Getting ready for winter, and sharing the trails

We've been busy clearing all the trails and putting up our signage for the approaching winter ski season. Something new this year is some signage on the wide portions of the Hockleycrest Trail (#3) directing trail users to walk left and ski right (or the opposite if they are going in the opposite direction). I hope this will help to maintain the groomed ski tracks in better condition.

Erosion Repairs

On June 23, 2017 the Hockley valley area experienced a very intense rain storm - exceeding the 100 year storm. Homes and roads in the valley were flooded. Up on the shoulder of the valley, our trails suffered some serious erosion damage, especially the North Plateau Trail. Repairs are now underway, and are going well. Come winter, we should have some good skiing here, provided we get some snow!

damaged trail section after repairs

Deep eroded gulley before repairs.

The grass is always greener ......

Lots of rain means lots of grass growing on our trails. We keep them cut through the summer, because it's easier to do it several times when it's not too tall, rather than waiting until late fall when it's up to your shoulder. Also produces a better turf. One nice aspect of doing this is that there is lots of milkweed along the trails, and I am seeing quite a few monarch butterflies.

The Lowdown trail

The Pasture Trail

Next year, everything will be groomable

We are continuing to work on widening the one section of our trail network that was too narrow for the groomer. Only 15m of trail remains to be widened, out of the original 95 metres that were too narrow. I need a minimum width of 1.6m to get through with the groomer.

Trees lean, and then disappear

A dead ironwood tree fell and was leaning over the Hockleycrest trail near the north junction of Mainline. It was only a matter of time before it came all the way down onto the trail. So my son Peter and I got out and removed it. No more ducking under!

before

after

Another project finished

The project to correct a bad cross-slope on the Mainline trail just north of its junction with Pasture trail has been completed. Hopefully next winter the groomer will no longer slide off the side of the trail anymore. The area I re-worked was 28 metres long; I finished the last 8 metres today.

Work continues year-round

Although we do our skiing in the winter, and most maintenance work is done in fall and winter, operating a XC ski trail network requires work all year round. I've been working on a couple of projects that will hopefully make for better skiing next winter. The one remaining piece of trail that was not wide enough to groom is being widened to a minimum 5 feet, so the groomer should be able to pass through next year. I've finished 44 metres of widening, and have 51 metres left to do. Another trail section that had a nasty cross-slope on it is being levelled so that the groomer won't slide off the side anymore. On this job, 18m has been done, and 9m is left to do.