RUMFORD – With only about six to eight weeks remaining of winter, snowmobile dealers from Norway to Rangeley were still excited Friday about the first big snowstorm in years, on Valentine’s Day. But is the late start enough to salvage this season’s sales?

Rick Hebert, owner of Mountain Valley Sports on Route 2 in Rumford, thinks so, but Diane Gammon, co-owner of Ken’s Yamaha in Norway, wasn’t so sure. Neither was Arctic Cat dealer Gary York of Eagle’s Sports in Rangeley.

“Sales have definitely picked up, and we’ve had a big boom in parts and service,” Hebert said in between waiting on customers Friday afternoon. “We’ve sold quite a few sleds – mainly new ones – over the last two weeks, but at very much reduced prices, because of the selective snowstorms.”

By that, he meant that unlike the lack of snow in the past few years, this winter saw some small amounts that boosted the hopes of snowmobile enthusiasts, but was very short lived once people realized it wasn’t enough on which to ride.

“Before Wednesday’s storm, that little bit of snow got people to move, and with this, it’s crazy crazy. Real busy. We’ll take it, but it won’t turn into a record year. It definitely helped though,” he said.

Earlier this winter, Hebert moved his business from Ridge Road in Peru to Rowe Ford’s dealership on Route 2 for more visibility. The partnership also gave him auto mechanics, who, due to more snowmobile service needs, were busy Friday trying to catch up on a week’s backlog of snowmobile repair work. That, and outfitting newly purchased sleds.

“A lot of people haven’t run their sleds for two years, and they had them in their barns, and the mice got in them, and they can’t get them to run,” Hebert said of the majority of service work.

Gammon said they’re also starting to get busy with repair and maintenance work.

“It’s a little bit late in the season, but, it may help,” Gammon said Friday afternoon by phone in Norway. “We’ll try to salvage a little bit, but our cash flow has been real bad. We’re not moving anything, because no one’s been riding.”

Gammon said they’ve mostly been selling oil plugs and belts to people who do their own sled maintenance work. They’ve also got three pallets of oil which they purchased in September, anticipating a better winter than last year’s.

“For everybody in this business, you plan on maybe one year – but not two in a row – where it’s been so, so bad. So, this was a good storm. With this staying around for a while, if we get more snow, people might ride into the end of March,” she said.

Typically, snowmobile sales are brisk in December, with riders hitting trails and iced-over lakes and ponds, but there was neither ice nor snow when it was needed most.

“People have been a little cranky up to now. They’ve been saying, ‘I want to get out there and ride,'” Gammon said.

That’s what they’ve been doing a lot of in Rangeley after Wednesday.

“We got more than 2 feet. It’s opened up the whole state, and guys have been coming in saying, ‘It’s a ball out there,'” York said.

However, he said it’s too early to tell yet if the booster shot of snow will jump-start sales. Service, on the other hand, has been pretty steady, so, he’s hired a high school junior, and, is inclined to hire another worker, “if the right person came along.”

“If we had got 2 inches of rain, it would have killed us. But this – it’s a month and a half too late – but, it’s better than nothing,” he added.