Cataract Creek Snowmobile Trails offical thread 2016/17

BertaBrandon

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What do you fellas recommend for places to stay close by ? anywhere to stay that you can ride from as well ?

let me know cheers !
 

Kaz Dog

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What do you fellas recommend for places to stay close by ? anywhere to stay that you can ride from as well ?

let me know cheers !
Closest place to stay is Longview, the riding area is inside Kananaskis Country. Longview has two places of Accommodations: Blue Sky Motel for a quiet night, and the Longview Hotel/Restaurant/Bar for a quiet to party time stay - depending on which day you are there, and which room they put you in (Don't take a room over the bar on a Friday or Saturday night).
 

BertaBrandon

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Closest place to stay is Longview, the riding area is inside Kananaskis Country. Longview has two places of Accommodations: Blue Sky Motel for a quiet night, and the Longview Hotel/Restaurant/Bar for a quiet to party time stay - depending on which day you are there, and which room they put you in (Don't take a room over the bar on a Friday or Saturday night).

Thank you kaz, appreciate that. its looking up to be solid weekend of riding :beer:
 

Sledderglen

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Was out there today and seen some riders. Large group had issues. Will wait to see if they post here. That's the good news. It was raining there when we arrived and at 700 when we were finally out (see post from group) it was pouring even harder. From cummins connector trail head to Cataract staging area it was raining. Snow still there but wet and if it now gets cold it will be hard. Warm from now on. Will be like riding on Mashed potatoes. I'm not going to sugarcoat it riders. It better cool off or I will be back to doing summer trailwork soon. Sorry

On Tuesday it was -30 and 1.5 feet of powder today pouring rain and warm. Colder here in Calgary. Was looking like it could change from rain to snow but it needs to cool out there.

Don't kill the messenger.
 

Sledderglen

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Going to south end. Etherington at 930. I'm going out tomorrow as well and would love to go over to fording.


OK have you seen avy warnings???? Now add rain on that powder snow. I recommend you or anyone else to not to go into Fording for the next while. Mashed potato type snow is wet and heavy. Know before you go
 

JZ1

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OK have you seen avy warnings???? Now add rain on that powder snow. I recommend you or anyone else to not to go into Fording for the next while. Mashed potato type snow is wet and heavy. Know before you go

Yeah conditions have drastically changed since yesterday. It was raining pretty good on the drive home yesterday.
and that was me with the sled issues, sled had a sleepover. No time to go into detail, leaving now to get it. All I'll say is my god there is a lot of snow out there and we took a wrong turn
 
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Sledderglen

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Yeah conditions have drastically changed since yesterday. It was raining pretty good on the drive home yesterday.
and that was me with the sled issues, sled had a sleepover. No time to go into detail, leaving now to get it. All I'll say is my god there is a lot of snow out there and we took a wrong turn

Heard about you having issues. Hope you get it out OK A few issues out there yesterday some fun some not so much fun. People need to be aware of where they are and the riders in their group. Can get scarry real fast out there. Club sled needs new skags and groomer delayed till Tuesday
 

Sledderglen

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Roads south of OKOTOKS on 22 said poor. Forestry roads gonna be icy. Log trucks running today if allowed. Hope they sand/gravel the road for the weekend.

Snow still there but will be soft and sticky in the afternoon. Trails will be rough and that's it.
We are working on getting the groomer back out there for the future if the weather changes to a bit cooler.

Fording avalanche conditions are best to say BAD. See previous post and pay attention to the news. Your life is worth more than a sled day.
 

JZ1

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Sled out, what a adventure, crap load of will and determination. Sled wouldn't start,fuel take off connector was broken
 

Wise Mechanical

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Heading down tommorow for the first time in about 15 years, looking forward to it. What's the word on the best way to go from cataract?
 

JMCX

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Sled out, what a adventure, crap load of will and determination. Sled wouldn't start,fuel take off connector was broken

I think the first half of your story is missing
 

JZ1

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Ok, first off a big thanks to Slamaha for the not 1 not 2 but 3 trips on the back off his sled. More on that in a bit.

first a few pics of the goods times yesterday, these are the open areas on Raspberberry. Snow was waste deep easily

image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg
 

JZ1

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So we started at Etherington and the plan was to head to the south, took awhile to get there because the snow was so good we had to stop and play in every meadow.

so we got to the north trail head for Oyster and proceeded south. I'm not exactly sure on the map where our day ended but if you took the logging road I would guess around mile marker 17, the last marker I saw on the road was 15. The black dotted line on this map is the logging road. At some point near the south end the logging company stopped ploughing the dotted line and cut a new road west across Oyster so there are a few spots you have to get on their road, ride a bit and then jump back on the trail.

like I said, I can't pin point exactly where we were but I figure somewhere around mile marker 17, very well could be the last spot where the logging road cuts across oyster. Maybe glen or Kaz are familiar with this.




image.png O
 
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JZ1

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So once you get back on the trail and start heading south maybe 1/2 km there is a "Y" in the trail. If you look straight you can see down the trail for miles, just looks like one long cutline. We were first tracks and the snow was deeeeeep. Slamaha nor I at this point never noticed the "Y" in the trail and kept going straight. Maybe another 200 or 300 feet Slamaha stops. Trail goes down then back up, obviously one of the many creek crossings in the area. I proceed to go first. This is me now looking back and up at Slamaha


image.jpeg
 
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