I started grooming in Dec of 2000. I ran heavy equipment most of my life so I had no trouble with that. One thing I did have trouble with was the snowmobiler's that were popping up from no where. Usually around corners and hills. I would meet a snowmobile on a corner, he would go by with out letting me know anything. I would then proceed around the corner and bam, there was his partner. His buddy didn't let me know he was coming. I don't know how many times this happened but it was often. Thank god I didn't hit anyone, but sometimes it was close. All this can be avoided by learning these basic hand signals. By letting the groomer operators know what is coming behind you could save someone's life. The only signal that is not in the pictures below is the one to let the groomer operator know how many sleds are behind you. Simply hold up the number of fingers. If there is three of your buddies behind you, hold up three fingers. If there is more than five, don't take both hands off of your machine, just simply do the "oncoming sleds" signal. The groomer operators are on the trails for up to 12 hours at a time. You would not believe how much this helps us out. Please take the time to learn these and use them on the trails.