Snow emergency?: Powder Players: Thinking outside the car

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) D.J. Kellen and Neal Anthony, president and vice president of the Powder Players snowmobile club, are ready if the Plymouth County 911 Communication Center calls and asks for their help getting to stranded motorists when snow prevents other vehicles from reaching them. Many members of the club are volunteering to assist emergency responders. [Click to enlarge]

A Plymouth County snowmobile club is teaming up with the local authorities, offering help in case of extreme weather.

When a sheriff's vehicle can't get to a stranded motorists, the Powder Players might be able to, explained D.J. Kellen, the club's president.

"We've all got cold weather gear," he said. "And we've all gone out and rode when it was not the best conditions."

The club gave the Plymouth County 911 Communications Center a list of club members willing to volunteer their services in case of a snow emergency.

"We have people from Remsen, Marcus, Le Mars and down to Merrill," Kellen said. "If we get a call, the volunteers will assess the situation if it is safe for them to go out. The sheriff has made it clear we don't want to endanger anyone else."

Many in the club have some serious winter gear.

Since they take trips to places like Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains and South Dakota's Black Hills, some members have everything from two-way radios with GPS tracking to avalanche beacons.

"The beacons have signals that transmit so if one person is buried in an avalanche, the others can find him -- it's like a GPS locating system," explained Neal Anthony, Powder Players vice president. "We also have extendable poles that you can use to push through deep snow to find someone."

Some also have snowmobiles equipped for very deep snow.

"We have about as much safety gear as you can have," Anthony said. "And you dress warm, dress in layers. We've ridden in mornings when it was zero degrees, going 50 mph, and you're still warm."

Kellen agreed.

"If push comes to shove, we have the gear and equipment to go out," he said. "We could bring supplies to somebody or get somebody that's stuck."

The idea started after the March 2007 blizzard when a few fire fighters who were also Powder Players members checked on some stranded motorists no one else could get to on Highway 60, Kellen said.

"And occasionally when we're riding along we'll come across a stranded motorist and help," Kellen added.

The concept grew after the Powder Players purchased a four-wheel drive trail grooming vehicle, assisted by money from state snowmobile registrations.

Club members contacted the sheriff's department to offer the use of the vehicle in bad winter weather.

"It goes through the snow well," Kellen said. "That vehicle will go through or over a lot."

As they were talking, Powder Players' members developed the idea of volunteering their services either driving their snowmobiles to stranded motorists or, if someone was injured and no one could reach them, sending the trail grooming vehicle to pick them up.

Club members quickly volunteered to be on the call list, Kellen said.

One of them is Jody Osterbuhr, who has been involved with the Powder Players off and on since it began.

"That's kind of what the club is about," Osterbuhr said of assisting the law enforcement in wintery weather. "We're part of the community and we like to help out the community where we can. We also try to give snowmobiling a better image."

Osterbuhr, like several others in the club, is a veteran rider, snowmobiling at locations in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho, to name a few.

"Everywhere we go has a trail system that a careful beginner could navigate, but we do a lot of off-trail riding," he said.

Whether it's on a trail ride or helping out on an emergency call for the sheriff's office, as a rule the snowmobilers go out in pairs.

"It's the safest practice," Osterbuhr said. "You never know when something could happen, even to the safest rider."

Osterbuhr said helping out the sheriff's department also shows the group's support for local law enforcement officers.

The feeling seems to be mutual.

"They are a heck of a good asset to have in our back pocket," said Kirk Hatting at the Plymouth County Communications Center. "Not only for stranded motorists, but even getting to people work here (at the Plymouth County Law Enforcement Center)."

The Powder Players do a lot of good, Hatting said.

That's intentional, Kellen said.

"Snowmobiles get a bad name from a handful of people who ride down sidewalks and do stupid things," Kellen said.

The goal of Powder Players, which includes about 50 Plymouth County families, is to promote safe, fun snowmobiling, he said.

"We do the marshmallow roast every year at Pioneer Village Christmas, and the last two years we've donated $750 each year to the Le Mars dialysis center," Kellen said.

Members pay a small due each year, some of which pays for grooming some 100 miles of trails in Plymouth County and for maintaining the trail grooming vehicle.

The Powder Players also do fundraisers and fun runs and get people enrolled in snowmobile safety classes, Kellen said.

Their main trail runs from Merrill to Germantown, near Marcus.

"We're hoping to get a trail into Hinton to connect to Merrill," Anthony said.

The club, which started in 1994, is always open to new members. For more information, visit their website www.powder-players.com.

The sheriff's department hasn't had to call on the club yet to rescue any stranded motorists.

"We hope it stays that way," Kellen said. "But we'll be here if they need us."