Sicamous Snow 2014-2015

[Shermanator]

According to Unc Gord that Blue Lk Rd is all FUBAR'd, they dug it right down to the dirt the whole way, not recommend for travel with the sleds. That and no grooming in the near future for Owlshead route up due to lack of snow, sounds like the sleds will be getting a rest. Even the report about Eagles wasn't that good on the sled site, minimal snow again...Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

I just came back from lunch with Dan who's the treasurer for the Sicamous club and he showed me an interested video, taken this past weekend. It was of the creek that flows across the trail on the way to the Owlhead cabin, the ice bridge is gone and its now 4' of water flowing across the trail! I think we need more snow....Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

It snowed! Sherm

 

[srosscojw]

How much?

 

[Ropin_tom]

rode quest yesterday, long drive in on logging road and not much snow up there to talk about almost seemed like it rained in some spots heavy crust north facing might have been 6" in the best spots

 

[Shermanator]

I thought Queest was closed during the week for logging? Not much snow fell in town today, maybe 3-4 cm and that was it, pretty much melted during the day...Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

New update, hot off the presses! I just got down off the hill from Owl's/Blue. The road up to 2km is slicker than snot on a doorknob, although on the way down it wasn't quite as bad. Heavy rain in town right now will wash away any snow that was on the road up to km but probably still leave that layer of ice on it. I don't think I'd be hauling a trailer up to 2 km but the alternative to ride on rocks and mud ain't good either! Not much snow on the trail up, it didn't start to show much until about 10km, then there's was maybe an inch or so. There is enough to keep the Hyfax from melting but not enough to keep the temps on the motor from going up, and I used up all the snow on the sides of the trail! Its not until about 14km when you can tell its been snowing, and it just keeps getting deeper as you go up, maybe 4-6" at the Owl's turnoff. I zipped in and had a look at the river crossing, it has frozen over again and with a bit more snow and cold temps it'll be fine. I didn't go to Owl's, pretty socked in all over, snowing pretty heavy. I carried on up to the Blue Lk turnoff, lots of snow up here! Hell, I even had snow over the hood a couple times, albeit because I couldn't see the road and went into the 4' ditch on the side of the road, still counts as snow over the hood though. It was pretty nice to break trail on some fresh stuff, a good 1' in some spots, and most of the whoops are covered in, snowing heavy here as well but limited visibility due to fog. I figured I would "sneak" through to Blue Lk and mess that up before anyone else however, about 2/3 of the way up the trail through the bush its now active logging! Yup, big sign up from the logging contractor to not enter the area, and there was in fact logging going on where I was. So, that's where I had to turn around, we don't want to be "edit for bad language" off the logging contractor right now, we might need his D8 to carve some trails for us before they leave the area!
So, back at the 2km parking lot, I'm loading the sled up and two guys come up the trail on their sleds, the Artic Cat stops and tells the guy on the 174 T3 that his sled is overheating. They stop for maybe 3.5 minutes, spark the sleds up and the Cat goes "braapppp, braappppppppp, braaapppppppppppppp" all the way up the trail, on and off the throttle. My question is, is this how your supposed to cool the motor down cause I've been doing it all wrong if it is! There was also that smell of melted plastic when I headed down the trail, I wonder if they notice that! Anyways, I think the weekend will be pretty good up top, but its getting up there that might be the problem. I envision many overheated sleds and lots of Hyfax repairs!! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Did a trip into Blue this AM, parked at 2km, the trail is mud and rock up to 1.5km, my sympathies to those that have to ride their sleds on it! More snow on the trail than my last outing, no overheat or hyfax concerns today. The trail up is a POS right to Owl's turnoff but after that it was like a super hwy. I want to thank all those that stay in the middle of the road and leave the wide edges for me to ride on! I just went through the tree trail and onto the active logging road to access Blue, it would appear everyone else is doing it so WTH. There were logging trucks there today so keep an eye out for them.
Lots of new untouched snow at Blue! In fact there were a couple of nice pulls right around the cabin that hadn't been blemished so I took care of them. That and then below the cabin was almost all untouched, except for a few trenches by others that hit the new powder first thing, pretty deep stuff in some areas. There was a avy on that hill just below the main trail and above the lake, took out a pretty good slab, looked to be sled related. The meadows were all torn up, except a few areas that lead over the knob to Foggy Bowl, there were a few nice hills in there but again some sluffing on the top edges.
On the way out I spoke to some nice Albertan's (I know, they're all nice) who were having trouble with a brand new Cat, ya. anyways, they said there was a discarded Cat 1100 turbo somewhere in the meadows they saw and, also a T3 174 just below the cabin! Apparently the 174 got to much bite and went right over on the rider, the sled then doing endo's all the way down the slope, long enough that his buddy got his phone out and video'd it all, cool! That and then I lent a hand to put a rear suspension back together while halfway down the trail, more nice Albertan's, got them fixed up and pointed back down hill. Oh, and the barbecued ribs in the Muff Pot were spectacular! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Shane5.jpgA planned trip into Blue turned into a bit of a cluster F$#@. I was taking up some fellas from Saskatchewan, Shane, Tyler and Kyle, they hadn't sled in Sicamous before. As you can see by the pics it was more than an adventure which tied us up for most of the day (no, I had nothing to do with it and was safely parked at 2km). The road was slicker than snot and apparently a little to slick for the big tires on Shane's truck and everything went for a dump. We didn't start heading up the hill until after 1300 and then the boys took the turn to Owl's instead of Blue so that was another "flicker" in the plan. Anyways, we did get in some sledding, and Shane got into a tree that was big enough to crater the front of his sled, the tree not losing a flake of snow in the process. It was nearly dark by the time we made it back down, but we did make it! The snow was actually pretty darned good at Owl's, some fresh that had settled, 8" or so, and we had some fun pulling the hills off Morton Lk and a few other spots, along with some tree running and stuff, the boys had a great time, even with the old guy along! The hill up to 2km is now sanded, I gave Unc Gord heck for that, he was with us the whole time we were getting the truck straightened out. He said that if he finds out who the grooming manager is he'll be tearing him a new one, atta boy Gord! More snow on the way, I think it could be a decent couple days up there before the cold snap hits us on Monday! Sherm (Dec 26)

 

[Shermanator]

I just read about a fatal sled accident over on Hunter's yesterday. It kinda reminded me when we were up Owl's just the other day and we helped a 10 year old get his 600 Poo unstuck off a steep hill. No parents/adults around whatsoever. We got the sled out and had to even start it for the little guy, then his folks showed up about 10 minutes later. Not a thank you from any of them, the little guy could have been pinned under the sled or caught in a slide, amazing what parents do now adays.

Here's the link to the accident:http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/129703/Snowmobile-accident-kills-teen#.VKG0QoecBNI.mailto

 

[BC_mtn_rider]

Wow, that's brutal...you should have ripped those parents a new one. The conditions are bad enough as it is...did he even have an airbag on?

 

[BC_mtn_rider]

Deepest condolences to the family of the teenage boy from Salmon Arm.

 

[Shermanator]

I'm not sure why there aren't more Sicamous reports on this thread, they seem to have migrated to the "other" thread but whatever, I'll stick to this one. Did a trip up to Blue Lk this AM, first one on the newly groomed trail I might add! Pretty skimpy on the snow for the first 1.5 km, the groomer cleats dug right to the dirt. Once past that though she was a autobahn hwy, thank's groomer guys! Nice ride all the way in to Blue, somewhat disappointed by the lack of snow though, only 3-4" of fresh and the place was really tracked out. I took the top trail over to Brown Pants, some real nice areas that hadn't been touched but zero vis along with flat light made it a "no go" area for a solo rider. So, I backtracked, took the trail down to Blue Lk, past 200HP Hill and tried that side, again, pretty much zero vis and again all tracked out. The snow that I could find was of the hero variety, unreal traction/hookup, hard to keep the front wheels down! From there I had a peek at Cummings Lk, great spot for families if they go up there, hang a left right at the main turn by the Blue Lake Cabin sign. I tried to go out the backside of the lake but again, lack of snow and some pretty decent sized logs prevented a trail through that area yet. Back down the trail which had been almost destroyed past the Owl's turnoff, and after only 58 sleds/snow bikes. I did a rant in the general snowmobiling section about the trails and the whiners, they just don't seem to want to go away, Unc Gord is going to deal with one of them, spoke to him at the bottom of the hill. Pretty nice day up there even though it was snowing and a lack of snow, I still like the trail ride and fresh air, and still made it home in time to watch the Junior Hockey playoffs! Sherm

 

[insanity]

Heading up too your town on sunday the 11th for a couple days of riding. Appreciate the updates!

 

[bjd68]

Keep the updates coming heading that way on the 11th sunday! thanks!

 

[Shermanator]

Thank god somebody actually reads these things, I thought the website had gone under for Sicamous! Headed up tomorrow, will let you know! Sherm

 

[insanity]

Please tell me you guys don't have the same inversion we do down here. Rode Whistler today and it was crap. All the snow must have gotten rained on then froze. Was like spring riding..................

 

[Shermanator]

After talking with a few guys on this site "we" decided to meet up and head up the hill to either Blue or Owl's. I can only assume that "they" saw my grey hair when I was in the parking lot and decided not to go up with me as no one showed up, or at least no one that I was aware of. 0900 came and went and then so did I! A beautifully groomed trail courtesy of Glenn, and by the way, he spent 20 hrs on the trails and parking lot last night, that's some chunk of work to do!
I headed to Blue again, heard about the tumultuous amounts of snow up there and you know, they were almost right! Very foggy in and around the cabin but once you dropped down below that to the lake there was a ton of snow, although someone had already made a mess of it! But, there were still tons of areas to play in, once again "hero snow", hookup's were unreal and the XM really shines in these conditions. I played around here for a bit and then headed across the lake, cut a new trail off of 200hp to get up the hill, and, not a sled track around! The only unfortunate thing again, and that happens when you head up early, was the fog, it really settled in on the backside, but I was still able to make it up and over to Browns Pants. Once again, not a single track over on this side, so whoever has the good fortune to go over there will have some amazing riding, when there's no fog! I trudged my way back over the top trail and then dropped down to the cabin and up over to the Meadow's, pretty torn up here too but if you went down far enough there was again untouched snow. Back to the cabin area, a couple more pulls to finish toasting the sandy and then headed to Cummings Lk for lunch and then home, great conditions out there right now, although there is some avy sluffing in areas.
On a more somber note, for you long time Sicamous residents, we lost a great friend of ours last night, Ted Whitehead passed away at the age of 86, he will be truly missed by family and the Mrs. and I, he was a great friend and neighbor. Today's ride was kinda for him, he always used to come over when I was loading the sled and would say "What a waste of fu*&^%@ time and money, bunch of idiots up racing around in the snow, people with nothing more productive to do with their lives!", then he'd walk away! I of course would yell some expurlitives at him and he would just smile and wave his cane at me, what a guy! Pleasant journey Ted......Sherm

 

[kanedog]

I'd rather ride with a gray hair than someone with a monster hat on sideways, baggy pants and sled with a wrap anyday!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shermanator]

Thanks kanedog! They used to call us "grey's on trays" when we started snowboarding so I'm not sure what they call us now on sleds! Sherm