been there and back

AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com

When winter and its snows come, the northern tier of states and the Canadian provinces beckon the adventuresome rider. There are countless places to ride, but who could possibly visit all of those areas?

The answer: Dick Squiers. As one of the first and foremost snowmobile tour operators, he has crisscrossed the continent and had the opportunity to ride in places the rest of us only dream about.

Dick and his wife Cindy operated International Snowmobile Tours, Inc. (ISTI) for 25 years, organizing trips to prime North American snowmobiling locales. Two seasons ago, they ran their final tour.

"After 25 years, we just got burned out," Squiers admits, but no apology is needed considering what's involved in planning, publicizing and guiding trips all winter. "We worked 12 months a year developing the tours. When the weather seemed to be changing, we just decided it was time to call it quits."

ISTI's beginnings

Squiers' snowmobiling experience dates to the late 1960s, when he rented a couple of 1969 Johnsons for his first outing.

"By today's riding standards, they weren't much, but it was fun," he says. "Back at home, I discussed snowmobiling with the family and decided to sell our four horses to buy a snowmobile." His first was a new Ski-Doo, and he was quickly hooked. He and several friends soon founded one of the early snowmobile clubs in Indiana. In 1977-'78, he became president of the state snowmobile association.
In 1980, Squiers formed International Snowmobile Tours, a business that soon opened many great North American snowmobiling venues to everyone.

"I noticed that most snowmobilers were not riding their sleds very much," he says. "They'd go out if it snowed, but only close to home. I hoped that our tours would introduce them to a better experience, more enjoyment and the fun of destination riding."

In his first two years, Squiers ran a long weekend trip to Houghton Lake, Mich. "Our biggest group there was 64 sleds," he says. "They were divided into four groups, each with a guide. Since many of the sleds hadn't been used for one or two years, we had a lot of breakdowns. We kept two guys with a truck and trailer at the motel, just to pick up sleds that were broken down all over the area."

The Snow Train
It wasn't long before Squiers limited groups to about 20 riders and started looking for new, more ambitious venues. "We started running tours through some areas before the trail systems were complete," he says.

"We were the first tour company into the Black Hills of South Dakota and the first to run trips on the famous Snow Train that runs from Sault Sainte Marie to Hearst, Ont."

Initially, sledders loaded their machines onto the train for a 300-mile trip in each direction, with all the riding done out of Hearst at the end of the line. Eventually, Squiers figured out a way to traverse the remote area between Wawa and Sault Sainte Marie with a prearranged gas cache, allowing a train ride to Hearst and a sled ride back. Today there's a marked and groomed trail, made possible in part by Squiers' efforts.

"We were the first Americans to ride in Hearst," he says. "It's a French Canadian community and we created a lot of excitement with the locals. When the lumber mills were not operating and times were tough, the merchants loved us because our groups left a lot of money behind after each visit. The trails in that area are always superb and the hospitality is unmatched."

Long-distance tours

Long-distance touring soon became Squiers' specialty, with a support vehicle hauling luggage to the next stop and standing by to carry disabled sleds. "In 1992, we ran a difficult but successful loop around northern Minnesota, which we called the Pol-Cat Tour because it included stops at the Arctic Cat and Polaris factories in Thief River Falls and Roseau." That 950-mile sojourn was just a warm-up.

"Not getting any smarter, we decided to run a 1,400-mile tour in central Ontario," he says. "It went from Sault Sainte Marie to Wawa, Hearst, Cochrane, New Liskeard, Sudbury, Thessalon, Bruce Mines, and back to the Soo in eight days. This was without marked or groomed trails in many areas. It was one of several tours that we were told was impossible at the time, but we did it. Today, because of the development of the trail system, the same trip is just 1,300 miles and can be accomplished in six and a half days." The success of these long-distance tours prompted Squiers to think even bigger.

Circling Lake Superior with an organized tour was an unheard-of feat, but good planning and good fortune made the 1,600-mile journey possible - twice! That set the stage for his most impressive tour - a 10-1/2-day, 2,500-mile trek from Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. to Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula and the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Everyone completed the adventure," Squiers notes with pride, "even though our support truck and trailer were stolen in northern Quebec. We were prepared and only lost about two and a half hours. Unfortunately, the equipment was never recovered."

Despite the vagaries of the weather, most tours came off as scheduled, though there were occasional reroutes.

"Because of our experience and contacts in various places, we could usually change a tour to a different area and end up with better conditions and good riding," Squiers says. "The worst conditions ranged from a total meltdown with no snow to record low temperatures in northern Minnesota. Those were the only conditions that stopped our tours and we only canceled a small number of them."

Though he was literally out front much of the time, Dick credits wife Cindy and a cadre of dedicated assistants for his firm's success. "I've been truly blessed to have someone like her beside me," he says.

"She's done everything from driving the support truck to working the snowmobile shows to looking after folks on the tours."

Where he is now

Now that their winters have freed up, Dick and Cindy plan to do more pleasure riding with friends. Dick is also returning to his roots with the Indiana Snowmobile Association (ISA). "I've just started a new organization encompassing all the past presidents of the association. Our mission is to communicate the history and fun of snowmobiling by participating in the annual snowmobile show in our area and speaking at club events. We're also documenting the history. Our goal is to strengthen the association and make everyone aware of what's been done in the past to make snowmobiling what it is today."

Dick's contributions to snowmobiling continue, but he already has a legacy among the thousands of people who have participated in an ISTI tour. "The one thing Cindy and I miss are the people," he says. "Most joined our tours as customers but left as friends."