Groomer Report for Week ending Mar 7

Tuesday- PB 100 went to the 37 Road via the Brown Mountain Trail, into Fish Lake, then Robinson Butte.

Tuesday- PB 400 went South at the Brown Mountain Shelter and cleared the Pedersen Crossing, then to the Keno Access Road on the Pedersen Trail. The cat groomed Fourmile Trail to East Fourmile and returned to the barn on East Fourmile.

Wednesday- PB 100 groomed to Cold Springs Trailhead, then up to the top of Pelican Butte. The cat went into the Big Meadow on the return. Snow on the trail is pretty hard but still pretty deep in most places.

Groomer Report for week ending Feb 28

With super warm temps, grooming was halted for the first half of the week. We did get the cats out Thursday and Friday. Great Meadow has a TON of water showing, be CAREFUL if you wander out that way.

Thurs- The PB 100 went to the 37 Road via Daley Prairie and south to Deadwood, then north to Fish Lake resort. The cat returned via the Brown Mountain Trail.

Friday- The PB 100 went to Cold Springs and to the top of Pelican Butte and returned.

Friday- The PB 400 went to Fourmile via the Pierce Trail to Fourmile trail, then to Rye Spur, then back via the East Fourmile Trail and across Hwy 140 at the Great Meadow to groom into Lake of the Woods and returned to the barn.

Temps were in the mid 50’s most of the day. Snow is very soft in the afternoons, hard in the mornings.

Groomer Report for week ending Feb 21

Tue- Sunset trail to Buck Peak Tie, down to Dead Indian Memorial Road, across DIM to the Cabin trail, back to the barn via Pierce Trail. Cat had a hose fail, so limited grooming until it’s repaired.

Wed= After repair of Big Red, took Little Red into Lake of the Woods, then back out and across the Great Meadow to the intersection to Fourmile crossing, then back to the barn via the Pierce Trail.

Thurs- Cold Springs to the trailhead, Pelican Butte trail to the top (HEAVY snow on Pelican!) Big Meadow Trail into the Big Meadow warming hut, back to the barn.

Fri- East Fourmile to Fourmile, Rye Spur, Fourmile Lake to Hwy 140, cross 140 to the Cabin Trail, Lake of the Woods/Hyatt Trail toward the Brown Mountain Shelter, back to the barn via Pierce Trail.

Snow is still VERY deep in the high elevations. We have not been able to access Buck Peak or Robinson Butte and little has been groomed south. Lots of snow out there, temps are cold in the morning and warming up by noonish.

Grooming Report for week ending Feb 14

Wednesday- the PB 400 went from Lake of the Woods to the 37 Road via Daley Prairie and Daley Creek. We groomed south on the 37 Road to Deadwood, then North to 140 and into Fish Lake. We returned via the Brown Mountain Trail.

Friday- The PB 100 groomed to 4 mile and Rye Spur, then crossed Hwy 140 to groom east across the Great Meadow, then into Lake of the Woods. Snow is DEEP on the Fourmile Trail.

Friday- The PB 400 Groomed from Lake of the Woods to the end of Cold Springs, hitting the trail into the Big Meadow on the way by. Snow is DEEP in the meadow. We groomed up Pelican to the first overlook and turned back due to low visibility. It was snowing hard and continuous with blowing snow making travel difficult.

Kite Fest at LOW this weekend. Go early, parking will be at a premium!

Grooming Report for week ending Feb 7

Wed- Sunset trail to Dead Indian Memorial Road, cleared the crossing at the intersection and groomed across the south end of Lake of the Woods, then back across to the Buck Peak Trail to the Buck Peak TIe, then back to the barn. Snow is deep, lots of trees down due to heavy snow.

Thurs- Cat Shed to the 37 Road via the Brown Mountain Trail. Mechanical issue occurred and the cat had to spend the night.

Fri- Returned the cat after repair, also groomed across the Great Meadow and into Lake of the Woods.

Snow is DEEP. At least 4 feet of new has fallen in most of the higher country.

Grooming Report for Week ending Feb 1

Thurs- Lake of the Woods to the 37 Road via the Brown Mountain Trail. The snow on the 37 Road was so rutted from 4x4s that we could not groom. Returned via the 3705 road to Daley Prairie and past the Brown Mountain shelter.

Friday- Lake of the Woods to Fourmile Lake via the East Fourmile Trail and return. Then from LOW to the Scout camp to assist the Scouts in hauling supplies for the Snowcapades event

Saturday- LOW to the Scout Camp, Cabin Trail to the Dead Indian Memorial Highway.

Snow was slushy and temps were warm with rain falling when the cat was parked at the cat shed. Snow is marginal down low, still. Great Meadow remains closed due to low snow and dangerous water hazards.

Grooming Report for week ending Jan 24

The PB 400 cat ruptured an upper radiator hose on Wednesday last week and repairs were done on Monday and Tuesday this week. Friday was the only day groomed this week. The cat did Cold Springs and up to the top of Pelican.

The PB 100 was returned to Lake of the Woods Thursday. It spent the last week at Diamond Lake for the OSSA Convention Groomer seminar that was held on Friday.

Snow is shallow on the low elevation trails with conditions that look like March instead of January. Grooming will continue next week, hopefully to open up the Sunset Trail and Buck Peak trails. The trail on the south end of Lake of the Woods is impassable due to water run-off from the lake taking away the snow. The dropoff from the snow is abrupt and the water is up to 2 feet deep. The Cat cannot navigate that trail until significant snow falls and the weather turns a lot colder.

Grooming Report for Week ending Jan 10

Tues- Fourmile, East Fourmile, Rye Spur, Great Meadow into Lake of the Woods

Wed- Cat Shed to Pedersen Crossing (past Brown Mtn shelter), Pedersen Trail to Keno Access

Thurs- Cold Springs, Pelican Trail to the first overlook

Trails in the lower area, especially Cold Springs, are very icy with low snow conditions. Those trails are very bumpy with little snow to process to make the trails smooth. Higher elevations have more snow, but the snow is mostly hard due to rain that fell on the snow pack, then froze.

Grooming Report for Dec 21

We were able to get the cat over to the 37 Road for the first time in over a year on Tuesday! Thanks to all the folks that helped out with trail work to make it wide enough for the cat!

We were also able to get the trail up to Pelican Butte on Thursday, also the first time in over a year! The Demo PB100 also did a bit of work around the Lake of the Woods area while doing training.

Snow is slushy and pretty skimpy down low, but above about 5200 feet, it is pretty nice.

First Grooming Report

You may have seen the snow cat out a bit last week and today. The groomers have not really started operations (snow is fairly low at the cat shed) but Dan and Chris did make it over to the West Side Road at Lake of the Woods (Cabin Trail) to clear 10 trees from the road last week.

This Monday Chris and Bill R took the cat to Fourmile via the East Fourmile trail. They groomed from 140 to Fourmile Lake and drove into Rye Spur to pack down that trail. There were a few trees that were removed, especially one pretty large one that was hindering access to all. Thanks, guys!

This year will be a bit different for the groomers, as grooming funds for all clubs have been reduced by 30%. So we will be grooming less and being more selective on where we go this season. We don't want to run out of fuel in the middle of February!

Snow is pretty deep up high, marginal for cat operations down low. One more good storm should put us in really good shape for starting operations!

Grooming notes for the 2024-25 season

Well, folks… the Snowdrifters have been working at getting the trails ready for winter. We have cleared the trail to the top of Pelican and have made it to the 37 Road via the Brown Mountain Trail. That’s a start! Now if the trees will cooperate…

OSSA has had about a $600,000 reduction in the amount of money received from ODOT. Because of the loss of funds, our average grooming miles will be reduced by 30%. What this means for grooming operations is we will be grooming 3 days a week and will be unable to groom the majority of the trails weekly.

The 2023 Pisten Bully 400 received last year has been moved to a different club. We will be grooming with the 2015 PB 400. To augment that, Pisten Bully will be placing a demo PB 100 at Lake of the Woods for a long term demo. OSSA is also putting in an RTP grant to purchase a smaller cat for next season.

Snow is coming!