Signs

Those of us who live up here don’t need much in the way of trail signs. I’m the worst one to think a sign is needed on a trail. I focus on the trail and tracks, after that, well just follow the tracks...

But our guests and visitors deserve to know where they are and what’s up ahead, so a sign becomes part of a good trail.

We could spend a lot of money on signs. There are tons of them out on the market, even specialty Nordic trail signs; and they’re expensive. A few years ago I got it in my head that our signs should reflect the special place we ski. We came up with the hand-carved forest green and white signs for Montreal and now Uller will have it’s own distinctive hand made signs once the trail enters private land in the Town of Pence.

Yes, it takes time and effort; but a hand crafted board out there just shows folks that we take our trails personally. It’s not that big a deal; we just set aside sign work for days like we’ve been having: nasty blowing snow or sleet or a big deep freeze.

We use locally sourced wood, milled by a local saw-mill owner. It has to sit in the sign shop for a few months before it settles down to cut. A chip-carving knife and a little patience and then a coat of primer followed by an exterior house paint, and we have a distinctive information sign out there.

Unless someone steals it. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I have one of our new signs stolen. I’ve been in ‘man-caves’ where the guy proudly displays trail signs that he had to have ‘lifted’ from various trails. Perhaps larceny is one of the other higher forms of appreciation... well, enough of that.

Once there are trails out there and the skiing is good, it’s the little things that make a trail great. I think we’re on the right track with our distinctive signs. Ski Freely, Z