ISMA urges you to introduce snowmobiling to a friend

The International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association (ISMA) has announced the second annual Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week, which will be held February 12-22, 2009.

This elongated week is intended to celebrate friends and family snowmobiling for 11 days including two weekends (and President’s Day in the United States). The snowmobile week was introduced to go hand in hand with the Take a Friend Snowmobiling campaign and has been developed to encourage sledders to take non-snowmobiling friends out snowmobiling.

“We have all had many conversations, telling stories about how much fun it is to take people snowmobiling, and many of us are realizing that we have a lot of non-snowmobiling friends to take snowmobiling,” the ISMA says in a release.

The ISMA recommends you cover all the safe snowmobiling behavior with your friends before taking them out on their first ride. Points to cover should include:

a.  Proper operation of the brake and throttle b.  Shifting weight and slowing down in curves c.  Staying on the right hand side of the trail d.  Dismount the snowmobile on the right hand side of the sled e.  Make sure the vehicle is in good mechanical order f.  Make sure your friend is appropriately dressed and sober

All it takes to get non-snowmobilers on the trals is to ask.

“A key ingredient to a good time for a first time snowmobiler is for us seasoned riders to make sure non-snowmobilers are comfortable when they first get on a snowmobile,” says the ISMA. “You need to be cautious and ride slow when taking out a new rider. You should plan on making numerous stops and enjoying the scenery.”

Clubs are encouraged to participate in Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week. The ISMA suggests trying to hold a special day or weekend encouraging members to bring non-snowmobiling friends to the clubhouse to go for a short ride and discover what snowmobilers do during the winter.

This effort follows the guidelines and recommendations our customer research has shown us, which highlights that non-snowmobilers know very little about snowmobiling. According to the ISMA, most non-snowmobilers don’t know where the trails are, really don’t know who builds and maintains and pays for the trail systems, and have no idea of the beautiful scenery snowmobilers enjoy and the fun they have in the winter riding.

“The research has showed us that folks who don’t snowmobile rate their desire to go snowmobiling a solid 9 on a 10 point scale,” says the ISMA. “All we need to do is ask.”

As a special incentive to take non-snowmobilers snowmobiling, the manufacturers will give away a $250.00 gift certificate to a lucky individual who registers and participates in the Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week event.

For more information on Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week, visit GoSnowmobiling.org.