Weather Conditions 1-28-10

[Snow VP]

COLD and WINDY today is the name of the game. got down in the single digits last night, and only 10d this morning. Lake froze about 1/2 to the island last night - a good thing for sure, and the cold temps tonight just may lock things in, if the winds don't get ahold of it too bad.

Trails area all very icy, with just a bit of snow from the reports I have been getting. Dave is going to groom the entire Northern section today and report back on whether we will be grooming this weekend or not. Bryan is going to go on his maiden voyage tomorrow night out of Iggy. I am hopeful that there is enough out there to ride on. As far as I know, there were only 2 bad sections of trail. The pipeline portion of #473 was all sand, and there was a lot of rocks and dirt on the RR Grade in portions of the trail from Iggy, to Moran. Everything else the base survived well, and all we need is to get a little snow to cover things and we should be golden. As soon as I hear anything I will post it up.

[bkcoast381]

Thanks Neil, now they know who to blame come Saturday morning. At least you put it was my maiden voyage, so everyone should understand. I'll try not to screw up.

[Snow VP]

Bryan will be fine. Only way to get good at it is to drop ya into the fire, and get-er-done! You are welcome to hope on here afterwords and let the folks know first hand how it looks out there. Oh ya, time to upgrade your on-screen status!

The weather here today is on/off lake effect. It has been snowing pretty much all day. It is cold, so it is a fine mist type snow, not your typical large flake lake effect. It will be decent for grooming. I predict we will get an inch out of all of this.

[bkcoast381]

I'll try to get some pictures, just might need to figure out how to post them.

[Snow VP]

Dave ran the Brevort groomer around the North loop last night and reports no major problems. There was one water hole on the RR Grade North of the Iron Bridge, but with last nights temps is should be frozen up soon. It is 3d this morning, and the lake is now froze all the way to the Island. If it keeps locked in, there is a chance for an ice bridge this season, I guess we will see. We ended up with about 1" of snow last night, between 1-2" on the Northern Trails. Things are coming back, but I would still love to see 8-10" in one shot.

The Lower loop, and West connector trails will be groomed tonight, so everything will be covered by morning. I am going to say that things are again ridable. They will be thin, maybe icy in the corners, and still a couple of rocks on the RR Grade North of Iggy, to Moran, but should be perfectly ridable.

Time to make your plans for Feb. I-500 in the Soo Feb 6th, Straits Poker Run on the 13th, and Pond Hockey on the 20th.

I will be back with further reports as soon as I get them.

[bkcoast381]

Groomed Friday night and found the RR grade between M-123 and worth road to be the worst spots. The open areas are very thin and gravel coming through. I talked to a group of guys at the casino late last night that said it wasn't too bad if you stay over on the edge. Burma Grade road and Brevort lake road should be a pretty good ride. The pipeline is in sad shape as sand is about all you will see on the trail. Other riders have made their own trail that looks to be decent. It is through the brush, but most of it has been flatened. Most spots in woods appear to be in good shape just watch for the bare spot around the open (non-wooded) areas. There is a nice layer of ice underneath the the snow we got the other day, please be careful in the turns. The pictures I have included show the RR Grade. Sorry I didn't get more pictures but by the time I got to any other trails it was dark and didn't want to waste time posting crappy pics. Hope this helps.

[Snow VP]

Dave groomed the Western trails last night, and reports them to be in good shape.

Bottom line, everything is thin but ridable. Thin snow over and ice base, slick in the corners, and some problems in the open areas. There is gravel on the trail from Iggy to Moran, and the pipeline section of 473 is still not good, but you may get to the side on that one.

You can ride, it is just not perfect. Still need more snow.

[Wink]

Neil, I think it's great that you give honest trail reports. It might keep some people from coming up for now but if you started lieing and people came up and found they had wasted a trip, it would keep them from ever coming back. I think it's a good policy.

[srtf1000]

We came up and rode Friday morning to Paradise. The trails out of Brevort were ungroomed to the northside of Rexton. We passed three groomers before reaching Newberry. As we rode to the falls and Paradise there was plenty of snow and the trails were awesome. When we came back down to Brevort the trails south of Rexton were groomed very nicely. I see they are still logging near the firepit. That trail is down to the dirt with all the logging going on. And your favorite chair is still there.