For the first time this season, I think you can probably use good skis! The steady light snowfall has transformed the trails and there is more good quality track than bad, a welcome change. Note that there were definitely obstacles that the track setter hit, but only 3 or 4 in total and all were rather gentle. A skier reported rocks on M and H skate trails, but the roller did not find them.
D, R, X, M, H and S have classic tracks. M and H have good skating snow and S has been rolled wide for the first time. This grooming required 5 km to roll K, 15 km of skate track rolling and 19 km of track setting.
S is still extremely bumpy because of subsidence over running water and has to be called dangerous for everyone.
B and C were not groomed. C is still too thin to groom near the river and B still has large washed-out areas with no snow on the ground.
Enjoy!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Thicker still
Yesterday's snowfall added several centimetres and the depth of new snow for the week appears to be approx. 15 cm. I set 15 km of classic track and rolled 5 km of the skating trails plus K. For the statisticians, this grooming required 33 km of driving. 6 km of the driving was for K alone.
D, R, X, M, H and S are trackset. M and H have been rolled wide and S was rolled single pass. B and C were not groomed.
The grooming implements still hit ground on every loop, even with non-agressive grooming.
S is still not recommended because it remains seriously bumpy. The main reason it was rolled once was to make it driveable in the event of enough additional snow. B is much more bumpy than S and will require a major snowfall, or an army of shovellers.
C was not groomed because the previous work there did more damage to the track-setter than any other single usage.
D, R, X, M, H and S are trackset. M and H have been rolled wide and S was rolled single pass. B and C were not groomed.
The grooming implements still hit ground on every loop, even with non-agressive grooming.
S is still not recommended because it remains seriously bumpy. The main reason it was rolled once was to make it driveable in the event of enough additional snow. B is much more bumpy than S and will require a major snowfall, or an army of shovellers.
C was not groomed because the previous work there did more damage to the track-setter than any other single usage.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Thicker again -- a little.
Deep River and area skiers turned out in their usual enthusiastic numbers to enjoy the new snow yesterday. The best estimate of depth of fluffy new snow is 6 cm. A soft track was set everywhere but B this morning, but there is still not enough fine-grained snow on top of the ice for the track setter to work properly.
S-loop is crazy rough and is definitely "Ski at your own risk". B remains ungroomed, with the same warning. The principal reason for the roughness on S and B is the persistence of washouts, some of which are in very hazardous locations. Water is still running under the snow and new washouts can appear at any time, from one day to the next and even just as you start to ski over one!
The grooming uncovered rocks and roots on all trails, especially C-loop.
Many skiers still do not appreciate that newly groomed snow requires hours to set up. Think of it like putting mud on wallboard -- you have to leave it alone for a few hours. So, I apologise to Anne and Diane, who understandably did not like me to curtail their Saturday morning ski, but I had no other time to do that small job for the afternoon Jackrabbit group. As it happened, the snow never did set up properly that day, so the K area was still mushy at 4 p.m.
Some days are worse than others. Murphy said it best: "The best laid plans of mice and men ............... are roughly equal.
S-loop is crazy rough and is definitely "Ski at your own risk". B remains ungroomed, with the same warning. The principal reason for the roughness on S and B is the persistence of washouts, some of which are in very hazardous locations. Water is still running under the snow and new washouts can appear at any time, from one day to the next and even just as you start to ski over one!
The grooming uncovered rocks and roots on all trails, especially C-loop.
Many skiers still do not appreciate that newly groomed snow requires hours to set up. Think of it like putting mud on wallboard -- you have to leave it alone for a few hours. So, I apologise to Anne and Diane, who understandably did not like me to curtail their Saturday morning ski, but I had no other time to do that small job for the afternoon Jackrabbit group. As it happened, the snow never did set up properly that day, so the K area was still mushy at 4 p.m.
Some days are worse than others. Murphy said it best: "The best laid plans of mice and men ............... are roughly equal.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thinner still.
All DRXC trails are now ungroomable. The predictions for "up to" 10 cm of snow should salvage this weekend, but 10 cm is a useless skiffle as far as grooming is concerned.
M and H loops now have rocks appearing like magic, so old skis are definitely recommended. The M-loop downhill is scraped off by snow-plowing and speed control is only possible without skis. Walk off to the side of the prepared snow in the untouched snow; snow cover is not deep enough to make walking difficult. At any time, snow-plowing may uncover a rock or root on the M hill and personal injury from tripping at speed is a distinct possibility.
The snow on the bridges is thinner than everywhere else. There should be NO SKATING on any bridge. Once the bridge cover starts to break, the danger of a fall into the stream will be dramatically higher and there is more than enough fast-moving water to drown someone.
M and H loops now have rocks appearing like magic, so old skis are definitely recommended. The M-loop downhill is scraped off by snow-plowing and speed control is only possible without skis. Walk off to the side of the prepared snow in the untouched snow; snow cover is not deep enough to make walking difficult. At any time, snow-plowing may uncover a rock or root on the M hill and personal injury from tripping at speed is a distinct possibility.
The snow on the bridges is thinner than everywhere else. There should be NO SKATING on any bridge. Once the bridge cover starts to break, the danger of a fall into the stream will be dramatically higher and there is more than enough fast-moving water to drown someone.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thinner and thinner......
I attempted to set a better track in the new snow on the smoother trails: K R X D M up S and down H. The track looked much better than it was, but at least the ice and needles are covered up for now. By the end of the day, the track was very shallow everywhere. Further track setting may be impossible -- no one should hold his/her breath about that!
Skiing on the new snow was as magical as always, but the skier traffic was up to Deep River's usual high standard and everything will be very hard by Sunday. Trail cover is now approximately 10 cm of white ice covered by 1 cm of compressed new snow. A few rocks on M and S have no ice cover and are not always visible. Any high spot certainly has something besides snow somewhere underneath it and less than 2 cm down.
The S downhill is snow-plowed off and far too bumpy to be safe in these snow conditions. Skiers at all levels of competence risk serious injury if they ski there. C has "about 100" rocks covered only by the new snow, or not! B is ungroomed and hazardous.
Dance for snow. Bring back suitcases of snow from your ski trips. No contribution is too small.
Skiing on the new snow was as magical as always, but the skier traffic was up to Deep River's usual high standard and everything will be very hard by Sunday. Trail cover is now approximately 10 cm of white ice covered by 1 cm of compressed new snow. A few rocks on M and S have no ice cover and are not always visible. Any high spot certainly has something besides snow somewhere underneath it and less than 2 cm down.
The S downhill is snow-plowed off and far too bumpy to be safe in these snow conditions. Skiers at all levels of competence risk serious injury if they ski there. C has "about 100" rocks covered only by the new snow, or not! B is ungroomed and hazardous.
Dance for snow. Bring back suitcases of snow from your ski trips. No contribution is too small.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Not too bad, considering!
The title is a quote from our DRXC past president earlier today.
In summary, the classic track is still quite skiable, although very hard underneath and rather shallow. The little bit of fresh snow has covered up the forest debris, but it has also obscured the high spots that are even more prominent after the thaw. My judgement says that I cannot improve the classic track, and so I will leave it alone. The C-loop rocks are reportedly standing tall, in which case there are more just under the surface.
I scratched up the skate snow on K and little M, including M-extension, and I turned up sand in four spots on K. I drove about 25 km to accomplish this and the base is still extremely hard and slick. One intrepid young skier was skating around M-loop over and over this morning, so it must be tolerable or better. The teeth on the Trail Tenderizer are already showing several dings, so I am planning to wait for a little more snow before I tenderize M any further.
In summary, the classic track is still quite skiable, although very hard underneath and rather shallow. The little bit of fresh snow has covered up the forest debris, but it has also obscured the high spots that are even more prominent after the thaw. My judgement says that I cannot improve the classic track, and so I will leave it alone. The C-loop rocks are reportedly standing tall, in which case there are more just under the surface.
I scratched up the skate snow on K and little M, including M-extension, and I turned up sand in four spots on K. I drove about 25 km to accomplish this and the base is still extremely hard and slick. One intrepid young skier was skating around M-loop over and over this morning, so it must be tolerable or better. The teeth on the Trail Tenderizer are already showing several dings, so I am planning to wait for a little more snow before I tenderize M any further.
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