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Snow VP
01-23-2006, 09:56 AM
Well, you guys certainly put a beating on the trail system over the weekend! There was heavy traffic all weekend, I counted 35 trailers in the South Ice Rink parking lot, on Friday afternoon.

Even with all the heavy traffic, the snow seemed to hold up for the most part on the majority of the trails. Reports of some rough sections in the normal areas, on Castle Rock Rd, and the Carp River T.T. But the groomer did run 5 trips in the 3 days so the damage was minimized. Please remember that as the trails get tore up, there is a ton of ICE under that snow. The inside of the corners was slick in a few areas. On Friday afternoon we had a lady go off a corner on the Carp River T.T. and wedge her machine between 2 trees. I do not believe that she was seriously hurt, but she did get several broken ribs and was taken away by rescue sled. PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

There were a couple reports of missing signs South of Brevort Lake. Apparently we are having some trouble in that area this year, as this is the second time signs have been snatched (they were there last week) Groomer drivers will log and report any missing signs during a groom, then on the next groom they will pull replacement out of storage and fix any problems. I will make sure those missing are fixed by Wednesday.

On to current conditions: It got a little warm over the weekend, so the snow is packing real nice. However, when it packs like this sometimes it takes a couple of passes to get back to a nice smooth ribbon. For the most part there is still 5-8” over the ice base in the South areas, and 8-12” in the Northern areas. All trails are reported in good to excellent condition this morning. Groomers are scheduled to run all week.

Today’s Tip: There were 35 trailers wedged into the parking lot South of the Ice Rink in St. Ignace. There is another area that you can park in, just on the North side of the Ice Rink. There is quite a bid of room on the other side, and no pavement. If the South lot is full, just head North a bit for more space.

The last thing I have today, is I would like to introduce a new face around here. While we still have 2 grooming days/week to fill out of St. Ignace, we have had a chance to train several new drivers. Today, I would like to introduce Groomer Andy! He has taken over Thursdays groom out of St. Ignace, and a couple of fill-ins here and there. He is nice enough to stop by today and give us an update to his trip last night.

avanderheuel
01-23-2006, 10:33 AM
I first off want to say thanks to all the snowmobilers out there for being so courtesy to the groomers when you come up on us.:thumb: As Neil said the trails did get perty well beat up this weekend. There is still pleanty of snow out there for the taking.:cool2:

:censored: Also I am sure some of you have heared about the snowmobile death down in Crawford county this weekend. PLEASE BE SAFE OUT THERE!!!

ToddMeister
01-23-2006, 10:49 AM
We had a really nice ride over the weekend, lots of sled traffic, we went off trail north of the Burma grade, lots of forest roads there to ride, even found a few untouch paths to float on.

Thanks again to the club/groomers for a great weekend of riding. We'll be back up in a few weeks.

conniver04
01-23-2006, 10:58 AM
Well we had a great weekend. with all the traffic I thought the trails held up great. See ya again next weekend.

SmittyAllSeason
01-23-2006, 09:00 PM
My brother and I had an excellent time up there Neil. Your groomers and the operators are doing an awesome job.:thumb: Keep up the good work and we will be back up soon.

Neil, I was wondering if the new Deere you guys just picked up had the new variable transmission in it with the joystick. Hope the next time up we can get a closer look. We met the Deere on the Grade north of Moran on Sat and they headed East before we made it to that intersection.

Again, excellent job with the site and also the grooming.:cool2:

Snow VP
01-23-2006, 09:38 PM
Smitty,
Our new JD’s have the powershift transmission. My best interpretation is that it is a hybrid between an automatic and a standard transmission. You control the tractor with a small joystick. You can shift the tractor into drive or reverse without the use of a clutch, but it does have one if you need it. Changing gears is as easy as taping the stick up or down. The tractor has 16 forward, and 4 reverse gears. The driver will typically groom in 12 - 14th gear, between 8 and 12 mph depending on conditions.
The drivers will usually stop at intersections, and if you see one you are welcome to say hi and ask some questions. We will be showing the groomers off, and possibly giving rides at the Deere Feed trail stop during the next poker run on Feb 11, hope to see you there.
-Neil