prepping trails before grooming

[bryan_117]

what kinda things do you and your clubs do to the trails before the white stuff comes? do you spray the grass? cut it? what other kinda things? this is our second year putting the trail in and barely had enough snow to get it in last year. any tips or tricks u can offer up?

 

[Sledderglen]

Hi bryan. Our club the Fort Saskatchewan Snow Angels are also from the flatlands/farmlands. We maintain 2 trail systems one in farmland and another in the bush in the middle of nowhere part of the Trans Canadian Snowmobile trail
On the local trails we clean the trail the full width from big tree to big tree. This gives us a wider safer trail. you can stick a ski into the untouched snow on the edges and not find a hidden treasure.
Our bush trails we try to keep them as clear as we can. They are farther away so we dont spend alot of time getting them real clear.
The club just purchased a roughcut towbehind mower to trim the underbrush. This gives us a wider trail that riders use the whole width instead of just down the middle as what happens most of the times.

Where are you from? How many miles of trails do you take care of?
Hope this helps a little

 

[Bogger]

We rough-cut as well, spent a lot of money on mulching the past few years but once it's all cleared the rough cut mower should be able to maintain...

In the areas where we share trails with the ATV club we have placed rig mats over the rutted out areas...

Now we just need to level the lake before freeze up......lol

 

[tex78]

Going out on the lake with a squeegee booger ???


sent from my htc

 

[imdoo'n]

Going out on the lake with a squeegee booger ???


sent from my htc

and for the rest of the winter, all ya hear from the lake lake is " hurry, hard" and other curling terms. and occasionally ya may hear a few golfing words, aw f-wk.
no f-awk stupid game.

 

[sabercat2599]

We are from SE sask so we have alot of stubble but also some valley trail. There is nothing you can do without snow to prep the stubble but we have been renting a scrub mower for a skidsteer the last two years for small tree growth. this is nimble and saves alot of time. We are also begining to permanently mark our bush trails to save time signing after the first snowfall. Once the snow comes preride the trail 4 or 5 abreast to pre pack before the groomer, this helps the base alot.

 

[Sledderglen]

We are from SE sask so we have alot of stubble but also some valley trail. There is nothing you can do without snow to prep the stubble but we have been renting a scrub mower for a skidsteer the last two years for small tree growth. this is nimble and saves alot of time. We are also begining to permanently mark our bush trails to save time signing after the first snowfall. Once the snow comes preride the trail 4 or 5 abreast to pre pack before the groomer, this helps the base alot.

Sounds like you guys know what your doing. Keep up the good work volunteers like you are getting scarce these days. THANK-YOU

 

[Sledderglen]

The club just picked up the roughcut mower. Looks like we maybe putting it on skis now. Time will tell how it will work in the snow.

 

[old mountain man]

What do you pull the mower with? We have spent a lot of money mulching. Some of the new
trails grow up real fast! Trying to possibly do some spraying but a slow process. Needs to involve
the F.M.A. holder and S.R.D.

 

[Sledderglen]

Spraying would be a good way to kill off those Alders. Seems like they just grow as fast as you trim them. Powerlines use the spray how do we do it?

 

[old mountain man]

Spraying would be a good way to kill off those Alders. Seems like they just grow as fast as you trim them. Powerlines use the spray how do we do it?

I doubt we can get approval to do it ourselves. Likely need to be done by the F.M.A. holder. You are right the Alders come up fast.So do suckers from the bigger trees that have been mulched. The Mogul Master does cut off some of them esp. if grooming when quite cold.

 

[Shadam]

we struggle to prep trails up rocky creek beds ...
oh the problems of a first world nation ...
and living in the mtns ...

 

[Sledderglen]

Don our goto guy has now mounted our roughcut mower on skis. Will be way easier to pull along the snowy trails now. With wheels and snow it would not stay offset from the ATV.
Now with the new snow(25cm) we will be packing the trail

 

[Sledderglen]

Here is a couple of pics of the new roughcut mower on skis

 

[SLEDBUNNYRACING]

Very cool Glen.

 

[bryan_117]

Here is a couple of pics of the new roughcut mower on skis

thats awesome, how does that work in the snow? we had one on a bobcat but the snow just plugged it up... looks wicked though

 

[Sledderglen]

thats awesome, how does that work in the snow? we had one on a bobcat but the snow just plugged it up... looks wicked though

Works pretty good. Can`t cut to short as the snow does make the motor work hard. Really cleans up the edge and gives the rider confidence in not hitting something on the edges. Makes the trail wider also to spread out the wear strip down the middle which helps the trail stand up better to increased traffic.
Thanks to the volunteers that worked on the trails and equipment