Saturday, December 8, 2018

Grooming Report #2 Mostly Good!

Early this morning all trails were rolled. Tracks were set everywhere except for Mud lake, New River trail, and most of Churning Rapids. We will try to set tracks on all Churning Rapids trails tomorrow, excluding the Spring Creek reroute. Conditions are improving and we're seeing mostly good conditions everywhere. The Quincy trail, Mud Lake, New River trail and the River trail in the gorge still remain pretty rough. The River trail still has a couple wet spots as you will see in the picture below.

The worst section of the River trail is pictured here. This is next to the Railroad Ravine


Between intersections 4 and 5 on the Pine Loop


Double tracks were set on St. Urho's loop


Thursday, December 6, 2018

Grooming Report #1 Fair to Good

All trails were rolled today, and tracks were set on the city-side trails. There isn't enough base yet for us to drag trails, so expect many bumps and uneven trails. There are still a few open water spots, but most are freezing up. Trails are pretty soft since we are not adding any weight to our implements. Adding weight on our implements in low snow conditions will potentially damage the comb. Current conditions vary from fair to good.


On the Quincy trail between intersections 7 and 8. This section is in great shape since the trail is so smooth


The New River trail is one of our roughest trails. It will take much more snow to get this trail level


Right by the Tomasi trail head. Tracks were not looking to bad


Seen again on the Quincy trail. This was the only trail that was double tracked today

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Intersection 3 Fixed!

Today we took our John Deere tractor out to fix one last spot before grooming begins. Intersection 3 is right at the start of the Pine Loop off of Tomasi Rd. Large holes were dug on the sides of both trails to keep trucks from driving through. We refer to these as "tank traps". Next year we hope to install a double gate here to simplify the fall to winter transition.

There was around 6' of clearance between the tank trap and the tree. Our roller is about 10' wide


We would be able to get through this spot, but the pile of dirt on the right would be a problem all winter


The 6' of clearance before is now over 12'


The piles of dirt were cut back and moved into the tank trap. There's plenty of room to get our roller through now!