to write you up for everything they can think of you have to avoid your local snowmobile club because they want to write you a ticket and collect the money themselves. The bcsf imploded a few years back because, in part, of money. Allegations of missing funds, record books "missing", executive members touring the entire province "promoting" snowmobiling and then sitting in the local bars laughing about what a great time they were having on membership money. My point is these people all lost sight of what they were there for in the first place, supporting snowmobiling, it became about making money. Sadly I don't have an answer for this problem, but I will never believe that hosing the general public for more and more money is the way to go.