AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
This winter, you may be surprised to find that instead of the postcards your folks usually send - filled with news of shuffleboard and golf scores - you find photos of them snowmobiling atop the Continental Divide, sleigh riding in Jackson Hole or mugging with a steam-snorting buffalo in Yellowstone National Park.
A senior himself at 64, tour operator Rog Matthews began snowmobiling in the early '60s aboard a Wolverine, equipped with a nine-volt battery-charged headlight. Since then he has served as charter president of the Michigan Association of Recreational Snowmobilers (the precursor to the Michigan Snowmobile Association); past president of the Iron Dog Brigade; and is currently owner/operator of Sno-World Snow Tours (now Senior World Tours).
In 1952, Matthews left the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and returned home to Grand Rapids, Mich., to work in the family printing business. During these years, he racked up miles aboard his first sled, a Ski-Doo Nordic (with an underseat compartment large enough to carry the parts to make a second sled), and a fleet of John Deeres.
In the late '70s, Marty Mattson of Yellowstone Snow Tours approached Matthews with a proposition: book a group of people as our Michigan representative and you can go free. Twist my arm, Matthews thought. But a few seasons later, tired of Yellowstone's commercialism and fierce moguls on the trails (especially a stretch from Madison Junction to West Yellowstone, which he referred to as "18 miles of hell"), Matthews sought new vistas. Fifty miles north of Jackson Hole, he found Togwotee.
With a view of the Tetons to the west and just off the Continental Divide trail, David and Judie Helgeson had recently opened Togwotee Mountain Lodge in 1977. Back home in Michigan, word got around about Matthews' tours and it didn't take long before people began asking him to book them when he made his own reservations. "They could have done it themselves, but it was easier to have me do it," Matthews said.
One week out west turned to two or three, and now Matthews basically takes up residence from December through March, running as many as 14 tours in Togwotee alone (Matthews will continue to run tours to Alaska and to Hearst and Wawa, Ontario, via the Snow Train). During the summer, Matthews alternates between a six-acre raspberry farm near Grand Rapids, Michigan and his newest venture: walking, hiking and white water rafting tours.
Senior tourers typically have two things in common: they have visited Yellowstone in the summer and few have never seen snow, much less a snowmobile. For the most part, "senior" tours run the same as "regulars" - same sleds, same lodging at Togwotee, same field trip to Jackson to shop and visit the National Elk Refuge, and the same daily departure at 9 a.m.
Differences come in the extent of training and speed. On the first day tourers learn how to stop, start, shift their weight and get up to about 10 to 15 mph; by the second day, the group will be up to 25 to 35 mph and ready for Yellowstone. Day three is spent in the park traveling on its western side, and an overnight stay at the Stagecoach Inn in West Yellowstone, Montana. The next day, the group tours the eastern side to North Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
While park officials battle to keep speeds down, one of the biggest "problems" Matthews faces is trying to convince his seniors to throttle up to the park's speed limit of 45 mph so they can get in all of the sights.
Some seniors may also have physical limitations like arthritic hands unable to squeeze the throttle for long stretches (guides offer grip tips to minimize pain). On all of his adventures, Matthews emphasizes that this is your tour: you say how much you ride, how far, or not at all. Matthews is fond of saying that his tours are not for hot doggers and they are not enduros.
It's rare to come to a point in one's life where there is both the time and money to travel; call Rog when you're looking for a partner to ride off into a Rocky Mountain sunset.
Typically, a couple booked on a week-long tour will spend about $2,500, plus airfare. Senior World Tours, 3701 Buttrick Rd. S.E., Ada, Michigan 49301-9328. 616/676-5885; 616/676-5898 (fax).