I could groom tomorrow, Friday, But with the very cold temperatures wouldn't want to start until about 10.  Wisdom is predicted to be -25 in the morning.  Not sure how well the machines will start.  paul

Are we on for tomorrow ? If so what time and do you need me to make a full crew?
Mark

For grooming Friday would work best for me at this point.  It looks like I'll be tied up on Thursday taking Anne to town.  Paul

Thursday or Friday grooming

John and Gus
I sent two messages yesterday for the blog and see neither one of them. I can't groom today but can either Thursday or Friday. Hope we can put a group together for either day.
Mark

Mark:

There hasn't been any word from Paul, so I guess he is tied up. Do you want to groom tomorrow?

John

Mark:

Paul will be available tomorrow (Wednesday) if he doesn't have to work. I can go. Gus and John Ericson are tied up. Sherman hasn't registered for the Blog yet so I don't know if he will see this.

Yesterday we tried to use the Ginzus, but there was just too much fluff for them not to load up. We ended up (after a lot of lost time with Ginzus in the soup) using both Tidd-Techs and the newest roller and were able to repack everything except the west side of Sugarloaf. I had my first session with the new Tidd-Tech behind a VK and that worked remarkably well in the new snow.

I am guessing that there will be enough new snow that we may still have to do an initial packing pass again, but baring lost time in the ditch maybe we could go back and get some good tracks/skate surfaces for the upcoming sunny (but cold) weekend. 

I know grooming took place yesterday and there is again new snow. Any intentions on grooming towards the end of the week?

Gus:

Sounds good. I guess we need to wait to hear from Paul whether he can help. I know Dave and Mark are tuned in, but I don't know if John Ericson is. Let's shoot for 9:00 tomorrow. Hopefully anybody available will check in - I'll be happy to take a bye and work on equipment issues if we have over a quorum.

John

I am available - what time?

Gus

I may be working on Monday and Tuesday and will know this evening when I talk to Chris.  If we don't work I should be available to help groom.  Paul

Any interest in a grooming session on Monday? The weather sounds OK. Maybe try and free the actuator on the Ginzu tracksetter.

Xmas day

Skied this afternoon- quite a bit of new snow - was able to groom 1 lap around Sugarloaf & all the trails between the parking lot & hut. Didn't know if anyone was going to groom Saturday, but I'll bet there'll be plenty of skiers!! I may be available to groom thru the holiday if anyone is interested.
Dave

Sent from my iPhone

Not sure who intends to groom but I may be available for Thursday.  Work schedule has changed for me so will have some free time the rest of the week.  Paul

I talked to Doug Edgerton today and ordered the parts for the rollers. He was unsure whether he had the air spring toggle handles since they haven’t used them for some time. We may need to make some or more likely come up with a better scheme.

I also asked about the stuck actuator on the Ginzu tracksetter. He pointed out that when you let the actuator run to the end and let the stepper motor pulse, the effect is like using an impact wrench on a nut and bolt (ex: mounting a tire). When there is plenty of grease on the contact surfaces, they will likely come back apart, but they can seize.  He says the best way to get them to release is to pound on one end while using the stepper to try and back off.  With the tracksetter, it would probably be best to pull the bolt on the pan end, put a pin thru the eye to counter the torque of the drive motor and pound on the eye while running the actuator toward extend. When (and if) it breaks loose then we should grease the actuator while extended and then - this is most important - never leave an actuator at either end of travel. Jog it a short distance so that the internal drive nut is not locked against a stop (“never leave the lug nuts tight”). Makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Finally I asked him what snowmachine he would recommend for grooming with Ginzus. Turned out to be a timely question, since he just ordered an Arctic Cat Bearcat special groomer edition. It has an oversized cooling system and deeper treads. It also has a built in winch, pre-wiring for implement controls, and a rear light bar. It also costs about 15 grand. I’m not sure it is appropriate for Moulton this grant cycle, but someday it might be a nice addition to the fleet at Mt. Haggin.

We’ll be back from IF on Saturday. Merry Christmas and good luck grooming!

Thursday night grooming

Grooming completed on Crooked John, Cheffs cutoff & a couple passes on Wulffs cutoff. Also all trails to parking lot are done. Temp was 9 upon arrival & 16 when we left. Conditions are excellent!
Equipment problems - kill switch on newer Scandic fell off - & the older Scandic wouldn't turn off with key or kill switch. They both still run fine

Dave

Sent from my iPhone

I'm working tomorrow so can not groom.  We're painting the inside of the house and hope to finish tomorrow.  Sounds like with all the new snow it will be a fun day.  Paul

Mark: First of all, Vanna called and she had talked to the Butte Ace Hardware people. They have bamboos available, and the manager is a supporter of what we do and wants to work with us. How many poles do you think we could use right now? I want to get back to Ace today.

Regarding tomorrow: Gus wants to groom (he's off-line till tonight), and I want to groom, but I think from Paul's last email that he has to work. Therefore we only have 3 confirmed. John Ericson needs advance notice in order to schedule time off from work. Is there a chance Sherman could groom?

Friday grooming group. Should we start putting a group together for Friday? Is John Erikson or Gus's contact interested? Big snow so should we go with experience? Hope Paul can make it but if there is four that want to go, I can step aside. If needed to make a full team I will be glad to be there.

Old groomers never die, they just can't take a dump!

Mark:

I just talked to Skip Olson from the Jackpine Savages and he said they got their marking bamboos from FW&P. I left a phone message with Vanna to see if she could help us out. In the meantime, your idea to use old skis sounds neat. Our old bamboos came from FW&P some years ago, courtesy of Ray Heagney.

Are we on for tomorrow?

Sorry for the late post as I was having technical difficulties getting in. Sherman and I did a training day Tuesday and found 18+ inches of new snow. We were able to open up out to Cheffs, cheffs, wulf's, crooked john, lower little cal and Vanna's. All need to be widened. Getting off the packed base is an almost guarantee for getting stuck. I have a pile of old nordic skis that we could add to our bamboo for marking trail edges if that is all right with everyone. What do you think?

Grooming week of Dec. 14

With the new snow, I thought I would give everyone the plan for the Thursday night crew - we will set out to groom Crooked John as is our custom, the Commons, & area around the hut, & the trails up to the parking lot. I was not aware that we are not doing Vogles Vengeance anymore as Gus had mentioned to me, so I'm looking for clarification on that.
If anyone does groom before Thursday, please be aware of our Thursday night plan. It would be helpful for us to know in advance via the blog if someone does Crooked John so we know to plan to groom something else. We like to keep our routine somewhat consistent when possible. Thanks,
Dave

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Email test

John - just checking to see how the Friday grooming went - Thursday night grooming went well - though only got a couple passes on upper Crooked John. Mary Ann & I plan on skiing up there on Saturday

Sent from my iPhone

Friday, 12/l11/15 grooming schedule

Who is available to groom tomorrow? Conditions should be favorable, but we might want to wait for the road department to make a pass on MT569, say 9:00? All trails were packed and blowdowns removed before the "warm storm" so we should have a firm base and possibly enough snow to require initial packing ahead of the 5th wheel implements.

This post is being done via email.

John

John, Good you and Chris finished running thru the trails.  Though maybe dealing with packing the trails and cutting downfall this Saturday but now that's done maybe I'll just ski.  I think we should get a sign on Sap Sucker to use caution sking the trail with all the stubs sticking up.  After this week I should have more free time depending to the house construction.  Talked to John Erikson and he will help us groom but needs a few days notice.  He has a new phone number, i-phone, 406 565-8535 and no longer has a land line.

Lots of rain here yesterday so the highway is ice.  Paul

Testing posting to Groomer Blog via email

Dave Susanj sent this note about a broken roller:

Forgot to mention - one of the rollers lost a brass shear pin - sheared off.  Chris jerry- rigged it to finish the job.  Located where the main bar connects to roller assembly. It is roller no. 1 as you approach them from the cabin

This brings up a sore point: with all the construction activity this year, the equipment a Mt. Haggin has been neglected. All three rollers have issues: the old Tidd-Tech needs a new skin; we were going to build better tracksetter attachments on the Ginzus with detents and positive pressure so we could move them side-to-side easily and not have to use weights. The 2-stroke Skandic needs an ignition module. Maybe we can make some progress on fixes when we're together this week.

John

Sunday December 6 2015

Just reconnecting with the Haggin groomers - New season & looking forward to another great year, especially with the new cabin in place! 

Chris D. & I took 5 or 6 trees off the Sugarloaf trails on Sunday, rolled the unconsolidated snow, & hit upper Crooked John as well.  Quite a few skier out, temps warmed & even the rolled snowpack was still soft.  Hopefully it hardened up throughout the week.

Forecast calls for some new snow, so the Thursday night crew will be read to get after it!