Stephenville (NL) – Sledcore Female Ride Clinic

Jan 25^th, 2020 (Stephenville, NL)

By Sherri Alexander

What a day we had with Sledcore for the Ladies Ride Clinic that took place in the Stephenville area based out of Cold Brook on Jan 25^th, 2020. We had 12 very excited ladies registered for this event with a wait list!

 

Started the clinic off with a pre ride meet and greet on Friday evening at our local M & F Motor Sports (Polaris Dealership), good place choice, it complemented the type of event.  They had soup, sandwiches and refreshments, what an unexpected treat that was.  Sledcore was set up with a slideshow of pictures from previous Ladies Ride Clinics which was nice for the first-time ladies to see and what to expect.  We all had the opportunity to introduce ourselves, Sledcore touched a little on the basic snowmobile riding and safety features and of course lots of questions were asked and they were quickly answered.  It was nice to meet and talk with the group before the big day.

I was so excited that night, I am sure I was not the only one just waiting for the next morning to come.  The big day was finally here, ride day!  It was an early start to the day, 8:15 am, sun was peeping through, no wind… we knew we were going to have an exceptional day – Bluebird Day!  Everyone started showing up one by one in the Bay St. George’s snowmobile parking lot, ladies with smiles on – ear to ear, lots of colorful snowmobiles & gear everywhere.  We got sorted out, got a group photo and we were off to start our day, 20 snowmobiles in total zooming up Cold Brook’s groomed trail to get to the backcountry.

Our morning consists of learning how to get your snowmobile up on its side, balancing, counter steering and of course getting unstuck.  We didn’t have a whole lot of powder, but conditions were still good for practicing, snowmobiles going everywhere.  As the morning went on it was amazing to see how the girls caught onto the techniques that were shown, you could see the positive attitudes and how the girls progressed quickly.

 

Lunch time!!!  This year we were very fortunate to avail of the beautiful Lewis Hills Lodge which is located at the base of Lewis Hills.  This was a huge bonus, Gerard the owner of the lodge made sure everything was perfect and that it was.  The lodge was absolutely beautiful (not my first time there but for most it was) the view was breathtaking, cozy warm fire, table set for lunch, the welcoming was phenomenal.  Lunch was provided and on the menu for that day was moose stew with baked dumpling, hot turkey soup and assorted sandwiches, for desert baked raisin pecan pudding with a hot rum sauce, along with assorted cookies & squares.  Yip, I think we could have hunkered down for the night, it was so comfortable.  Thanks Lewis Hills Lodge…Five Stars…

 

We geared up and we were off to complete the second part of our day.  Downhill U turns, more practicing and ski plucks, photos, lots more laughter and cheering on and encouraging moments.  This was a jammed packed full day and sadly our day was coming to an end and at this point we were all getting tired, we arrived back to the staging area in Cold Brook at 6 pm.  Everyone gathered again at M&F Motor Sports for the post ride event which we enjoyed some snacks, socialized, talked about our day and had a chance to see some of the amazing photos the photographer captured throughout the day, “thanks Tom for the great photos as usual”.

 

I am pleased to say that I am proud I was part of this event and that I was able to help organize this in our area, the girls thoroughly enjoyed the day, and they are already speaking of next year’s ladies ride clinic.  I am still getting messages from the girls thanking me for encouraging them to get on board and telling me what a great event this was, this shows how interested the females are becoming with backcountry riding.

 

I want to thank Sledcore for coming to Stephenville, you are the best, Lewis Hills Lodge, for the worm up & fine dining, Francis & Darren our guides for the day, making sure we were in the right direction, and of course to all the ladies who participated, you did AWESOME, you worked hard, give yourself a big pat on the back.