Cliff Bromberger of Westlock, Alberta, is the Pembina Drift Busters snowmobile club president, the local Alberta Snowmobile Association representative, and this year’s Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations’ Outstanding Snowmobile Family award winner. Having just turned 65, he has an even-keel attitude toward life that is reflected in his favourite riding style and best memories from his over 40 years on Westlock’s main, west and north loops.
“I’m a born, devout snowmobiler and I’m looking forward to this season,” said Bromberger, adding that he’s “game for riding anytime, even on grass.”
Bromberger said that his favourite ride and the one he’s looking forward to the most this season is the club’s north loop, even though it needs some maintenance.
150 kilometres of trails
“Our trails are north of Westlock around a lake called Long Island Lake and from there they go north,” said Bromberger. “We’ve got approximately 150 kilometres of trails and most of it is groomed,” he said.
“The staging area for our main loop is just off Highway 801 and it stays basically on the east side of 801. It’s got a few more hills on it then the rest of them.
“Our trails are not really long and straight, they’re windy. They wind through the bush, they follow old logging trails, and some of them follow cut lines—but not for a long period of time, so you’re weaving back and forth on the main loop.
“The west loop has some winding back and forth but it’s straighter. It follows cut lines and it does go around the lake. We’ve got a Water Resources dam that we’ve got to cross there. It also goes through a grazing reserve. Part of it is all bush and part of it is open.
“The north loop heads north off our main loop and it is more straight, cut line stuff. It gets more into your green areas, your forestry areas, where there’s been cut lines. And there are a few oil wells back in there, so there are a few little roads that you travel on. You can travel a lot faster on the north loop than you can on the other two loops. For the ones that want to get out and move pretty good, the north loop is good for that.
“Out of our trails I like our north loop, and that’s the one that we’ve got to do a lot of work on. We’re cleaning it out this year. There’s about eight or ten miles of trails that we have trouble with, with brush and that, so this year we’re applying for a grant so that we can groom all of our 150 kilometres.”
Bromberger said that while the club has its own groomer, the north loop—which averages six to eight feet in width—requires heavier machinery to clear the brush. It is not wide enough for the groomer like the main and west loops, which average 16 to 20 feet in width.
“If we can get some heavier equipment in there, within a week we’ll have it all cleared out,” said Bromberger. “If not, the eight or ten miles would probably take us half the winter to do if we do it by hand.
“It’s been about three to four years that we haven’t been able to groom the north loop because of the brush and that,” he said. “You can still ride it but it’s not groomed and it gets rough, so I hope we get the grant. That’s going to be my thing as president—that I want to get those trails going again.”
Why go to the trouble? Bromberger said the north loop remains his favourite ride because it’s longer and is a nice run.
“The main and west loops are about 45 kilometres each, and then the north loop is the rest of it, so it’s 60 clicks or so,” he said, adding that it also ties into the Athabasca trails and the Trans Canada trail.
“On the north loop you see game and we’ve got some nice, open areas down cut lines where the trees are. It’s not a real hilly area. We’ve got some fairly decent hills, but it’s more of flat-land riding. There’s nice scenery, the way the frost goes on the trees, and you see deer and moose and sometimes you see the wolves along there. That’s what I like. I’m not a mountain man or anything like that. I love the scenery.”
At the same time, Bromberger said he has seen more than one rider with a mountain machine enjoying themselves on the north loop.
“We had a group last year that we took out on our trails and they all had mountain machines and they really enjoyed our trails,” he said. “In fact, they enjoyed themselves enough to come back. Last year was a phenomenal year for snow. We had between three and four feet of snow on average, and they said the riding was as good out here in the little open areas in the bush as it was on the mountains. They could carve the way they like and things like that.”
Social events make great memories
He said that the social aspects of the sport—hosting out-of-towners on the local trails or going out with a core group of riders to maintain the trail system—make up his best memories of riding in the area and are the reason why he is actually looking forward to working on his favourite northern loop.
“The group that goes out and cuts limbs off make it into a ride and make it into a social deal and sit around the fire and shoot the bull, things like that. We’ll make clearing the north loop into that. We’ll make that into a social event and have some fun too.”
