It's like someone turned a switch -- the skiers have gone away from the DRXC trails. Mostly. All the news I have indicates that our conditions are typical, or even better than average, but I guess enough is enough.
A little-used grooming implement called a "Snow Grabber" was used with some success on R, X and C loops during the week. This exercise served to reduce the OPP search damage considerably, but the track is still irregular, shallow and hard. D-loop has not been groomed again and cannot be improved significantly until there is more snow.
The remaining deep ruts in S and H have been flattened, but some still remain under large trees. The skating loops S, H and B are now all approximately the same, but there are grooming ruts and unpleasant ice cubes everywhere. I will attempt to address this after some personal rest days.
The 84-inch-wide "Ginzu-Groomer" has had its maiden voyage on M-loop and the powerline -- lucky Jackrabbits! I hit ground once beside the swamp on M, no damage done and only a bit of dirty ice left behind. This was with the shallowest possible cutting depth, but feedback indicates that the skate-skiing was better after than before. The powerline, on the other hand, was absolutely gorgeous first thing this morning -- the best skate-ski surface I have ever seen in Deep River.
The set-track on the highway-side of the road is getting harder and harder. Even with all 280 lb. of our track-set weights in use, the track came out shallow. The bottom of the track is now incredibly hard, about hardness 100 on a scale of 1-to-10.
