Inside the Chief’s brain
We hope you got out on some trail today. The snow we got was like whipped cream with egg whites. Too bad it had to come from a storm that was so ugly to the south of us.
We’re not sure of other ski trail crews, they probably have it completely figured out; but for us, grooming and track setting can be a very complicated operation. Bear with us as we try to describe what goes on for a simple 6” snowfall grooming evolution. Try not to laugh at the circus that goes on in the Trail Chief’s head.
Is there a need? Yes, although the tracks were not completely buried, it’s a good day to re-set. It’s a weekend, we’ve got new snow, the temperatures will warm up to ‘too warm’ later in the week, and anything we pack now will weather the thaw better.
Does the equipment work? Yes, we fixed the power steering, and found the gremlin in the 6’ snow plane. The roller needs a bolt; but it will do.
Do we have fuel? Yes, somehow we thought ahead and picked some up yesterday. Amazing.
Do we have time? Kinda. Things may warm up by noon and stay warm until mid-afternoon. We sure don’t want to ball things up out there with sticky snow.
Do we have people? Luckily, we have people who want to help with this part of the work. They’re learning and have lots of energy.
OK, let’s go. We show up at the Ranger’s garage, we want to pull the roller with the gator. The 6’ plane is in the garage (where we chased gremlins, remember?), it has to be hauled out, dumped and the gator will have to tool around the block to be able to get in front of the roller for hitching. The Alpine will haul the 4’ plane with the track sled today. Does the Alpine have gas? Surprisingly, we’ve still got enough from a previous launch.
We’re all hooked up. Let’s pack some snow and set some tracks.
Can we make it over the plow berms in town? This trip is no problem; we’re still early in the season; but later, we’ll probably have to drop everything, get out the shovels and dig our way over the berm to get on the trail.
Think there’s any deadfall on the trail? Do we need the saw? Nah, we’ve been on the trail recently; there wasn’t a lot of wind with this last storm was there? We’ll be good.
Are you laughing yet? We’ve just made it on to the trail!
Once we’re at this point, usually all we have to do is keep the machinery between the trees and stay awake. We focus on maintaining a moderate speed which depends on the snow conditions, and set the track on the ‘best line’ of each particular trail. Oh, and hope there’s no major break-down out on the furthest point.
While grooming last winter and this, one of our crew takes time to video fantastic scenes of our equipment preparing wonderful trail and ski tracks. We love the movies, they really showcase our trails to anyone who visits social media; but the vids don’t show all the boring, set-up, thinking and juggling that goes on each time.
That’s just a nice day on Montreal. Uller demands even more logistical sophistication to just make it from one end to the other.
Someday we’ll describe an Uller mission. Things can get a little on the dark side out there.
We didn’t lift tracks today. Our primary goal was to pack down this wonderful snow we were blessed with and hope it makes it through the thaw. We apologize for the tracks through the turns and on the hills this time. Next time, we’ll try to do it perfect.
Get out. Get on your trails. Ski Freely. Z
