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100 Mile Snowmobile Lodge restored to glory

Club is getting ready for the season

The 100 Mile House Snowmobile Club is getting ready for the season - with an updated lodge and a list of events that includes plans to host the 100 Mile Snow Drags in February 2022.

Club president Rick Kyllo said the clubhouse restoration, which included installing a new roof and propane-powered high-density furnace - thanks to grants from the Cariboo Regional District and District of 100 Mile House - is almost complete. They just have to replace the windows, re-chink the building and refinish the log exterior.

The club also purchased a groomer for the trails, with help from the Northern Development Initiative Trust, to groom the Gold Rush Snowmobile Trail and other trails near 99 Mile on Ainsworth Road.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work on the clubhouse which is an older log building in a state of disrepair,” Kyllo, 68, said. “We’re trying to bring it into the 21st century as a greener building.”

Kyllo said he is honoured to be restoring the club, noting he’s grateful to all the volunteers from previous generations who came together to build it.

“It’s quite the building, it’s been there a long time,” he said, adding the lodge and the land has “incredible potential.

“It’s a little asset up there no one knows 100 Mile has got.”

The snowmobile club is now accepting members for the new season, which can be done via the BC Snowmobile Federation’s website and searching for the 100 Mile House Snowmobile Club.

“We are the club you want to join if you’re new to riding snowmobiles and if you want to ride the trails as opposed to the mountain sledders,” Kyllo said. “We ride anywhere from 100 Mile House down to Clinton and up to Horsefly. We hope to do a bigger trip this year from Likely over to Wells.”

READ MORE: Interlakes Snowmobile Club set to make tracks

Membership was up last year with 28 members and Kyllo expects to see that number grow, especially with the recent influx of new people to the area.

The club tends to go out for a ride every weekend during the winter, riding out of their clubhouse and the 108 Mile Heritage site. Kyllo will send members an email notifying them of their plans.

“It’s just great to get out there. It’s a gas and if you’re going to be up here you can’t just sit in the cabin all winter reading books,” Kyllo said.

“(The Cariboo) is such a beautiful place in the winters and I enjoy the winters more than the summers up here. I’ve seen some old buildings out there that I don’t think people know exist. I’ll run into some dog sled teams and you see signs of moose all over the place.”

Kyllo said the club has also been prepping and levelling the site in conjunction with South Cariboo Track and Trail Dirtbike Association to run the 100 Mile Snow Drags this year. The track at the lodge is wide enough for them to run three snowmobiles side by side, Kyllo said, and each group competes based on age, experience and machine power.

The event is less about money and more about bragging rights and having fun, he said. “I myself would like to enter. I can pull the trigger just as good as anyone else, I figure.”



patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net

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Patrick Davies

About the Author: Patrick Davies

An avid lover of theatre, media, and the arts in all its forms, I've enjoyed building my professional reputation in 100 Mile House.
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