30DEC parkways and Ridge

Although skating was slow today the grooming was very good.  Ridge, from Penguin to Fortune Parkway was as good as I have seen it.  Nice and level and much faster snow than the parkway.  Ridge was open until Trail 2.  The portion after Fortune had more debris but was still good.  As expected, the parkways were in great shape.

Later I was in the lower portion of the park.  5, 26, 27, 29 were all in excellent shape.

Another great day.

29 December Trail 50

When I looked at the first update from the NCC this morning I was disappointed that not more was groomed since yesterday given the heavy traffic.  I ventured to trail 50 thinking it would  have had less wear and tear.  I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was freshly groomed,.  As of this post the NCC site still says it was groomed yesterday.

From P16 to Lac Philippe the skate lane is very narrow but from the Lac to P19 and the trail to Lac Taylor it  is nice and wide.  Conditions here would have to be rated 10 out of 10.

The narrow skate lane is a problem but it seems this section was groomed with one pass creating a very nice flat surface.  I kind of prefer the narrow lane to the Demsis Ridge that was there last year.  I expect that the narrow lanes are temporary.

The moral of this very nice story is not to believe the website.  Conditions were excellent.

P9-P3 + Trail 15

I skated earlier this morning between P9 and P3.  It was pretty slow but conditions were great.  I too spoke to the guy walking with the sled on the trails.  I told him nicely that walking was not permitted.  When I saw him there were two hikers together and the footprints continued for several kms.

Later in the afternoon I was on the classic skis and when I saw the crime scene tape at trail 15 was gone I gave it a go.  The big tress are all gone but there is still lots of dodging to do as one approaches trail 34.  No grooming but well used.  You could tell it had been worked on today.

23DEC P16-P19 + Taylor Lake

Growing slightly tired of the parkways I thought I would take my chances on trail 50 since the NCC website gives it the thumbs up.

For classic I would say conditions were fantastic.

However as  a skater I found them less so.  There was no fresh grooming except from P19 to trail 52.  This part was excellent although already the skate lane was being violated by walkers.

I got the impression that the previous grooming was of high quality but it was destroyed by all the walkers between Herridge and P16.   This area really needs to be groomed often.  There were 3 trees blocking the trail but nothing a few  minutes with a chainsaw would not fix.

Rumour has it that a groomer is broken and may be the reason for lack of grooming.  Still, an enjoyable day with not as many people out as I thought there would be.

Mar11-To the Fire Tower

From Penguin including 1b, 24, 40,33 Burma everything was freshly groomed.  On the Champlain Parkway it seemed that only one side had been done over night.  Generally the grooming was excellent except for Burma where it was good but because it is not flat the grooming is more on the sides than the middle.  I had started fairly early so it was only on the way back that things started to slow down a bit and you could start to hear the dreaded sponge sound every now and again.  Overall it was a fantastic day.

4Mar Penguin, Burma to Fire Tower

Every trail was groomed since yesterday.  Speed seemed to be dictated by exposure to the sun and how long ago the trail had been groomed.  Grooming ranged from good to excellent.  Burma was very firm and a bit icy in the middle of the skate lane, as if the groomer just passed over as opposed to digging up the snow a bit.  The good news is, it was fast.  As one got closer to the Tower the slower it became but there was more corduroy.   24 was particularly nice, again.  I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of debris.  All in all another great day in the park, not sure why there were not more people out?

Mar 3, Parkways, Ridge, 1b, 24

The skating today was pretty good.  Some sections were slow, some fast.  The middle of the skate lane is pretty firm with good speed.  Go to the side however and prepare for quick deceleration.  As far as I could tell no classic grooming took place.  On the parkways, up Penguin and along Ridge for awhile all had a fresh skate lane.  1B, Burma, 24 etc were groomed yesterday and were a little better today I thought because they have firmed up.  With all the crude on the trails I would assume the classic skiers had a tough go of it.  As for the skate lane if you were careful you could avoid the big obstructions.  With cooler temperatures and fresh grooming the skiing could be quite good tomorrow.