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Guest Snow Groomer this week. My interview with Nick Gauthier, manager and head snow groomer of Larose Forest in Prescott Russell. Information sharing is essential in this business!
Current Trail Conditions: admittedly ski conditions are not great but for a hard and uniform surface that is perfect for walking and biking, consider it. One could argue that K-Trail is a safer surface than many street sidewalks today. We are a multi-use trail after all.
We remain to host school groups, on a daily basis, from Remic Rapids. This means we need to be vigilant with our grooming. At zero degrees last night, the Remic Rapids and Kitchissippi Woods loops got regroomed and smoothed out for today. It had to be done while the snow was warm enough to work.
Still taking the approach of quality over quantity. Remic Rapids remains best. Using the Tidd Tech groomer,was funded by a grant championed by a student? He loved the trail, wanted to contribute, but didn't have $$ to make a donation so instead he contribute time, sweat and brains.
We chose QUALITY over QUANTITY today. With the warm temperatures on the horizon, we threw caution to the wind and ground up some icy trails. It is the best we could do and the final product is excellent. If you are planning to ski, go straight to Remic Rapids and enjoy the last of the good snow.
Sunday grooming postponed. The warm temperatures from yesterday followed by the cold over night has made the snow too hard to work.
Lost phone was found on the trail today while snow grooming. Contact manager@wintertrail.ca
Today is the cookie scavenger hunt. Come hungry. Come ready to ski. Demo skis available. Things get going at 11am from Remic Rapids.
Done for the day. See green for what got groomed. Gorgeous out there!
Smothered park bench. At this rate, we will be skiing until July! I can’t think of a better winter for snow, except when I was young.
Friday Plan: spit n’polish day. With the cookie scavenger hunt tomorrow along with salomonnordic demo days letting you try free skis; we want the network in top shape. freshairexp commonempire
Thursday Report. Everything got groomed; even Mt.Lebreton for all those Klaebo types. Wind is subsiding. Snow quality is amazing. (Burned a lot of gas today doing the work that had to be done. Thx @osgoodeapts for being a gold sponsor and being a part of it.)
No man's an island. As a charity, good governance, transparency, accountability and being highly organized is essential to making the trail possible.
It is a working board of 9 members, and everyone one goes home with homework!! Meetings are held monthly, except in summer.
Thursday Plan: we will be out in full force today. Lots to clean up from yesterday and snow to be tamed in preparation for warm temps in the make.
Grooming postponed: with snow forecast to run all day, we will resume tomorrow.
Interview with Senator Marty Deacon, host of today’s ‘Ski Day On The Hill’ along with MP Gabriel Hardy
Tuesday Snow Grooming Plan:
Believe it or not, we are still in the process of taming that last snow fall. It takes daily grooming applications to get it under control. But we are making progress. Here are some pics from today’s operations.
Fresh Grooming for your post hockey blues. Lots of classic tracks were reset from the soft snow conditions of yesterday. See green for what got touched
What a nice surprise for February 21!!! Snow accumulation is substantial. Humidity is high. Temps are “Lagom” as the Swedes say. Big day of snow grooming ahead. Stay tuned for more reports.
Update: Grooming done for the day. Due to difficult conditions (ie. hard packed snow) we triaged and put our energies into just Remic Rapids. New snow hopefully coming.
Thursday Plan: even though the snow is hard and very difficult to groom, we have a pile of school groups coming to Remic Rapids today. We are going to do our best and fluff up some snow. Lots of parking and trail to share. Just an FYI
Trail Update: we had to abandon our efforts to fluff up the snow. It overwhelmed our equipment. But that doesn’t mean the trail is not usable! Classic tracks remain functional and it is just the centre lane that is hard.
Wednesday Plan: with the return of colder temperatures, we are back at it. But a word of warning, the trails are extremely hard packed and may be too much for our equipment. Reports to follow.
Meet Tony, Maggie’s latest snow bear on the K-Trail. Where does he live? …….for you to find out.
Free Skis/Boots: boot sizes 7.5,9.5. Skis 170,203. In the spirit of the trail, where we strive to make skiing accessible; I would like to think that the new owners may not have the financial means but the desire to discover the sport for the first time.
Snow grooming postponed until the cold temperatures return. Long term forecast looking promising.
Current Trail Conditions: snow is hard but wonderful. Classic tracks are excellent. With the cold over the night, it is beyond the capacity of our grooming equipment to make a noticeable difference so we are going to hold off.
Managing and maintaining a multi-use urban winter pathway in support of walkers, bikers, snowshoers and skiers is not easy. Does it mean extra grooming? Of course it does! But you’re worth it. Wintertrail.ca/donate @jleiper.bsky.social
