Trail Conditions

Although there is still a lot of snow on most of the trails, it is rock hard, the track is negligible, there is lots of debris, and many bare areas. This description I am sure is very appealing, but I would suggest you seek other exercise venues today. Or head north. Apparently conditions are good at Kouch where the main loop was groomed yesterday. No word from Beaver, nor from Miramichi where they seem to be plagued by mechanical and grooming person power constraints and of course things sound glorious at Charlo where the skate portion of the NB cup is slated to kick off at 1030 today.

Kate Duffy with 1217 km skied is first overall and Karin Aurel with 654 km is the second woman in 43 days during the CCNB distance challenge. Honorable mentions to other club members-Lison Guinard, Elizabeth Massarelli, Susan Kastuk Ridlington who also participated, as did this writer. Meanwhile back to reality- I spent a few frustrating hours trying to groom up some loose snow yesterday afternoon and eventually went home, much more appreciative of the work Bucky does. There may be a bit of loose crusty snow for snow plowing and in the icy track if it didn’t freeze solid last night. I did come ac

In Sackville, in winter, we ski. But it will be a dodgey one today. I convinced Ian to do several laps of CTTrail and though he managed to scrape up some loose icy snow, enough to snow plow at least, track setting was not very successful. Elsewhere it should be luge like, but if you like that then have fun but take care. It was flurrying a bit when we left at noon but it didn’t seem enough to change the 3.5-4/4 glide. And grip wise, that too will be tricky unless you are using klister. Likely safer to go to Beaver if they have groomed or Kouch.

Bucky will be grooming by around 1030. This will get rid of most of the debris and skiing will be pretty sweet by noon or so. Expect glide to be around 3 initially but slow as the temp rises above zero.

Glide is down from a pleasant 3+ early this morning to a sluggish 2/4 at present. The slight glaze has now melted and the water is now producing enough suction to counteract the nice round ice crystals. The pole track remains soft enough to snow plough, though you may have difficulty getting going fast enough to do this. There is some debris in the track but it is no where near as bad as last weeks show. If the sun pops out you may experience really slow areas once the sun has been gazing on them for a while. These of course have the unpleasant effect of sudden deceleration and falling forward if unprepared. A big thanks to all those who have joined the Tantramar Outdoor Club this year, and/or donated. Membership and donations are our main income source. It has helped us pay for the new machine to pull the ski groomer, making Bucky’s work easier and the grooming better. We also spent close to $6,000 on trail work (mostly on levelling of Quarry-Go-Round) this fall, plus hundreds of old-man hours. Because the trail crew are getting older, (we don’t feel it but our average age is around 70+) we are having to hire contractors for more of the work and this has increased expenses. After current liabilities, we have between $2-3,000 in the bank which won’t get much trail work done next fall. Please consider making a donation or, if you are not already a member, joining the TOC so that we can continue to maintain and improve our wonderful trails. tantramaroutdoorclub.org/about-us/donate/ Thank you, on behalf of the TOC board.,

With warming temperatures we enter a new phase of the ski cycle. Once temps are above freezing for several hours(5-10 degree-hours is a good guide- e.g. 2 degrees above freezing for 3 hours=6 degree-hours), then the snow is usually soft enough and slow enough for most to ski comfortably. The exact number is of course dependent on how cold the night before was(Higher number) and wind and sun(the more of either, the lower the number. The Physics Department of course has a very precise formula involving a heady mix of calculus, logarithmics, and Constants. I would predict that by noon today things should be pretty sweet up the hill. For the Bomber crowd, well you will want to be out at the crack of dawn, but I suspect you already know that! Cheers,

The flurries from late yesterday which ground glide to a 1/4 transformed overnight so glide is back up to a 2.5-3/4. The pole track is not as soft as yesterday but still snow plowable. The sun is stunning.

The flurries from late yesterday which ground glide to a 1/4 transformed overnight so glide is back up to a 2.5-3/4. The pole track is not as soft as yesterday but still snow plowable. The sun is stunning.

The glide was down from 3.5/4 to a 3/4 with a soft pole track on the Yellow Side where Bucky is concentrating his efforts today(the logging equipment has been into Smith’s again so he likely won’t go there) so best start is from the Quarry Road, though CTTrail and Lollipop are still fairly good. If you come ac

CTT and Lollipop good track… glide 3-3.5/4, soft granular snow in pole track. E is skiing, cautiously.