The Watt Mountain Wanderers

The Watt Mountain Wanderers Snowmobile Club of High Level, Alberta was officially established in 1997. The Wanderers hold the distinction of being Alberta's most northerly snowmobile club. From it's inception with 12 members, the club has seen steady growth each year with a membership base in 2001 of 130.

Over the past five years, the Watt Mountain Club has distinguished themselves in their region as being a driving force for local tourism and community wellness. They have held annual charity rides to aid their local women's shelter. Club members also assist other organizations with their projects as well as the town with its annual cleanup.

The Wanderers were instrumental in successfully lobbying their local government to allow snowmobiling within the town limits and have donated the use of a snowmobile to local bylaw inforcement. Members of the club also sat on a municipal task force that dealt with land use issues in local recreational areas. In its first five years, this club has built signed and mantains approximately 300 kilometers of world class trails. Their trail system was cut out of the bush with thousands of hours of volunteer labour and equipment. Watt Mountain recently purchased new grooming equipment in order to keep up with its constantly expanding network of trails.

To highlight its trail system and promote organized snowmobiling in the area, the Wanderers hosted the 2001 Alberta Snowmobile Association Jamboree. The High Level Club is a strong supporter of the Alberta Snowmobile Association. They avidly support the Trail Pass Program as well as Sled Smart Safety and have annually assisted the A.S.A. with its fundraising raffle. In order to achieve what this club has in such a short period of time astute financial planning and management was required. The Club has been able to establish $100,000.00 in Capital assets without incurring any debt and at the same time maintains healthy operating and reserve accounts. Besides thousands of hours donated time and equipment, the Wanderers have generated annual revenue through local raffles, poker rallies, trail map advertising, trail pass sales, local and provincial grants, as well as corporate donations. Having achieved all of its goals set out in its first five-year plan; the Club is now looking to the future. The Club members are actively pursuing other communities in the northwest part of the province to establish clubs and join the A.S.A. The Watt Mountain Wanderers have connected its trails to one adjoining club 80 kilometers away and is currently helping the community of Fort Vermilion set up a club with plans to connect its trails with this group's and assist with grooming. The Watt Mountain Wanderers are also planning an aggressive trail expansion west 140 kilometers to meet up with the town of Rainbow Lake snowmobile club.

All of the hard work by this club and its members has not gone unnoticed. In 2001, the Alberta Snowmobile Association awarded the Watt Mountain Wanderers the ASA Zone Club of the Year Award as well as the ASA Excellence Award for Outstanding Snowmobile Club. The Watt Mountain Wanderers were further presented with the Canadian Excellence Award for Outstanding Snowmobile Club by the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations (CCSO) at the International Snowmobile Congress held in Vancouver in June 2002.