Southeast Sno-Riders hopes to begin grooming trails next week. Spokesperson Dave Boutang says there is no shortage of snow but adds there is absolutely no frost in the bogs. He adds rivers and streams are also not yet properly frozen.

"Out biggest problem now is getting it to freeze. With the snow, it kind of blankets the water and it thaws from the bottom up. But we're working on it and we hope to get out on the trails, grooming, within a week wherever we can go. There are lots of places we can't go yet. We're packing the trails with snowmobiles and with one of our lighter machines and, wherever we can get to, we're going to make sure that the trails are open ASAP."

Boutang expects trails in the area from Steinbach to Woodridge will be opened first.

"We're hoping to get to Marchand, La Broquerie, Steinbach, to the Trans-Canada Highway, that would be Trail 58, the old Voyageur Trail, we're hoping to open that and then to Woodridge. We have a few beaver dams that we have to go around. We're waiting presently for Conservation to allow us permits to do that. We're going to build a road around one of our beaver dams and then we should be able to get to Piney and South Junction."

Boutang cautions any riders, who are heading out now, to be extremely careful around rivers and streams because, while there is a thick layer of snow on top, the water is still open beneath the snow.

"There's absolutely no frost in the bogs. But once we pack that snow down, it'll freeze quickly. If you go on the old Can-Am Trail, Trail 56 and Trail 58 now, we have the Reed River to cross and that's 22 feet deep so it's going to take awhile to make sure that's safe to go across. Then we also have Harrison Creek, which flows into Lake of the Woods, and that one is fairly deep, and we have to make sure it's safe to cross."