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!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, January 20, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, January 13, 2012
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!
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!
Friday, January 6, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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, ....
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, ....
Monday, January 2, 2012
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.
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.
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