Ski Conditions Wed, Nov. 19, 2014

I just came in from 45 minutes skiing. Temperature -10 with a mainly clear sky.
We received about 1 cm additional snow overnight. However, with the wind that accompanied yesterday's snowfall, distribution of snow is very uneven. There is lots of grass showing through and some places are blown off almost bare.
I would recommend that skiers wait until we have a bit better coverage.

Also, trail #12 and the portion of #1 between the two junctions with 12 are not open yet, because there is still a crop of soybeans in that field.

Skiing begins today

I've been skiing today. It's not fantastic, but is tolerable for a fanatic. We have an average of about 7 cm of snow on the ground. 10 to 15 cm more is predicted by tomorrow. We're not grooming yet; waiting until there is a bit more snow. It's -5 Celsius with a strong west wind.

The new map is here!

We're happy to present our newly-revised trail map for 2014/2015.

First Snowfall this season

November 1st brought our first snowfall of the 2014-2015 ski season. It's only a couple of centimetres, not enough to ski on, but it's a step in the right direction. Here are some photos of a couple of the trails.

New trail map on the way

We're working on a new trail map showing everything that's new this year. GPS tracks of the new trail sections have been recorded, and will be incorporated into the new map. We hope to have this ready by the end of October.

Fall is here; can skiing be far behind?

It's September 24 and that means it's fall. But the weather is as nice as any day we had in the summer! Preparation continues for the upcoming XC ski season. Some of our new signage has been put up.

This year I am going to try to keep the ski trails just for skiers, so that the grooming will stay better.  Walkers and snow shoers are permitted to use the main Bruce Trail and the 2 official Bruce Trail side trails. All the other trails are open just for the winter and just for skiers. We'll see how effective this sign is.
I've also been working on the groomer. The photo below shows the entire grooming assembly: snow cat, packer/leveller with snow comb, and track setter.

 

The packer/leveller may look like an aluminum boat, and that is what it used to be. However, with a few concrete blocks in it, I think it will do a good job of compacting and levelling snow. Hopefully, it will track better behind the ATV than the roller I used last year, which had a tendency to slide off to the low side of the trail. I've also improved the snow comb drag by adding friction-reducing plastic sheeting, and flexible side skirts.

I can't wait to try these new features! The track-setter still needs a couple of modifications before the snow flies.

Clearing the trails

We've been out pruning trees along the trails. This has been a wet summer - great weather for trees, grasses and weeds to grow long and tall.