Cataract/Etherington 2013/14 Thread

Mattjames

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So we went out Saturday for about 5 hours, had a great day. It snowed the whole time we were there. Trails are in great shape once you get off the cataract creek trail, it's pretty whooped out. All around great day!
 

Kaz Dog

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And this post pretty much is the reason why our group is trying to have a groomer at the CCSA!
So we went out Saturday for about 5 hours, had a great day. It snowed the whole time we were there. Trails are in great shape once you get off the cataract creek trail, it's pretty whooped out. All around great day!
 

GMills

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I am new to the forum and to sledding. I just wanted to let everyone know that we were able to make it north on the Etherington trail from Cataract loop to the Brail loop and over the summit on the Brail creek trail. The two impassible spots marked on the map are now passable. There were some faint tracks from others that had also crossed.
 

TryHonesty

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Correction: There are tonnes of trails across the province that need grooming, so many pounded to hell. How much is a groomer?? :D
 

TryHonesty

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So we went out Saturday for about 5 hours, had a great day. It snowed the whole time we were there. Trails are in great shape once you get off the cataract creek trail, it's pretty whooped out. All around great day!

Yah it was a lot of fun and we just scratched the surface of the network, i'm looking forward to going out again!
 

Kaz Dog

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Depends; new or used, size, where it needs to access.
Correction: There are tonnes of trails across the province that need grooming, so many pounded to hell. How much is a groomer?? :D
 

Kaz Dog

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Thanks for the info! Did you stay on the trail? Did you have to do much off-trail riding, go through stream/creek beds? Looks like I need to get back out there and see where people are riding. A new map is in production from ESRD and should be available in two weeks or less.
I am new to the forum and to sledding. I just wanted to let everyone know that we were able to make it north on the Etherington trail from Cataract loop to the Brail loop and over the summit on the Brail creek trail. The two impassible spots marked on the map are now passable. There were some faint tracks from others that had also crossed.
 

Kaz Dog

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The word you use- "network" - is interesting to me. Technically, there are the provincially recognized trails, and then there are all the logging roads and cut-lines that are not recognized as trails. While I do not see a problem being on these road accesses and cut-lines that have a lot of snow, other area users and government personal take a different view. Truly, the biggest issue we face as snowmobilers is "any water crossings". The OHV "crowd'" is attacked mostly from this standpoint, and is what the SSRP is largely about, in my opinion. The more we can do together to build ramps and bridges to solve this issue, the better.
Yah it was a lot of fun and we just scratched the surface of the network, i'm looking forward to going out again!
 

GMills

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Thanks for the info! Did you stay on the trail? Did you have to do much off-trail riding, go through stream/creek beds? Looks like I need to get back out there and see where people are riding. A new map is in production from ESRD and should be available in two weeks or less.

We did stay on trail. We approached the same areas four weeks prior, and they were in much worse shape. The additional snow made them passable.

The Brail Creek trail creek crossings were much more challenging than any of the two marked washouts.
 

DYSLEXIC

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The word you use- "network" - is interesting to me. Technically, there are the provincially recognized trails, and then there are all the logging roads and cut-lines that are not recognized as trails. While I do not see a problem being on these road accesses and cut-lines that have a lot of snow, other area users and government personal take a different view. Truly, the biggest issue we face as snowmobilers is "any water crossings". The OHV "crowd'" is attacked mostly from this standpoint, and is what the SSRP is largely about, in my opinion. The more we can do together to build ramps and bridges to solve this issue, the better.

VERY well said
 

Hirmkin

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Here’s some pics of the Etherington parking lot and the trail heading out from from there.

I ‘am standing in about the middle of the parking lot.
The road into the parking lot is in-between the two signs.
Also I would not recommended going down Etherington trail, you can make it but not easily, one creek crossing is a bugger.
 

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Hirmkin

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Here,s a couple of pics of the Cataract staging area from across the creek.
 

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corvetteforlife

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Hey folks, new to here. Heading out to test out the new (to me) machine
Judging by the pics it's still rideable out there? This warm weather is killing me... Mooooorree snow please!!!
 

Charette_Syndrome

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Great day out today! Good snow to be found! Def gunna go back out tomorrow if anyone wants to come for a leisurely rip...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Kaz Dog

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Stickman and I were out on Saturday to install the new Cataract Creek Snowmobile Area signs supplied by the Calgary Snowmobile Club. We have attached brand new laminated maps of the area from ESRD that show the washouts and "poor" trail areas. I did take pictures but have lost/misplaced my camera, and can not post pictures just yet. I will as soon as I can.
 
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geordiep

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Went out Saturday from Etherington area. I went up Fording Pass and over both ridges.

Snow:
- plenty on trail but getting pounded. Still easy going!!
- 1 to 2 feet in trees lower down
- 3 to 4 feet of sugar at/past the ridges, but a hard-layer 1 foot down on open areas.
- had some fun in the trees before the first ridge - baseless/sugar boondocking
- Fording Pass with in great shape, full coverage and creek crossing were great (Thanks to the group that made creek crossing easy. It looks like they also hand dug the sidehill before the first climb. :beer:)
- both ridge tops were mostly bar (per usual)
- lots of parking at Etherington gate (see last pic)

2014-02-01-16.16.jpg 2014-02-01-16.16.58.jpg IMG_20140201_225517.jpg 2014-02-01-14.14.jpg etherington_parking.jpg
 
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