Well, Mother Nature finally unleashed on us giving us 17 to 18 inches of snow in the last 2 days. I headed out for a short ride hitting some St. Germain trails. They hadn’t groomed. We heard that because of all the high winds, drifting, branches/trees down and the berms from plows, clubs are going out grooming in the daytime as groomers are getting stuck and can’t get through some trails. It could take several days for the groomers to get all the trails groomed. Trails are bumpy with all the snow and there were ruts from the sleds that went through the day before. It will definitely take a few groomings to get the trails in better shape. Be careful of branches that have fallen on trails.
Now that there’s plenty of snow on the trails what you see will depend on when the trail was last groomed and how much traffic has been on it since then. More traffic will lead to more bumps and pushed out, icy corners. Less traffic will mean smoother trails.
Lakes are bumpy and there’s slush coming up in spots. They are all drifts with the wind we had yesterday.
Just a comment or two on some safety issues. 5 sledders died recently in WI. Two of them were hit by vehicles on state highways. We’re not sure what happened but lets use this as a reminder that whether you ride fast, slow or in between, stop signs mean stop and look both ways before crossing a road or driveway. Also, with all the snow we’ve gotten there’s a lot of high snowbanks limiting visibility for vehicles pulling out of driveways or roadways. So if you’re on a plowed road trail slow down and be aware someone pulling out might not be able to see you coming.
