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.
