Ladybird Trail Dec 13th 2023 With some cool evening temps and not much in the way of weather, we decided to have a look at doing what we could to get started on the trail. All went well although not enough snow cover to run the tiller at the end of the trail as we needed most of the snow to fill cross ditches. Preobed 85cms at the 19km turnaround. Please remember its early and dithces may open up again with the moisture that is coming off the mountians. If you come across any open ones please try mark them for others or better yet fill them with snow if they are not to big. Parking at 11km is limited so be aware of that and don't forget you need a radio on weekdays as there is logging traffic on the roadway. Attached is a pic of Norns Creek at 15km so you can see the hazards of the past rain please consider it before crossing areas that normally are good and frozen this time of year. Goose Creek Trail Dec 14th 2023 After having pretty good success with the trail building on Ladybird we decided to get started on the Goose trail. With our buisiest time of the year right around the corner, we thought it was best to do what we could. We probed 80cms at the Shaw cabin but the first 2km of the trail has very limited snow on it for cooling and some rocks on it. We removed as many as we could but if you see any feel free to throw them off. If you don't want to deal with rocks and getting hot you may want to drive up to around 2km but the road has some snow on it so it is probably slippery. Its your call might want to chain up, trailers definitenty not recommended and please only drive up as far as you have to. We will put signage up when we start grooming on a regular basis so as to stop truck traffic. Be safe out there and check the avy reports if your heading out. Just a quick update on club grooming plans. Last weeks rain was not so good for our plans of getting started on trail building. Most, if not all creeks and ditches are now full of flowing water with no ice in sight. We normally hope for creeks to freeze up so when we build crossing locations the ice helps hold the snow from getting washed away. Thankfully trails were not in before the heavy rains as we generally only have limited snow to do this with. We will hope for creeks and dithces to slow in the next week and try getting started on trail building soon. Recent reports on Goose and Ladybird are creeks and ditches are open and running still. Snow pack at the 19km cat turnaround was at 75cm. Please have patience as our trails have many large boulders to cover before we can say they are considered safe to use, for this reason we tend to wait until snowpack is sufficeient to do a proper job of building the trails. Remember to get your earlybird membership before Dec 15th to get in on a chance to win one of two AST 1 courses to be held Jan 5 2023. One draw will happen Dec 16th and the other on Jan 1st.Memberships available a Playmor Power Products and here on the website. So far the snow has been slow to show itself down low, but hopefully it’s just around the corner. Please be aware that there is logging happening on Ladybird for part of this season. Initial reports were that they would be there until the end of January, but recent reports sound like things are going quite well and hopefully will be out sooner. Once we have enough snow, we will be grooming from 11 km on Norns creek until they pull out. There will be logging truck traffic during the week and it is a radio controlled roadway. Road channel is marked at the bottom of the hill, On weekends the grader will usually be out on Sunday night, plowing off fresh snow. So if you ride up on Sunday morning and come back down Sunday evening, you may not have any snow. Best to avoid that situation. Some parking is available up at 11 km and 14 km on east Ladybird but be aware the road will be icy most likely and trailer towing is not recommended. Chaining up is the only way to be be sure that the day goes as planned.Goose Creek grooming will also start as soon as we get enough snow cover down at lower elevations to limit damage to equipment. Recent reports on snowpack are 60 cm at 2100m. Over the summer and fall the Shaw Cabin had some much needed renovations completed. Some the them included, new doors, front window and complete exterior staining and paint. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with this project it looks great. The Frosty cabin also received a facelift this fall, with vapor barrier, strapping and medal cladding being installed on the exterior walls as well as skirting down to bedrock for added protection. Supports were added under the cabin as was insulation added to the walls. Thank you to all who volunteered on this project and to Recreation Sites and Trails BC for the purchase of the tin for the cabin. We also need to thank you to Landmark Equipment Repair and Prinoth Calgary for the help on the snowcats this preseason. Having the support for our equipment be it technical or labour oriented is a great resorce. Don't forget to get your early bird memberships to be entered into the AST 1 prizes. Please note the course is happening Jan 5th to the 7th 2024. If your thinking about riding soon be sure to take it slow. Hoping you all have a super season in the great outdoors. Hello past, present and future Castlegar Snowmobile Association members. We had announced previously that we would be doing a draw for a AST1 avalanche course for all those who signed up by the December 31st deadline. Well….to add a little more incentive and also to help build up our bank account, we have decided to do another draw for a 2nd AST1 course….to be drawn on December 15th! That’s right - by signing up before December 15th, you will double your chances of winning one of these courses! The course is slated for January 5th-7th, 2024 and will be done locally so you won’t have to travel too far. Memberships can be purchased online at csasled.org or at Playmor Power Products Ltd. Early bird price is $125.00 for the season and then to $155.00 on January 1st, 2024. Thanks again for your continued support and looking forward to a great season of sledding! Just an update on the Polaris Snowmobiles and SheShreds Mountain Adventures donated 2023 Polaris Khaos 850/165 with 246 km sled raffle. Ticket sales have been going faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind and there is only around 200 tickets left! If you were planning on purchasing a ticket, you’d better make haste before they are all gone! We would suggest calling ahead to one of the sales outlets as they may be sold out! Once again we would like to thank all involved for their generous donations in this joint venture between the Nelson SnoGoers and the Castlegar Snowmobile Association. All proceeds from the raffle go directly to both of the local clubs. Best of luck to all ticket holders and thank you again for your support! Gaming Event Licence # 146710 |
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December 2023
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