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

Sent from my iPhone

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!

Tuesday

I will not help putting equipment away and moving the snowmachines. I finished the antibiotics for my cold two days ago and I do not have the energy.
Ray

See you there

Hi Gus, Lets figure about 9 on Thursday.  Paul

We've got snow

We woke up to clear skies for the first day since Sunday.  Looking north from St George you can see this country has had a good shot of moisture.  We biked in shorts today, and before you know we'll be complaining about the heat!

I am available Thursday - tomorrow. What time? Gus

I'm not sure what the ski trails look like but imagine they have drifts and there was some new snow Monday night Tuesday morning.  Temperatures look to be warming the next few days so I was thinking Thursday would be the best day to groom.  Friday looks to be pretty warm.  Any thoughts or updates on trail conditions.  Paul

Ok 9 am looks good for me.  I'll let Gleason know and he will come.  I also need to be back home by noon.  Paul

Well &$%#@, if you have to do it, I guess I'd better go along to keep you out of trouble.  9:00 OK?

Haggin Grooming

I am committed to Moulton this Thursday as nothing has been done several weeks.

I still have two containers for fuel, how it that holding out?

Gus

Anyone up for grooming Thursday morning?  Looks like I will be tied up on Friday.  May go up and groom in the morning even if no one else can.  Paul

Saturday grooming

It's snowing big flakes in town tonight and hope we get to work with a nice accumulation in the morning. I can make it and see you at 9.

Saturday Grooming Schedule

We plan on meeting at 9:00.  From Paul's vantage point it looks like Haggin only had a brief squall today, but the cloud cover is heavy just north of the divide.  It could be interesting how Haggin fairs with the weather coming over the divide.  Gus is tied up. Paul thought he would see if Jim Gleason is ready to rejoin the crew.

Haggin Grooming

I am not available this Saturday.

I have two gas cans (empty) if anyone thinks they need them, I can See if I can get them up there. Gus

Based on the forecast I think we should wait till Saturday AM.  Mandy will be bringing up her junior ski club at 10:30, so we should have the lower stuff in good shape by then.  Paul siad (via email) that he's up for Saturday morning.

Wait?

Do we wait more?

I'm tied up today and tomorrow, but free on Wed.  Any chance for then?

Sunday evening

Any plans for grooming at Mt Haggin - Gus

Things are starting to warm but I think if we groom this afternoon we will just create very ice conditions.  I say to wait until we get more snow which may be early in the week.

I'm surprised there's even a possibility of grooming.  Yesterday the Big Hole  was way up and blown out like early spring!  We're going biking on the Ponderosa Road - sorry.

February 13:

I think we should try Friday evening, when it cools off.

Gus

Grooming 2-13

Again predicted temps above freezing for tonight. I skied today and not bad on old tracks.  Think we might not be able to improve conditions but will go with what everyone else thinks.

Thursday night grooming report

Todd and I groomed Sugarloaf and all the commons - temperature was right around 32°

Dave Susanj

When we left around noon the temp was already way up.  We were able to groom and set tracks everywhere on the system except Sugar Loaf as we did the tour with Skip Olson.  I gave Dave Susanj a heads up about what we did.  I think the best idea is to let things go and await the return to winter - maybe later next week. What a strange winter!

Skip thinks the groomer can go everywhere on the east side except the very south end of Li'l Cal - where we have pole bridges anyway.  He is checking with FW&P, and if that is OK he will approach his members. He was very complimentary of the system.

Too warm again for grooming?

Sara went by Mt Haggin today on her way back from Chief Joseph. Said it was 42 degrees and we aren't supposed to have much cool off tonight. Is there a plan for the morning?

Grooming Friday, January 30th

I agree about holding off. I am available if something should develop.

Grooming Plan for Friday Jan 30

After doing some grooming today at Echo Lake, it is my opinion we do not groom in the morning and resort to crust cruising until it snows. Had trouble with both steering and traction at times and was not on anything of much incline.  Let's see what Dave reports tonight.

Thursday night grooming

Plan on grooming tonight - will try to break up the ice
Dave

I'm tied up on Friday, January 30th, so will not be able to groom.  Paul

Friday Grooming?

Did some work on Lil Cal on Monday and although it made it skiable, I'm not sure for how long. What is the thought for Friday and trying to improve conditions?

Well done Ray.  How did you plant posts?  Is that kind of stuff good for your shoulder?  On Monday you could have done a schuss on ice skates 3 miles down the Jerry Ck road to the highway and not have hurt the blades or broken a sweat!  Lots of fun in a vehicle.

Cheff's Cutoff signs

I did plant two signposts at Haggin this morning. Also other signs were installed involving Cheff's and Wulf's Cutoffs.

At 10:30 the set ski tracks were ice and lightning fast.  The skating lanes were rock hard, but at least had a little traction. Snow is needed.    Ray

Thursday night grooming report

Todd H. & I groomed Sugarloaf and did the cutoff between Sugarloaf and Crooked John via Wulf's cutoff & back to the hut.  Looked like about 4 inches of light powder - groomed up nicely.  We decided to do Sugarloaf so the Friday crew could work out a system to groom Crooked John & the East side in an efficient manner & not have to worry about going over to Sugarloaf.  Hopefully you won't have as much redundancy with us doing Sugarloaf.  We only made one -2 groomer pass on Wulf's cutoff, so it will need a couple more passes.

Dave S.

Grooming Schedule For Friday, Jan 23,2015

It seems that some of the crew are unable to access the Blog, so we have been conversing via email lists. The plan is to meet at 9:00 and do a little work on the implements and then get everything caught up. It looks like there will be 4 of us.  We should have everything in good shape by noon.

Plan to be there - 9:00 AM - I obtained fuel

Friday grooming schedule

I guess we're on for 9:00.  We will likely be reworking old pack, but it will give some of us who haven't had much experience with the 5th wheel implements a chance to get some.

Thursday night grooming

I don't have any groomers available to help me Thursday night, so I won't be going up.  My last hope has a training in Helena & can't make it.  We'll shoot for next Thursday.  The meeting last night was helpful in getting us all on the same page as was hearing about things at Moulton & general club direction.
Dave S.

I read the Missoula Nordic grooming reports for Haggin & Moulton.  Well done youse guys!

Propane tank

I have the full tank with the new shutoff valve in my garage. My right shoulder is not right and I see Dr. Blavatsky next week. I can't put the tank in the truck myself or I'd show up this morning at the parking lot with it.

Thursday night grooming

Thursday night grooming - hard pack & drifting on Crooked John,but after 2 passes it buffed out nicely!  Propane heater quit - maybe running low on propane?

It looks like I won't make it.  Good luck to you guys.  I hope the fuel situation is OK.

Friday the 9th

What time do you all plan to be there?  I should be able to make it.

Gus

Friday groom

I'm going up in the morning. It is going to be real hard unless there is fresh snow on it. Not sure we will be able to do good finish work.
Mark

Friday groom?

Does anybody know how conditions are at Haggin?  Dave & crew are going up tonight and will post an update on the Missoula Nordic site. But regardless, based on conditions at Jerry Ck, I bet there will be some hardpan and drifts.  Is anyone up for tomorrow to get things presentable for Saturday Learn to Ski?