Track set lanes in the Driving Range teaching grid are pictured above.
Unfortunately the Chinook has arrived which will soften and sublimate the snow. Fingers crossed that all the volunteer work scoop shoveling and snowblower snow redepositing this past week will help retain snow in the most problematic spots on the ski trails!
Porta potties have yet to be moved to the parking lot area from their summer homes on the golf course grounds, and be mindful of the resident coyotes SNO volunteers have seen quite regularly.
XC ski trails are in good shape, expect them to be soft with the warm temperatures and there are ares of thin coverage around tree shadows and sun exposed areas. Beware that there are many exposed rocks when transitioning from the trails west of the clubhouse toward the driving range and Expert loop. Because you are travelling over a gravel parking lot and road, it is best to walk this section.
Skate lanes were all levelled and regroomed Dec 1st and 2nd. Some track setting was also redone where it was needed the most, and where there was deeper snow. Expect track setting to ice-up from skier use as well as during Chinooks. We are unsure of volunteer availability/capacity to groom trails this week; don't expect miracles, the volunteers have been grooming many hours since the big snowfall!
Teaching grid: (aka multiple track-set xc ski lanes) was put in Sunday and Monday in the centre of the driving range after a lot of work by two volunteers with the snowblower depositing surrounding snow onto the area.
Shared snowshoe & fat bike trails:
Green pin-flagged trail system was the firmest for riding on Dec 1st and is two snowmobiles wide. It will be interesting to see when the snowmobile packing softens in this heat wave.
There is still plenty of fresh snow to snowshoe!
Blue pin-flagged trails: The southernmost section from the clubhouse running west was the firmest. The middle trail running east-west and the trail starting at the driving range both are quite soft in areas. Riding isn’t recommended as the ruts will be a lot of work to repair. More snowshoe packing of the blue trails would be very helpful!
Dedicated walking trail system: the yellow pin-flagged system has been snowmobile and Bächler packed once but may still be quite soft. This trail system would benefit from more snowshoe packing… but the trails are in, and await more foot traffic!
Support the 100% volunteer efforts that go into maintaining these winter trail systems. Volunteer, or consider financially supporting this community winter recreation area by donating or becoming a Friend of SNO.
Many thanks to all the SNO volunteers who have been working hard on the ground getting Shaganappi up and running for the winter, and behind the scenes doing various important admin tasks such as grant searching, managing the non profit, and volunteer onboarding. You all rock!!!
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