We were able to loosen up the top very few centimetres of M-loop, plus S to The Top, followed by the first H downhill and then directly over to the end of S. A track was also set, but it suffers from the lack of snow -- it is not well formed and may not last very well. I talked to Brian Mottershead at PAXC and he reminded me that we have had only one significant snowfall so far this winter. I am still hitting rocks, particularly right near The Top on the way down B.
NOTE: there is a high-school race on Thursday, Feb. 4, approx. 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the course mentioned above. The classic track will be removed for this event.
Further work on the skating trails will be slow because there is other work underway and because we have to drive about 10 km for each km of trail. The river side and D-loop are better skiing if we leave the skiffles of new snow alone until we get more than 15 cm accumulation. R-loop is reported to be enjoyable, but X and C are still rough. A few people have mentioned that the P(erimeter) trail is also enjoyable.
At the open house on Sunday, someone asked me what the main problem is with the trails, translation: Why is there so little grooming? There are a few "main" problems, e.g. lack of snow, very rough trails and perhaps most important, the fact that we cannot preserve the snow by closing the trails when the snow is wet.
The ruts left by the OPP snowmobiles are not insignificant in the big picture, but the new snow has helped us to fill them in. Grooming is very hard on people and equipment at present. It is tough not to lose control of the new 800-lb snowmobiles when they drive over some of the frozen ruts. Even when the trail looks smooth, the hard ruts filled with relatively soft snow make steering a challenge.
