The new snow has people going out to play; the urban wildlife was hunkering down at Shaganappi Monday....
There is not enough snow for skiing to be safe; snowshoers are welcome (and needed!) on the snowshoe/fat bike shared trail system; fat bikers, please stay away to prevent turf damage to unfrozen ground.
Ski Trails:
Trail work done:
Five grooming volunteers have been on the ski trails the past couple days at Shaganappi first Snowmobile track-packing the ski trails to start compacting a snow base, then doing a second pass on top with the roller once the track-packing set up (aka froze and was hard). This work was done as an experiment, as we are hoping that leaving a compacted corduroy surface will counteract expected sublimation conditions due to the forecasted Chinook temperatures and wind. We hope that the snow we have compacted and groomed will stay and not all disappear with the expected weather for the rest of the month. Not all ski trails are roller groomed, some are only skidoo track packed so are rough to ski on. Skiing is not recommended for safety reasons.
Conditions:
Ski trail conditions are marginal with variable snow coverage. Ski trails have many exposed and underlying hazards just beneath the snow surface such as asphalt cart paths, rocks, tree roots and branches, pine cones, etc. that can cause damage skis permanenty and also cause serious injury when travelling on skis, especially at speed. Skiing is not recommended.
Etiquette tip: Please stay off all trails when conditions are soft, as you are damaging the work volunteers have done.
The snow is disappearing fast in the usual spots that are sun and/or wind exposed, as well as around the heat sinks such as trail sections with south facing trees or trails on top of asphalt and gravel cart paths.
Access:
Only the main gate at the end of 26th Street is open at the moment, the other walk-through entrances are closed and locked.
Shared Fat Bike and Snowshoe Trails (FB/SS)
Snowshoers are welcome and encouraged to go out! We have two trail systems; green pin flags for novices (red pin flags last winter), blue pin flags for more of an intermediate/advanced experience (brown pin flags last winter). See the maps on site, but the blue pin-flagged trail system generally starts at the south end of the parking lot by the driving range fencing, the green trail system starting points are just north then a bit west of the clubhouse. For both trail systems, look for the maps and green or blue pin flags.
Fat bikers - please stay away....
The snow is soft, the ground is not fully frozen in all places and fat bike tires will very likely damage turf, especially tires with studs. Please stay away from fat biking at Shaganappi until we post an update that fat biking is open. Brad has been working hard on the refined routing for the trails this season...it will be great once the ground freezes and is covered with snow. Once snowshoers pack the trail systems down and the ground freezes, all will be well and we'll post an update.
Financially support SNO
Become a financial supporter to help this 100% volunteer run non profit pay for yearly operational costs at Shaganappi by donating and/or becoming a Friend of SNO.
Bigger ticket items are also needed like updated drag grooming machinery and drag grooming equipment, lights around the driving range, etc.....(think electric snowmobiles)....
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