We're done for the season

We are officially done for the grooming season. I have held off posting, as we kept getting a storm here and there that may have kept the cat on the snow. But we are losing too much at the low elevations. There’s still a LOT of snow up high, getting there will be a bit of a chore.

See you next winter! Or even better, see you on the trails this summer when we do summer maintenance! Those miles are going to be key to OSSA getting 100% of the miles that we are contracted to groom… It was a bad year for miles statewide!

Grooming Report for week ending March 22

Tuesday- Cold Springs, East Fourmile to Fourmile Lake, Rye Spur, Fourmile Lake to Hwy 140 and back to the barn via the Pierce trail.

Wednesday- Groomed from the cat shed into the Lake of the Woods Resort and around the LOW area

Thursday- Great Meadow to the Sunset trail to Dead Indian, then up the Buck Peak trail to Buck Peak. The cat groomed across the Buck Peak Tie on the return.

Friday- Pierce trail to Fourmile/140 and then headed toward the Brown Mountain shelter. We groomed Daley Prairie and Daley Creek to the tree mess, then on the return back, headed south to the Pedersen Crossing. After clearing the crossing, we groomed to the Keno Access road. We did Fourmile and East Fourmile on the return trip.

It was raining HARD when we left the cat shed. Snow was ok until it started getting the torrential downpour, now it’s like a slushie. Sigh.

Grooming report for week ending March 15

Monday= Fourmile, Cold Springs, East Four mile, Pierce, Rye spur

Wednesday- Pierce, Cabin, Buck Peak, Buck Peak tie, Sunset, Varney Creek

Friday- Cold springs, East Fourmile, Rye Spur, Fourmile, Pierce

Temps were in the mid 40’s, snow is soft in the afternoon. But we still have full coverage on the trails!

Enjoy it while it lasts!!

Grooming Report for week ending March 8

Late post

Tuesday- Groomed Fourmile, E. Fourmile, Rye Spur, Pierce, and Cold Springs

Wednesday- Lake of the Woods to Sunset trail, to Buck Peak. Back via the Cabin Trail (West side LOW)

Thursday- Groomed toward the tree mess on the 37 road. Made a little progress, we are still about 1/2 mile from the 37 Road on Daley Creek.

Groomer Report for the week ending March 1

Tuesday- Lake of the Woods toward the Brown Mountain Shelter, then west on Daley Prairie to Daley Creek. We were stopped from making the 37 Road by trees.

Wednesday- Lake of the Woods to the Sunset Trail to Dead Indian. Dead Indian to the top of Buck Peak, Varney Creek until low snow required the cat to turn back.

Friday- Cabin Trail (west side of Lake of the Woods) Four Mile, East Four Mile, Cold Springs

2 feet of new snow at higher elevations, good coverage down low. Enjoy your weekend in the snow!

Groomer Report for week ending February 23

The cat did not run Monday or Tuesday due to low snow/warm temps/rain

Wednesday- Because of the awesome work done by the US Forest Service Klamath District rec crews, the trail was opened up to Buck Peak! The guys in the cat pushed 67 trees that were removed from the trail.

Thursday- The cat went from the Cat Shed to Cold Springs, then back and to Fourmile Lake and Rye Spur via the East Fourmile Trail. Then down to Hwy 140 on Fourmile and back to the barn via the Pierce Trail. Nice day, only 11 trees, and most of those were small in size!

No Grooming Friday

Grooming report for week ending February 16

The cat was down on Monday to do the 100 hour maintenance. We did not groom Tuesday.

Wednesday- LOW toward the 37 Road. The cat made it to the end of Daley Prairie before returning. Lots of trees down.

Thursday- From the Cat shed into Lake of the Woods, then to the Sunset trail to Varney Creek Trail.

Friday- Groomed to Cold Springs and toward the Big Meadow. Snow conditions prevented the cat from continuing into the meadow.

Snow is very stick and hard to groom. Temps on Friday were well above freezing.

Grooming Report for week ending February 9

Monday- Cat headed toward Brown Mountain Shelter to work on trees.

Tuesday- Cat headed to the Cold Springs trailhead to push trees that the FS folks had cut. Trail to Cold Springs is passable!

Thursday- Cat headed toward Brown Mountain Shelter. We were able to get to where the kind folks from Lakewood Village had cut, so the trail is at least passable from Lake of the Woods to Pedersen Crossing. We still need to push the trees off the trail, which will hopefully be done this next week.

Grooming Report for Week ending Feb 2

Monday- no grooming, volunteers on snowmobiles cleared the Fish Lake trail from Fish Lake to the 37 Road. There were 35 trees down across the trail. The trail is passable by snowmobile but has not been groomed

Tuesday- The cat headed toward the mess on the trail from Lake of the Woods to the Brown Mtn. Shelter. The cat broke a hydraulic hose about 5 miles from LOW and had to return. There were two huge piles of trees that were across the trail that we removed before the cat returned.

Wednesday- Training day around the Cat Shed with Pisten Bully customer support

The cat did not run on Thurs or Fri because of rain/no snow

Grooming report for week ending January 27

Monday- The cat went out with 3 members of the Klamath District recreation division. We cleared about 40 trees from the Cabin Trail and the LOW to Hyatt Lake trail. Where we stopped for the day was not passable. Some of the trees that have come down are bigger than the 28” saw that the cat carries. The trail around the south end of Lake of the Woods is also not passable due to water in the creek. We can fill it with snow if it gets cold but be prepared!

Wednesday- The cat went out toward Cold Springs from the cat shed. The guys cut and pushed 67 trees and did not make it to the trailhead.

Thursday- The cat headed back toward Cold Springs. The guys cut and pushed another 60 trees. I did not get a further report from them.

We will be working hard this next week to get west on the trails. The trail to the Brown Mountain shelter will be the main focus. There are a whole bunch of trees down.

The groomers will be doing training on Wednesday and maybe Thursday with folks from Pisten Bully.

Grooming Report for week ending Jan 20

We had one cat out 5 days and another cat out 3 days and with the help of the USFS Rec folks on snowmobiles, we were able to saw our way into Fourmile Lake and to the turn around on Varney Creek. There are trees down everywhere, It took 3 days and 2 cats and 8 people to get into Fourmile.

If you venture out, expect wet, sloppy snow and TONS of trees. The FS has not even been able to start on the dedicated cross country ski trails, I am sure they are just as bad. Take a saw and be prepared.

We will be doing limited grooming next week, as half our groomers are not available. It may be a moot point, as the rain is wiping out the snow near the cat shed to the point we may not be able to get on the trails with the cat.

Grooming Status

The new cat is here, but unfortunately, boxes to haul tools and saws are not. We will be doing a temporary toolbox this next week to get the cat on the snow.

We have had one familiarization day for some of the groomers. This cat is a bit different than the last and will take some seat time to get totally familiar with it.

The Club currently has access to a second cat (Yellow Bombardier) and we will be trying to get it out this week as well. There are lots of trees down and the snow is DEEP. Groomers will be doing a lot of saw work as we get the trails open.

That's all for now! Stay safe out there!!