By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

Ask any Maine snowmobile dealer how this winter has been and wait for the laughter to subside before getting the question answered.

“What winter?” they ask back.

“It’s pretty much a joke,” Ron Ames, owner of Ames Sports Shop in Auburn said Friday afternoon, looking outside at pouring rain.

“It’s horrible, horrible. It couldn’t get any worse,” he added.

An Arctic Cat dealer since 1984, Ames said he’s got 70 2006 sleds that he’s got to sell, because the manufacturer is changing 80 percent of its line for next winter.

“We’re usually booming, but nobody’s riding. I haven’t even sold any oil yet, and I usually sell 400 cases a year. This is the worst we’ve ever seen it, as far as sales go,” he said.

“Guys that normally ride 3,000 to 4,000 miles a year, they’ve only been out a couple of times. The lakes are all slush, and the waterways have opened up,” Ames said.

Diane Gammon at Ken’s Yamaha in Norway said Friday afternoon that she and her husband, Ken Gammon, usually have from five to 10 sleds left to sell by now.

Not this year. They’ve got 30, and, have had to lay off one service technician. Another one might soon be let go.

“If business doesn’t pick up,” she started to say, then, after a pause, added, “We’ve only been bringing in $500 a day, but we’re spending $1,000 a day. I hate to lay off people.”

Gary York, owner of Eagle’s Sport Shop in Wilton, said Friday afternoon that he, too, had to lay off parts and service workers.

“I’ve laid off four and cut back the hours on two, almost to the point of laying them off, too,” York said.

He sells Honda, Yamaha, Arctic Cat and Ski-Doo sleds, accessories and parts. In a good winter, Eagle’s sells 140 to 150 snowmobiles. He’s got 80 left.

“It’s been awful, very bad, the worst,” York added.

“This is the winter that wasn’t,” said Gammon, who’s been in the business for 33 years.

“Service is dead, sales are dead, nobody’s riding. I’ve lived in Maine my whole life, and I don’t remember when it’s been this warm in January,” she added.

Julie Ferguson of Rev-It-Up Sports in Rangeley, a Yamaha dealer, said Friday afternoon that she and her husband were trying hard to avoid layoffs.

“We had about two weeks of snow – the first two weeks after Christmas – then we had three weekends of rain and three weekends of warm spells,” she said.

Ferguson said she hopes that February’s snowfall will be fabulous, but Rick Hebert, owner of Mountain Valley Sports in Peru, was pessimistic.

“It’s already February 3, and it’s not looking good today,” Hebert said of the heavy rainfall.

A 15-year-dealer, Hebert said he’s got 50 Arctic Cat sleds left.

“I just don’t know what I have to do to entice people into buying them,” he added.

Normally, 80 percent of his sales happen before Christmas, or by January’s end.

“I don’t remember a worse business year,” Hebert said.

The Gammons also sell snowmobiles in Tamworth, N.H. Business is down there, too.

“It’s been a double whammy for us. It’s been awful. Off the scale in the opposite direction, and the worst thing is, there’s not a damn thing you can do. It’s Mother Nature,” Gammon said.

Snowmobile rental businesses, like Rocky and Lisa Freda’s Sun Valley Sports in Bethel, are also hurting.

“Every time we get a little snow, Mother Nature comes and takes it back,” Rocky Freda said Friday afternoon.

“I’ve got one guy that works year round, and I’m trying to keep him employed, and that’s a challenge this winter,” he added.