We rode the flattops sat. and had great snow.We are always up here but have a problem with grooming operations. I do understand why they plow the sow from the road so that we may access the snow better but when you have 50 sleds on the hill and you take the groomer and plow snow off the road on sat leaving all of us to travel 2 miles of nothing but gravel and mud this is stupid.
flattops
- Thread starter redhawk24
- Start date
C
CO_MapMaker
Well-known member
We were wondering the same thing, the guy driving the groomer looked a little grumpy, tried to get his attention and he ignored us. Why would you plow a road when you know a bunch of sledders were up on top?? Especially when you are a groomer for a snowmobile club, makes no sense!!
That ride back sucked, especially with a hurt foot trying to get back to the truck and waiting for the temp light on the sled to go back off!! Snow was good though.
That ride back sucked, especially with a hurt foot trying to get back to the truck and waiting for the temp light on the sled to go back off!! Snow was good though.
Where did they plow? COffeePot? Still parking at 6 mi and they plowed the road up from there while y'all were up on the hill?
C
CO_MapMaker
Well-known member
Yes, coffeepot, they scraped the snow from 6 mile up on Saturday, and there was a lot of trucks in the lot. I would imagine there was a lot of "WTF?" 's on the ride down.
B
beer gut
Well-known member
My brother and I joined the Flattoppers a few years ago; my brother volunteered to run the groomer for them. The guy said that they only had two guys that they'd allow to run it. My brother has tried to give them a couple tips over the last few years, and he was told that it was impossible to do what he said. My brother ran a groomer at Vail Mountain for 8 or 9 years (Operator of the Year one year), I think he knows what he's talking about...
I have not seen the trail even groomed this year at all sounds like they are a couple of old grumpy men that dont take advise. They plowed the snow off a couple of weeks ago when we were up to and had to run the lower trail with no snow mud.You would think they should have waited till mid week or monday to do this even later with snow forecaster all week.
Redhawk24….
It is indeed unfortunate your riding experience on the flattops ended in this fashion but before people diss on the groomer, which by the way is a very good friend of mine and an outstanding human being (not a grumpy old man) and…..”he has forgotten more than most know about groomer operations” and especially the Coffee Pot Road. I do not know how often you access the Flattops on Coffee Pot but your comment about the number of times the road has been groomed is completely inaccurate. My wife and I ride the Flattops weekly from Coffee Pot are grateful to have the devotion that is given to this operation. I personally ride with the groomer, my wife and I help maintain and set poles, take the poles down, pick up trash along the road and in the parking lots, assist in maintaining the equipment and participate in the advocacy of maintaining access to this area for future generations. I really take it to heart when some one complains in this fashion. If you were unhappy with the timing of the grooming simply state this fact and do not belittle someone or a group that you have no factual data on. This person saved my life two weeks ago when I broke my leg 1 mile west of Carbonate, I am forever indebted to him for this act of kindness, he made sure that I got out safely (via Helicopter) and then went up the next day and rode my sled down the mountain.
My suggestion in the future when you are planning a trip to the Flattops via the Coffee Pot Road is to contact a club member such as myself or log onto Colorado Sled City and personally contact the club; this may result in a bit of information that could make your experience better.
We welcome new members any time, and all clubs not just the Flatoppers need members; read other threads such as ones posted by Bugito with the Holy Cross Powder Hounds, participate in the area you enjoy and show your support. Please recognize numbers (memberships) can also help in the future with potential closures of areas. Believe it or not this area has been a topic recently so pulling together rather than complaining would serve a better use of time. Ironically if there were 50 cars in this parking lot (I do not dispute this because I was not there) how many of them are Members and or are members of CSA, my bet is less that ½ of these vehicles have membership to either.
It is indeed unfortunate your riding experience on the flattops ended in this fashion but before people diss on the groomer, which by the way is a very good friend of mine and an outstanding human being (not a grumpy old man) and…..”he has forgotten more than most know about groomer operations” and especially the Coffee Pot Road. I do not know how often you access the Flattops on Coffee Pot but your comment about the number of times the road has been groomed is completely inaccurate. My wife and I ride the Flattops weekly from Coffee Pot are grateful to have the devotion that is given to this operation. I personally ride with the groomer, my wife and I help maintain and set poles, take the poles down, pick up trash along the road and in the parking lots, assist in maintaining the equipment and participate in the advocacy of maintaining access to this area for future generations. I really take it to heart when some one complains in this fashion. If you were unhappy with the timing of the grooming simply state this fact and do not belittle someone or a group that you have no factual data on. This person saved my life two weeks ago when I broke my leg 1 mile west of Carbonate, I am forever indebted to him for this act of kindness, he made sure that I got out safely (via Helicopter) and then went up the next day and rode my sled down the mountain.
My suggestion in the future when you are planning a trip to the Flattops via the Coffee Pot Road is to contact a club member such as myself or log onto Colorado Sled City and personally contact the club; this may result in a bit of information that could make your experience better.
We welcome new members any time, and all clubs not just the Flatoppers need members; read other threads such as ones posted by Bugito with the Holy Cross Powder Hounds, participate in the area you enjoy and show your support. Please recognize numbers (memberships) can also help in the future with potential closures of areas. Believe it or not this area has been a topic recently so pulling together rather than complaining would serve a better use of time. Ironically if there were 50 cars in this parking lot (I do not dispute this because I was not there) how many of them are Members and or are members of CSA, my bet is less that ½ of these vehicles have membership to either.
I did not mean to dis anyone person and I am a member of csa and holy cross.I do ride flattops weekly and the trail up has been maintained but the trail out in witch my friends wife's use has not been groomed to often , not that i personally use the trail. There were not fifty trucks but there where close to 30 or more sleds that had to run the dirt 2 miles. I have been on your my space and could not navigate to any resent post of any kind. We do appreciate what is done. We had a sled brake last year and the operator did help out and we are thankful. We just think that the clearing of the snow jump the gun a little.
I was up there with 5 other buddies and experienced the same thing. However, as thin as the snow was when we rode up at 9:30 am it was obvious there would be little if any snow by the time we came down. When I saw the groomer tracks I thought...oh crap...its a long way from the truck and then I thought...coool, next week maybe we can drive the trucks up to where the snow is good. Oh and i am a memer of the flattoppers club. The previous week we parked on the side of the road at about mile 7.
I
ItDoAble
Well-known member
FYI...
Coffee Pot Road has been plowed out up to about the 9.5 mile + - point, turning large trailers around can be dicey right now. There is a large hairpin corner that most trailers can be turned around, but past that hair pin about 1 mile or so there is a large drift that is tough to maintain daily with the groomer, driving past this hair pin would be sketchy....I heard there were a couple of rigs stuck badly the other day in this area. It used to be that you could park at the top of the hill (approximately 10.5 miles) across from a private entrance (red gate, American Flag, antlers on each side of the gate) but this is actually private property and it is no longer plowed. Hopefully more people that go up Coffee Pot will realize parking this time of year is difficult and will allow the only place to turn around a place not to park..... Wish I could go but broken leg needs to heal until the season ends, snow is supposed to be epic.....Have fun who ever can go. Post Pictures so I can see what I am missing....
Coffee Pot Road has been plowed out up to about the 9.5 mile + - point, turning large trailers around can be dicey right now. There is a large hairpin corner that most trailers can be turned around, but past that hair pin about 1 mile or so there is a large drift that is tough to maintain daily with the groomer, driving past this hair pin would be sketchy....I heard there were a couple of rigs stuck badly the other day in this area. It used to be that you could park at the top of the hill (approximately 10.5 miles) across from a private entrance (red gate, American Flag, antlers on each side of the gate) but this is actually private property and it is no longer plowed. Hopefully more people that go up Coffee Pot will realize parking this time of year is difficult and will allow the only place to turn around a place not to park..... Wish I could go but broken leg needs to heal until the season ends, snow is supposed to be epic.....Have fun who ever can go. Post Pictures so I can see what I am missing....
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