Cataract creek snowmobile area offical thread 2015/16

[Sledderglen]

Going out tomorrow and will give a snow report and Etheringtgon repair report. I have the grooming sleds that are fan cooled and small tracked. Will GPS some trails.
I will report Tuesday night. I know there is snow just how much fresh we will find out

 

[Sledderglen]

TRAIL REPORT

Checked out Etherington lot and no sign of road crew repair guy. Has about 3 inch of snow in the stagging area. Runable for cooling and lube.
Cataract Staging barea about 2 inches of snow. Pasque has about 4 inch of fresh on trail. Parts of Pasque was bladed or groomed a week ago. Oyster fresh of groomed trail.
Groomer heading out thursday again.
Rumor has snow coming to area tonight.
You can ride it but may be extra careful till you reach at least cummings trail.
Fording guys should have enough snow on lower trails to get you there. You guys run rock on the pass anyways LOL

Hope this works out. Remember its Tuesday the weekend is days away. Could be better could be worse

 

[101110101101]

TRAIL REPORT

Checked out Etherington lot and no sign of road crew repair guy. Has about 3 inch of snow in the stagging area. Runable for cooling and lube.
Cataract Staging barea about 2 inches of snow. Pasque has about 4 inch of fresh on trail. Parts of Pasque was bladed or groomed a week ago. Oyster fresh of groomed trail.
Groomer heading out thursday again.
Rumor has snow coming to area tonight.
You can ride it but may be extra careful till you reach at least cummings trail.
Fording guys should have enough snow on lower trails to get you there. You guys run rock on the pass anyways LOL

Hope this works out. Remember its Tuesday the weekend is days away. Could be better could be worse

One last run would be great..... run the sleds dry and put them away for the season. At least that would be nice, if not wishful thinking.

 

[X-Treme]

Running the sleds dry is old school. You're better off to leave them full with premium and some Seafoam.

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[Highfly]

I run stabilizer in the gas and start it every once in a while. But not ready for that yet.......................

 

[101110101101]

Running the sleds dry is old school. You're better off to leave them full with premium and some Seafoam.

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It was more of a comment regarding the lack of decent sledding this year. It would be nice to be able to go through a full tank is all....

 

[X-Treme]

It was more of a comment regarding the lack of decent sledding this year. It would be nice to be able to go through a full tank is all....

Yeah. I definitely agree. I rode ONCE. Screwed up my back. Now that I'm good to go again, there's nothing left. Gonna have to hit the hills, I guess.

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[101110101101]

Yeah. I definitely agree. I rode ONCE. Screwed up my back. Now that I'm good to go again, there's nothing left. Gonna have to hit the hills, I guess.

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We got out 4 times.. here is the summary:

- 1st time... for weeks I told my wife to pull the cover off her sled and check its fuel/oil. I had done that since I painted my panels. She assured and re-assured me that she put it away full. Fine... I hate arguing with women. We get out to the Etherington Staging area... I start my sled and let it warm up. Hers is having trouble starting... so I figured I'd help. I get it going, and get it to move 10 feet, just enough to be off the trailer and it dies. WTF? I check tank and it's dry as popcorn fart. I was so mad. Now I had to share my sled with 3 people, taking turns. That means we can never go more than 20 minutes from the staging area. She says she is going to ask someone for gas... there were quite a few others there that day. I said "don't you DARE let everyone know we came out here without gas in a sled.....!" lol
- 2nd time... The step daughter and I go out alone. We get almost 60kms on the sled and explored more of the trails than I had ever seen before. We had a blast. She is my favorite family member to ride with now! (this was the best day this year)
- 3rd time.... I take my brother out to Cataract, with his son / my nephew. The nephew loads the gear in to the truck... while we prep the sleds. 3/4 of the way to Cataract, we notice there are only two helmets *facepalm* the Nephew packed both of ours, but not his own. So again we are left taking turns, sharing helmets or going very slowly down trails to explore some.... /sigh
- 4th Time we had booked our yearly trip to the Sundre cabins (sled in / sled out) 6 months in advance. Of course by the time we got there, there was almost no snow. We got about 1km on the sleds trying to go down the Olds club trails... but has to stop due to mud and fallen trees. I did several laps around the parking lot / staging area at least it had some packed ice to play on for 20 minutes. again /sigh

So..... I want one more day when I can use most of my gas and at least rip it up one more time. I'm hoping this weekend turns out somehow.

 

[JZ1]

Lost Creek is saying 26.9mm of precipitation since yesterday, can anyone confirm this? Thinking about wiping the dust of the sled and heading out tomorrow

 

[Kaz Dog]

Going out on Saturday to widen Raspberry Trail for the groomer and drag, in hopes the snow will still come.

With Etherington PRA campground and parking lot supposedly closed to the public now, we are looking to access Raspberry Trail to get the All Tracks groomer and drag up to Etherington. This way we can loop back to Cataract Creek from the west/south end of Etherington Trail, assuming the snow arrives.

 

[101110101101]

Going out on Saturday to widen Raspberry Trail for the groomer and drag, in hopes the snow will still come.

With Etherington PRA campground and parking lot supposedly closed to the public now, we are looking to access Raspberry Trail to get the All Tracks groomer and drag up to Etherington. This way we can loop back to Cataract Creek from the west/south end of Etherington Trail, assuming the snow arrives.

If you happen to hop on S&M later in the evening with any news about snow out there... I'd love to know. Is it worth the drive? I have very low standards lol

 

[Kaz Dog]

Sorry for the delay. I, along with four others, went out on Saturday, unloading at Etherington parking lot. I do not know why they sent me the e-mail saying that repairs were starting and the P.R.A. would be shut down, but I will send in a note and see if this has been delayed now.?.?

We openned up the re-route on Raspberry Trail (northend, where there is no bridge, just a frozen stream one has to cross), and now the All Tracks' groomer and drag will be able to access there, if we get anymore snow. There is now for a sled but I would not send the groomer there unless we had a foot of snow.

We went over Fording Pass and then proceeded south to the mine site boundry. The snow was glorious there, if not very sticky/heavy, with sugar snow underneath when one "trentched through it". Getting over the top of the Pass from the Baril Creek Trail was okay for the most part, but there are bare spots - some extended. I say this as the sun and wind has done its' usuall work in the given temperatures/not much new snow falling lately. There was good enough snow for most of the way once entering the Wildland Park on the trail, just a bit bumpy and the normal sketchy parts, being ungroomed.

The last thing I want to mention is that I was in High River, on Sunday AM, and it was raining. As I looked west to Cataract, it was socked-in, and had to be snowing. Anyone with a report for Sunday, or yesterday, would sure be welcome.

Have a great week.

If you happen to hop on S&M later in the evening with any news about snow out there... I'd love to know. Is it worth the drive? I have very low standards lol

 

[101110101101]

Sorry for the delay. I, along with four others, went out on Saturday, unloading at Etherington parking lot. I do not know why they sent me the e-mail saying that repairs were starting and the P.R.A. would be shut down, but I will send in a note and see if this has been delayed now.?.?

We openned up the re-route on Raspberry Trail (northend, where there is no bridge, just a frozen stream one has to cross), and now the All Tracks' groomer and drag will be able to access there, if we get anymore snow. There is now for a sled but I would not send the groomer there unless we had a foot of snow.

We went over Fording Pass and then proceeded south to the mine site boundry. The snow was glorious there, if not very sticky/heavy, with sugar snow underneath when one "trentched through it". Getting over the top of the Pass from the Baril Creek Trail was okay for the most part, but there are bare spots - some extended. I say this as the sun and wind has done its' usuall work in the given temperatures/not much new snow falling lately. There was good enough snow for most of the way once entering the Wildland Park on the trail, just a bit bumpy and the normal sketchy parts, being ungroomed.

The last thing I want to mention is that I was in High River, on Sunday AM, and it was raining. As I looked west to Cataract, it was socked-in, and had to be snowing. Anyone with a report for Sunday, or yesterday, would sure be welcome.

Have a great week.

I'm still holding out hope for one more ride...... but have also started SeaDoo shopping, just in case ....

 

[calgarysledguy]

Is this the Cataract groomer? Seen it on Barlow and 32av NE about and hour ago? Don't mind my distracted driving photo. Nice looking rig anyway.

 

[Kaz Dog]

Yes, that is the All Track prototype snow groomer. It is fresh out of the shop from a few tweaks, looks like it is headed out for another run......

 

[Sledderglen]

Is this the Cataract groomer? Seen it on Barlow and 32av NE about and hour ago? Don't mind my distracted driving photo. Nice looking rig anyway.


http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd64/80malibu80/Screenshot_2016-03-08-14-22-53_2.png

Yes that is the unit. We are going out tomorrow to check things out and I will give a snow report

 

[Sledderglen]

Well we went out but didn't groom at all. Solid ice out there. we drove down the Lost Creek Road and just ice. Forecast is for some snow so we will wait and see. No use beating the equipment up. Etheringtgon no work on road in yet. Was cold and clear there today

 

[Dmas88]

Does anyone know if there has been any good snow out there in the last week?

 

[Sledderglen]

I`m stuck working out of town. Can someone tell me and others if there is any snow down low in the valley bottom? I'm going to go check it out when I get home next week. Looks like it has snow by the radar report

 

[Highfly]

looks like Cataract is getting hit with some good snow.