Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 20/98) - In the words of William Shakespeare, "Parting is such sweet sorrow."

It's safe to say Shakespeare never spent the better part of a winter flying over the snow with the throttle of his snowmobile wide open. But if he had, it likely would have inspired him to wax poetic about having to store his machine away for the summer.

That's the prospect Yellowknife snowmobilers face each spring, and this year it came earlier than usual.

"This was more of a typical type season where you're snowmobiling one day and then the next day you put it away," said veteran snowmobiler Tim Girrior.

RCMP Const. Shawn Pollard, who averages about 8,000 snowmobile kilometres each year, had to give up his favorite winter pastime in early April. That came just a bit too early for him.

"I'd like to be out there today, actually," he said, adding that he "wouldn't live here without one."

For Girrior, a teacher at Aurora College, spring presents an opportunity to prepare for the following snowmobile season.

"Now I'm out clearing and cutting snowmobile trails," said Girrior, who estimates that he travels four to five thousand kilometres by snowmobile each year.

Brent Gibeault, an automotive technician, is also longing to push his Polaris XC 700 to the limit once again.

"This last year wasn't the best year. We had to wait all the way up to January before we had plenty of snow," he said.

Gibeault's last snowmobile trip was in late March. "As winter starts to come closer you start looking at the snowmobile... and giving it its once-over for the year."

Until then, the outdoorsmen are finding other ways to get around.

Pollard has found a substitute in a four-wheeler. Gibeault's recreational transportation is now an eight-wheeled all-terrain vehicle.

"For the summer we switch to our Argo. We use it to go fishing, camping and trail-breaking," he said. "It goes right in the water, so it's a boat all in one.

Girrior's not wishing the summer away, either. He had planned a weekend of canoeing.

"One activity follows the next," he said. "I've got lots of stuff to do."