Sunday, January 31, 2016

Heikinpaiva fun!

KNSC plus a few of the Sons of Norway marched in the Heikinpaiva parade once again. It was the first parade in anyone's recollection of balmy, sunny weather. The icing on the cake was, we took 2nd place, winning $50 for our effort!

Thanks to our friends at Keweenaw Now for these photos.

[caption id="attachment_2395" align="aligncenter" width="640"]heikinpaiva2016c The KNSC banner hanging on the big ski lead the way.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2394" align="aligncenter" width="640"]heikinpaiva2016b Then the new Defender UTV towing the "learn to ski" trail drag/tracksetter.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2393" align="aligncenter" width="640"]heikinpaiva2016a Remember - 8th annual Glide N Gorge is SATURDAY February 27th. The Barnelopet is next Sunday, February 7th. Hope to see you there![/caption]

 

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Refreshed Saturday morning

All tracks were refreshed Saturday morning before it warmed up. Trails won't be re-groomed until it cools back down, likely on Monday.

Remember to get out to enjoy the Heikinpaiva events this weekend!

Friday, January 29, 2016

Excellent, if not better!

On Friday all the trails were re-packed and re-tracked plus just a bit of leveling.

Last week the Grizzly, our main towing machine, went into the shop and will be back next week (hopefully). The Defender was not yet set up for towing or night operation. The past 2 days the assistant operator was out sick. We've tried hard to keep up the grooming despite all these hiccups.

[caption id="attachment_2380" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050852 A temporary lighting system was cobbled together this morning.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2381" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050857 Early morning sun lighting up the hill across beautiful Mud Lake.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2382" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050859 Sunrise over sunset....trail.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2383" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050866 Fresh tracks looking as good as they get on the River Trail.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2384" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050871 Same goes for St. Urho's.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2385" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050872 Have you skied the Yooper Trail, of the Mud Lake Loop yet?[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2386" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050877 Hope you get out to enjoy the outdoors this weekend! Please support the trails and buy a pass. Thanks to all the trail users out today who did.[/caption]

 

Thursday, January 28, 2016

roll-n-roll

We hoped to set tracks today but the wind was so brisk, by the time we were making our second pass, the first was getting drifed over.   So all trails got rolled and rolled again.

[caption id="attachment_2371" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050809 Despite the breeze, it was still quite pretty out there.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2370" align="aligncenter" width="640"]rollcomb.a With the wind diminishing tonight, tracks will be set ASAP on Friday[/caption]

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Again Excellent

We had some electrical grief with our Ginzu yesterday.  After we got that corrected this morning, we made a quick spin (or slide:-) around our system.   It just can't get any prettier than this.  Photos say it all.

[caption id="attachment_2364" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050794 In the gorge.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2366" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050803 Coming out of Churning Rapids. What can I say?[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2365" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050799 This is what we like to see.[/caption]

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Back to best.

All trails were rolled this morning and all tracks reset.  They looked great!   Our main towing machine is in the shop and we hope to get it back on Thursday.

[caption id="attachment_2358" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050790 Everything just looked soooooo nice this morning.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2357" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050786 This is the Sunset trail in Churning Rapids.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2356" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050785 Wow the snow is pretty.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2355" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050782 Our beloved Swedetown Creek.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2354" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050779 Please support these trails and purchase a pass. Don't have one? Buy it here, on our website![/caption]

 

treeed off

On Monday we could not refresh the tracks for technical reasons, but we did drag Vista and the Mud Lake trails (Yooper) for the 1st time this year, plus took got two trees off that were about to block our trails.

On Tuesday, all trails will be packed and re-tracked.

[caption id="attachment_2341" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050744 This is in Churning Rapids on the diagonal trail, where a dead fall nearly blocked us.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2343" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050757 This is near the bottom of Sidewinder. Branches from this tree had descended on to the trail.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2342" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050769 All better![/caption]

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Learn to ski program in Hancock starts this Monday!

Did you know?  KNSC along with the City of Hancock helps with the only on-site grade school ski program in the Keweenaw.   This grooming was done today at the Barkell Elementary School in Hancock who's ski program starts this week.

Would you like to volunteer to help Hancock's youngest skiers out? Please contact Wayne Stordahl at wr.emstordz@sbcglobal.net

You can further help support this program by purchasing an annual pass for Maasto Hiihto/Churning Rapids trails.

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Best conditions yet.

Yesterday the city side trails and gorge were drug and everything was then retracked.   The only trail left to be drug is the Yooper/Mud Lake Loop which we hope to do next week.   All trails are now in excellent condition.

 

[caption id="attachment_2317" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050648 The new Defender UTV mightily drags the trails.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2318" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050678 After the trails were drug and made silky smooth, tracks were then re-set.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2319" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050674 Hope you get out to enjoy the excellent conditions![/caption]

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Dragging has begun!

Today we drug and re-tracked everything in Churning Rapids and the trails that connect them.  That's #4 (the "new" River Trail) and #8 (the "old" trail to CR).    They looked great!

After that, the Mud Lake Loop, a.k.a. Yooper Trail was reset as was 1/2 the gorge and the city side trails. We'll continue to drag and re-track all trails daily throughout the system to get everything up to top condition.

[caption id="attachment_2302" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050566 The beautiful Spring Creek corridor in CR getting smoothed out[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2304" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050578 The Yooper Trail of the Mud Lake loop looking just as pretty as can be. Have you skied it yet?[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2303" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050574 Lots of people out enjoying the trails and the sun today. Hope you got out too![/caption]

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

All trails tracked!

Everything was rolled and retracked today. Conditions are good to excellent.  Photos say it all.   On Wednesday dragging a portion of them to smooth out the bumps will commence, and of course tracks will be re-set.

[caption id="attachment_2280" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050524 Snowmobile barrier fence was installed today.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2284" align="aligncenter" width="640"]P1050531 This is where the trail used to go. We hope to install something permanent this summer.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2294" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050563 And the trails looked really, really good.[/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_2291" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050549 Hope you get out there and enjoy them. Support the trails and purchase a pass.[/caption]

Sunday, January 17, 2016

BIG snow updates.

Mike was out for most of both nights this weekend trying to keep up with the deluge of snow we received since Friday night.  He could not keep up.   This morning we rolled the city side trails plus all of the gorge plus the River Trail loop to Churning Rapids.

[caption id="attachment_2269" align="alignnone" width="640"]P10504777 This is how deep the snow was on St. Urho's this morning.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2268" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050485 We got the snow blower down to fill in the ditch on Tomasi Rd., so we can drive right over the rocks to groom the upstream section of The River Trail.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2266" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050518 The new Defender in action, packing in the snow over the rocks.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2267" align="alignnone" width="640"]P1050502 We also installed the signage on Tomasi Rd. to keep everyone where they're supposed to be.[/caption]

 

We hope to have tracks set on the entire system on Monday.

BIG snow!

Folks,   We attempted to keep up with the snow last night with Mike rolling but he got repeatedly got stuck and came off the trails at midnight.   Looks like we got a foot overnight.   We'll of course keep you posted as to grooming situation.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

All trails tracked today.

All trails were packed last night, then tracked this morning. We have the excellent problem of it snowing so much, they were filled in shortly after done. Enough snow fell that the drag came out later, so now the River Trail is much, much smoother. More packing tonight, tracks to be re-set Sunday morning...

[caption id="attachment_2251" align="aligncenter" width="300"]P105041d4 See? Tracks looked great early![/caption] [caption id="attachment_2252" align="aligncenter" width="300"]P1050420 The east side of Mud Lake. Next season, we'll once again have a complete route around the lake.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2253" align="aligncenter" width="295"]m Later, the River Trail was leveled with the drag.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2254" align="aligncenter" width="281"]P105046d4 The sun even came out for a few minutes, in between snow squalls. Wouldn't normally drag late in the day, but as you can see the tracks were buried.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2255" align="aligncenter" width="300"]P1050435 Pretty busy at the trail head this morning.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2256" align="aligncenter" width="300"]P1050438 If you like snow...conditions are excellent![/caption]

Thursday, January 14, 2016

More trail packing...and first tracks set today.

With snow coming down the city side trails were drug today and track made.  Trail conditions are improving daily, and are now excellent in some areas and fair to good in others. The Quincy trail is still very rough, with grass showing.

[caption id="attachment_2231" align="alignleft" width="300"]P1050346 This morning we were at the Hancock Grade School yard and rolled that trail down.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2235" align="alignright" width="300"]P1050352 Late today the city side trails were drug as a test to see how much dirt was brought up. That worked reasonably well, so tracks were then set.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2239" align="alignleft" width="267"]P1050361 Grooming will continue each day it snows.[/caption]

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

New snow rolled, Defender blender arrives.

This fabulous 6" we received overnight and this afternoon was soothed down today and got our trails looking quite nice.
Still at Houghton Power sports.

One of the first times on the trail.