Go ski!

We have now "opened" the entire system.  S, H, B and C are still very roly-poly, as usual for first grooming.  Rocks do not seem to be a problem, but this is not a guarantee.

CAUTION: there are still ice-covered branches AT FACE-LEVEL on B-loop.  DO NOT ski fast down the hills and expect not to hit anything.  About half of B-loop is clear of the worst obstructions, but this is very slow, tedious work.  We cut 30 or 40 saplings and small trees today alone -- .  Please help if at all possible.

Got snow, got tracks, still need help clearing brush.

We set a classic track on D, R, X and C last evening (Thursday).  C is pretty rough, but contacts with the ground were not serious.  If you venture into deep snow anywhere, but especially off C, expect ski and/or skier damage. 

We will be driving on M, S, H and B all morning, Friday, Dec 28,  Little-M and K are basically done and available. 

Brush clearing is slow -- there is a lot of wood in the way.  Help is still needed, see the previous post.

First grooming on all trails; Help wanted with trail clearing

Here is the report on trail grooming done Dec 23, between 9 AM and about 4:30 PM.

In the morning we track-set D, R, X, and C loops (one levelling pass with a track tenderizer followed by the track-setter). Over most of these trails the snow cover seemed to be quite good. There are, as usual, parts of C where the snow cover is thin and the trail is rough. At the time of grooming the large fallen trees from snow and wind on Friday and Saturday had been removed, leaving some smaller debris on the trail at these sites. Overhanging brush and small trees were no longer a major impediment but there were still opportunities for volunteers to refine the clean-up.

We then flattened the snow on the M and S loops as widely as feasible for the snow depth and set a track on the right hand side. The snow seemed markedly deeper on the S loop than on most of the M loop. At the time of grooming there was still quite lot of overhanging brush to be trimmed back, more on S than on M.

We also did one double wide pass with track tenderizers on H and B loops. This was mainly to provide a solid base and traction for future grooming. The snow was deep enough on these loops that it was hard to keep the snowmobiles upright at times. Volunteers had been around the H loop ahead of us and removed major obstructions but there were still many small trees hanging over the trail from the weight of ice and snow. The H loop is currently suitable for the more determined skier who doesn't need a track and can deal with skiing in a less than eight foot packed width.

No one had been ahead of us on the B loop. It was heavily obstructed by small trees overhanging the trails and some larger ones that had fallen. We cleared what was needed to get the grooming machines through and as of sundown Dec. 23 the B loop was suitable only for skiers packing brush clearing equipment and a desire to be helpful.

Cheers, George

(posted by Cheryl)

More patience

The heavy crust and damp snow are ungroomable this morning.  If present forecasts come true, we will groom something on Friday morning.

Patience

The trails are white, but the snow is very thin.  Just look at any roof edge to see how thin it is.  One or two "skiers" have ventured out, but the ground is visible in many places in their tracks.  Perhaps it is more fun than walking, but scraping the ground is not fun for the skis!

Nearly finished??

We were just able to scratch up the surface of Little-M and part of K for the club championships.  The resulting track is extremely hard underfoot, which is the solid ice beneath.

The machines were pulling hard enough to overheat, even at -8, because the ice is so thick and tough, and the crumble will freeze to the ice overnight to become even harder than it was.

The "snow" depth on the main trail is less than 25cm, 8 or 9", and this was still damp right to the ground late yesterday.  This ice condition is terminal for grooming and the previous posting is still valid, i.e thaw skiing only until another major snowfall.  :>)

Thaw skiing (?) only UFN

Today (Monday), the trails are nearly solid ice and very treacherous on cold days.  On warmer days and in direct sunlight, there may be "skiing" if icy trails appeal to you.

Speaking academically, these icy conditions are groomable with our small machines.  However, it takes many, many passes of tough driving to make any impression and the same thing has to be repeated every cold day.  It is nearly the case that one day's grooming is only completed in time for the ice crystals to freeze up again for the next day, and the resulting ski conditions appeal to nearly no one.  Not going there.

(UFN means until further notice!)

Icy and fast

The worst crust from Saturday's wet weather was just manageable and all of the club trails are now groomed as usual.  There is no actual "snow", only broken-up crust, so the skiing will be fast.

The track is patchy because the old track is solid ice in places and the ice lifted the track setter out of the snow.  However,  ~95% of the classic track looks excellent.

Wet snow, then freeze-up

You can still enjoy excellent trail conditions today, but the forecast is for snow, thaw and rain later in the week.  Since we (or anyone else) cannot groom wet snow sucessfully, the plan at present is to leave the predicted snowfall today and tomorrow alone until after the temperature falls and drys out the trails. 
Skiers can therefore expect some, perhaps "a lot", of ungroomed snow, later wet, on the trails from tomorrow into Saturday.  The intention is to have snow instead of ice to work with by Sunday or so.

Yo-yo weather

All of DRXC's trails were groomed last evening for the second time in a week. The intention was to provide another couple days of superb mid-winter conditions before the yo-yo goes up again. Enjoy.

Icy and fast

Re-setting the classic track is estimated to require unreasonable effort, i.e. many, many passes with the ice busters.  Even then, the loose ice granules never really freeze together properly afterward.  Grooming will therefore be on hold until additional snow falls and everything freezes.

So, all loops except H have a hard, fast classic track.  The skate loops are also hard and fast, but manageable.

Go skiing, and hurry.

All trails are open and conditions are excellent.  With the forecast of 3 days of thaw, urgency is in order.

This morning, we set a classic track everywhere except C-loop, which still has an excellent Silver Spoon track, and H-loop.  H-loop is not wide enough for skate-skiing when it also has a classic track, so the skaters have been granted a reprieve this week.  B-loop looked unlikely to benefit from skate grooming and was left as is.  Later and too late for skate grooming, we noticed that the orienteering crowd had snow-ploughed down "The Wall" and other hills and left ridges of snow in awkward places.  If you are a skater and you object to this abuse of the trail, please join me in making sure the club executive know your view.

It is hazardous to ski the trails in the reverse direction and against club policy.  It is likely that the club does not publicize this policy sufficiently.  Ski teachers especially should emphazise skiing in the clockwise direction on all loops and e.g. never practice downhill techniques in the backward direction.  The small circuit up S from Cox's Corner to The Top and down H to the link back to S is perfect for hill instruction, with only the very short right turn off S to return to Cox's.

I mispoke

Upon venturing out today to enjoy the wonderful classic track I described in the previous posting, I had a surprise.  There was an excellent track from the hospital down R and X to C and all around C.  It was certainly a pleasure to have a really fine ski on C-loop, a rarity in recent years.
On the home legs of X and R, the club snomobile had mashed the track pretty severely, an annual Silver Spoon ritual to recover the dozens of race signs from the trails.  It was a relief to get back on a good track on D-loop, but the first downhill on M was trampled -- orienteering again.  The trampling continued off and on all the way to Henry's Hollow and then the track was especially bad on the bridge and its approaches.  I soon realized that a recreational snowmobile had driven on the track and severe damage was essentially continuous from the first bridge right round to the height of K where I could see the snowmobile track entering M-loop.

So my glowing description of the track in the previous posting was already in error when I wrote it.  The track we spent days preparing was 60% smushed in about 24 hours.  I understand I am supposed try to be more positive here, but with those facts .........

The Silver Spoon, forty and counting

The DRXC trails have borne the strides of some 300 skiers once again in the fortieth annual Silver Spoon race.  Following the two thaw days of the week, the grooming team put at least 85 km on the two big snowmobiles on Friday to prepare the ice/snow mixture, which has surprisingly little evidence of the ice chips that are everywhere.

D, R, X, C and M loops are now in the best condition of the season with a good, "polished" classic track.
M-loop is not ideal for skate skiing, but the width is there.  S, H and B are groomed for skate-skiing only, with no classic track.  We shall attempt to restore MSHB to the normal configuration gradually through the coming week.  The very dense crust on M-loop is becoming more and more difficult to make any impression on.

How quickly plans change

We have been scuppered by the weather, namely a thaw today that was not forecast yesterday.  Both of my outside thermometers read zero C at 0655 this morning while the Environment Canada reading at Petawawa at 6 a.m. was apparently minus 7 C.  What is wrong with this picture???

This thaw means that all bets are off regarding skiing and trail grooming for the rest of the week.  The two races and the grooming goals posted here yesterday are still in play, but after today it may take hours of ice busting to accomplish any of the grooming tasks that need to be done.  Hopefully the ice will be bustable!

What you see on the trails is what you get.

Trail grooming during Silver Spoon week

The MacKenzie Invitational Ski Meet is scheduled for Wed., Feb. 8 and the 40th annual Silver Spoon Ski Fest for Sat., Feb. 11.  Because of grooming for these two races, club skiers will find the classic track progressively disrupted as follows

M, S, H and B loops :
Monday, minor breaks in the track;
Tuesday, later in the day, gradual complete erasure of the classic track;
Wednesday, no classic track and lotsa young people all over the place;
Thursday, gradual reappearance of classic track, depending on other demands on groomers and equipment and also on snow conditions.

D, R, X and C loops :
Wed., Thu. & Fri., deteriorating track caused by trail work like brushing and race sign & barricade placement;
Late Friday, final track setting for Saturday.

Sunday will be a rest day for grooming personnel.

Fabulous skiing

By all accounts, the skiing today was excellent, to some the best in many years, on all DRXC trails.  The predicted high of zero C tomorrow (Friday) may result in a hard track for the weekend, but skiing should still be very good for several days.

UGH -- wet

Short message:  no grooming in wet snow today, Wed., Feb. 1.  It is much better for the trails if no one skis on the wet snow either. 

Tomorrow, we will attempt to groom all the trails, so the track will be wiped out for some hours everywhere.

Long message: ditto.

An excellent trend?

The weathermen (w-persons?) have underestimated snowfall amounts in Deep River exactly three times in the past 40 years, once in 2011 and twice this year.  I am hopeful that they are starting a grand, new tradition, even if it leads to groomer's blogs like the previous one that are a bit off the mark.

The groomers have laboured mightily on our 8-to-10 cm snowfall today and there are now many happy skiers.  The skiing on all of the groomed trails is just about as good as it gets.  With just a little effort, you can pretend that you do not feel that nasty crust under there as you ski.

It was a near thing.  The PNFI trails got only about 25% of the snowfall that we did and there is a frozen-rain crust just under the new snow.  Our sub-Arctic climate rating may be hard on plants, but it is great for skiing!

Skin deep

Beauty is skin deep, but ugly is to the bone. (Murphy)

What you see on the ski trails this morning looks pretty good, but it is only skin deep.  Underneath the nice, soft snow is very ugly ice and we have "groomed" it as much as is possible.  We are now basically where we were at the start of the season, with the additional benefit that the trails are now smoother.

We now need at least 20 cm of new snow in order to be able to set a track again.  (20 cm compacts to between 3 and 5 cm, which is the depth of the track setter.)

All trails are presently harsh ice and all downhills remain fast and hazardous.

Got crust, no promises.

The trails are very crusty today.  In the main, people were smart enough to stay off the wet snow, so there is something for the groomers to work with.    However, please be advised that no one on earth can turn ice back into snow.

The set tracks are much harder than the skate track and, at best, will require many, many passes to break the ice granules apart.  The existing classic grooves are solid ice and will remain ungroomable until they melt.  It may be prudent for us to wait until Thursday and milder temperatures to even attempt to resurrect a classic track somewhere beside the existing grooves.  As the title says, there are no promises

Downhills will be very fast and dangerous, even the little ones.

Pros and cons

Sometimes, the decision on how to groom the trails is complicated.  This is one of those times.  Here are the considerations.
The thick, cold powder snow that fell this week did not consolidate in spite of several passes by the groomers.
It has been extremely demanding physically to drive the machines in the deep, soft snow and the grooming staff are close to exhaustion.
The air temperature today was quite cold with the slight breeze; an accident on the trail would present significant risk from the cold.
The entire trail system is groomed now for the first time in at least three years.
Skiers coming off the hilly loops today were still very happy with the skiing and the classic track looks to be in very good condition near the chalet.
This morning's weather forecast for Monday indicated +7C and rain.  January rain falling on compacted snow and then freezing usually produces ungroomable ice; the more compaction that has occurred, the worse the ice will be.

Two questions have pretty clear answers.  First, can I make the skiing better?  No, not significantly.  Second, do my customers want me to be able to groom after a thaw and rain?  I certainly expect so; they always have before!  This is as close to a no-brainer as it gets.

Well then, go out and enjoy that lovely powdery snow while you can.  Meanwhile, hope that the forecasters are being silly again.

Hope you like skiing in porridge!

Our fine, dry snow has now been groomed several times and it is still very much like porridge.  In the mid-80s at a Canadian Nordic Ski Championship in Whitehorse, the same thing happened for six days.  They groomed day and night before the fine, dry snow stopped being porridge.  This is known as an iron-clad precedent.
The air needs more humidity to make the snow firm up and even a head groomer with all the right connections has a little trouble making this happen on demand.
All the trails have now received the full grooming treatment, and will get more before the weekend.
Go forth and ski, with great joy!

A grooming day

Got a GOOD snowfall at last.  Up and at'em early.  A very kind neighbour blew out my driveway last evening, but the wind blew a lot back in again.  Time out for 40 minutes of scooping snow, then organize clothing with extra mitts, hand-warmers, etc., etc., and dress: 13 garments + heavy socks.  Proper daylight by now.
Commute to the chalet, wade in through the snow and start up Yammy Red.  Warm-up lap is a challenge in the deep snow -- the big machine steers like a battleship named "straight-ahead-Fred".
Hook up the old track-setter and add one 65-lb weight.  Off we go to the classic loops, R, X, C and D.  No particular problems -- Yammy did not fall off the track, nor hit anything very hard.  One very large White Pine bough to remove, but remarkably little else.  There is still a huge tonnage of snow hung up in the trees everywhere.
The track is not great by the time we return to the chalet -- the Yammy exhaust which vents underneath the machine has coated one of the track formers with lumpy ice.  No real solution for this since the fine, new snow mixes heavily with the hot exhaust and gets deposited under the machine as slush.  Clean off the ice & set the track-setter where the sun may get rid of the tiny bits.
Pull out a roller and hook it up.  Drive around the buildings a bit, so I can steer later after the snow sets up, then off we go to the skate-ski loops.  We barely make it all the way to The Top with the roller -- it is pushing a huge wave of fine snow in front of it.  Plan B: leave the roller at The Top and drive H, S and B twice with no drag.  Got stuck once -- the battleship drove into the rhubarb on the last leg up (backwards) to The Top.  A lesser event -- no shovelling required.  Hook up the roller again and drive all the way back to the chalet, so snow in the outback can set up for an hour.  Got stuck again on the high end of the K, waste 15-20 minuttes getting everything going again.  It does not help that my leggings are impregnated with fine snow and I have trouble staying put on the vinyl seat of the Yammy. Return and roll S and H.  Still have multo trouble with traction on the uphills, so no way can I roll B until the soft snow sets up for several hours.  Plan C: drive Yammy alone on B twice more, so there will be less of a bow-wave under the roller.  Hook up the roller again and finish the second pass on M.
It is now about 1:30 and I think it's lunch time.
D, R, X and C have a set track.
M, H and S have a very soft and rolling skate track with no classic track.  B has only a mess left by four passes with the snowmobile.
There are probably no serious rocks hiding anywhere, but there are certainly small branches in the snow.

Got snow?

Yes, definitely got snow!
The highway-side trails were groomed late Jan. 13 and the river side early Jan. 14.  The highway side suffered from wind-blown snow overnight.
Here are the trail conditions at noon Jan. 14:
M is as good as it can be on a cold, windy day. The skating snow is wide, reasonably firm and no obstacles are poking through the snow. There are still bumps because of the limited snow depth.
D has a set classic track and is well covered.
H and S have a classic track with a few unavoidable gaps and a skating track with bumps and unpredictable soft spots. H/S (see the previous post) is similar to M.
B is in progress, with a narrow compacted surface and no classic track. We broke shear pins on the groomers twice, so there are obviously very thin spots as well as bumps and soft spots.
R, X, C and K have gorgeous set tracks with blemishes.  R-loop is right down on the corduroy, X-loop is still thin and C-loop is, predictably, an exercise in rock bashing.
Enjoy!

A double skiffle!

A friend suggested that last night's snowfall was "lots of snow". Sorry, just a double skiffle. I do like that there was more snow than forecast, but the implements and snowmobile skis still hit ground on all trails. Good skis may suffer out there.

D, R, X, M, S/H and K were groomed during Friday morning. (S/H means up S from Cox's Corner to The Top, then down H to the link back to S.) If it was not skied too much too soon, the classic track should be decent for the weekend.

The skating track will likely have unpredictabe soft spots, particularly on S/H which was rolled for the first time.

C is still very poorly covered and remains ungroomed. S, H and B require a well-rested team of two drivers to begin to open them, perhaps later in the weekend and definitely after the snow has dried out. With the new snow, the rough terrain may be even more hazardous than it was.

Still too thin

We tested the snow cover by setting a classic track on D, R, X and "Little M" and K. We left the tenderizer behind with a broken shear pin four times, so the test says the snow is still too thin to groom. We need at least fifteen cm of additional snow before we go out again.

If you are interested in the technicalities of grooming, read the grooming policy newly posted on the DRXC website.

Conditions:
D, R, X and "Little M" have a new track which will degrade a lot today. There are nasty things hidden just under the surface on both loops and extensive icy spots on R. The icy spots will become wet in milder weather.

X is just too rough to relax on and the wooden ends of both bridges are exposed and hazardous. The creek ice has recently collapsed as the water level dropped and you should count on slush and thin ice -- don't misjudge your bridge approach!!

M has a well-trodden but not icy skating surface from Dec. 28 and a skier-set classic track.

C is reportedly very sketchy, read thin, ungroomed and pretty unpleasant. S, H and B must be similar but rougher.

The rough downhills on S, H and B should be considered extremely hazardous by all skiers. This means likelyhood of severe sprains, dislocations, broken bones, concussion, ....

It's white, but .....

M-loop, which now has the smoothest terrain in the DRXC system, was lightly groomed on Dec 28 in scant snow cover, mainly for base preparation. The depth of snow is still insufficient to attempt general grooming.

Two experienced skiers reported that S and B are not enjoyable. This means that novices should consider these loops to be extremely hazardous because of very rough terrain. Two large trees are reported down on H, with a promise of removal Jan. 3.