Where we come from

Hello and welcome to my first attempt at a blog on SGC.
For those who aren't familiar, my name is Gord Avann and I have been involved in the Snowmobile Media for 23 yrs.

My path to Snowmobiling is likely no different than thousands of others, and some of the many persons that I felt very fortunate to meet in my early years.
Last season I had the opportunity to spend a few days with the Wallace family. The Wallace’s were selected as the OFSC Volunteer Family of the Year for their contribution at the Westwood Hills Snowmobile Club.

My introduction is similar in that our family started snowmobiling Christmas morning 1972. I know my family and the Wallace family's participation in snowmobiling was due to wanting to enjoy and participate in snowmobiling as a family. So it’s great to see that we have logged so many years, but what remains the same is we still enjoy this recreation as a family. Our family with 7 in total were outdoor enthusiasts and only tried snowmobiling with my parents friends. My father saw an opportunity to snowmobile as a family.
Our first snowmobile was a 1971 OMC Snow Cruiser 2011.
I just the other day asked my father why he chose that particular sled, well he said "it was a good buy" and being a boater went with the OMC name. He said he also considered the ski-doo Olympic, I think had he asked his teenage sons they probably would have gone with the ski-doo. Lucky for me my 2 older brothers got bored of the Snow Crusher after a few years and I usually had it to myself. We mostly traveled up to our current home in Keswick on Lake Simcoe from our Toronto home. Back in the 70s we had so many places and parks where these sleds were not quite regulated.
One favorite for hundreds of snowmobiles was Vivian Forest just north of Toronto where you could see all the makes and models. This was also the first year our family enjoyed our first snowmobile race, the “Mark Ten” race series came to the old Markham fair grounds at Markham Road and Hwy.7. I was disappointed that our Snow cruiser didn’t show in the Snow oval, but there were many that did.
The performance bug had bitten my older brothers and they bought there own sleds, a Yamaha 292 for Ken ( now president of the CSRA) and oldest Gary who bought a ski-doo Olympic for $700.00 new and I smiled to think that I had the Cruiser to myself.
I bent so many chrome bumpers and broke so many of those very high windshields. And I finally mastered the reverse without that wailing scream of the not quite meshed transmission.
And yes, I ordered all the I LOVE MY SNOW CRUSIER 3 D decals and stuck them on the family wagon.

We would love to hear from anyone about their own family sledding experiences.