Sicamous Snow 2014-2015

[Shermanator]

rightsideup, were you and I riding together today???? LOL Yes, rightsideup and I did a trip up to Blue Lk area, he hadn't been around the lake so I gave the grandeoso tour! The trail up was great, thanks groomers, and we had a plentiful dose of sunshine all day, pretty spanky weather up top. We went across Blue Lk first, pretty beat up below the cabin, over to 911 but didn't drop down, not enough snow yet for this cowboy. We donked around in the meadows around the Sugar Loaf turnoff, then went over to Brown Pants and flogged that area, again, quite a few sleds had been through and it was really rutted up. As rightsideup mentioned, there was the odd path of untouched snow that we touched, so don't bother going there now! From BP we headed back to the cabin and then up and over to the meadows, again, pretty beat up, quite a few deep creek holes still around so beware. That and then a trip down to Cummings Lk to show rightsideup the trail and we called it a day! We definitely need a real good dump of snow, good to meet you Mark, we'll get up again when we can get more snow and you can really challenge that 174! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

I just thought it fair to warn the "whiners" not to come to Sicamous for sledding, we are supposed to get a dump of snow tonight and over the weekend, stay away, it won't be any good!! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Another trip up to Blue, this time with new comer Adam aka "treeclimber", made the trip all the way from Penticton with his new T3 174! Mark, aka "rightsideup" also joined us on his 174, that made me the "shorty" in the group with my paltry 163, boo hoo! We made a quick stop at the cabin and then went below it and across Blue Lk and over to 911. Pretty foggy everywhere we went and not as much snow as I had hoped, and in fact I think we got more down in Sicamous than up top! With that said, 4-6" was the max for new snow but it did fill in a few of the ruts. We popped in and out of meadows towards 911 and then made the mistake of going down in an area that was pretty much untouched for some time, and it was a bit of an ugly climb back out, just above 911. Well, the little 163 catwalked out but treeclimbers 174 kinda ended up planted in a stand of trees just above the main climb. It took some time to get the big tractor back on its wheels and pointed downhill again but no damage done and our lungs were cleared out from the work. I unfortunately did not get a pic of it simply because I was to lazy to walk back up to where my sled was to get my camera.
I did however get a picture of "someone" in our group of 3, and it wasn't me, and it wasn't Adam, but I'm not gonna say who it was, that had some problems on the bunny hill at the cabin with his 174. I'm thinking of doing a letter to BRP and request a longer track be put into production for 2016!! We flipped through the meadows a bit and got semi lost in the fog/snow and then called it a day, quick stop at Cummings and then back to the lot, great ride guys, thanks, good to meet you Adam, we'll keep in touch! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

A amazing day out on Blue with "the Alberta boys" today, what a hoot! Although the recent snow/rain we had down below didn't seem to amount to much at the cabin, there was in fact enough to cover up any old tracks and even made the "cabin hills" fun to track up. Dropping below the cabin the snow seemed to stack up a bit more, and again, untracked snow on every hill had the boys smiling at every turn and hill they pulled, and we even got stuck! Its pretty bad when my 163 x 2.5 is the smallest track on the hill, and the long 174's today showed where they really shine, great move by BRP. We then moved across the lake and the boys played on 200HP for a bit, over to 911 and more messing stuff up, and then finally a trip to the bottom of Brown Pants, and it was even deeper down there! OK, so I had one problem in a creek bed that took all 5 of us to get Mr. Orange out, it wasn't really stuck that bad regardless what picture Shaun posts! I think by the time we called it a day and got back to the parking lot at dark, not only was I spent, I think the boys were hurting a bit as well, and that's a good thing! Thanks for a great day out there guys, I'd sled with you again anywhere and anytime. Its not very often you can get 5 "strangers" put on sleds and everything just clicks perfectly. We all kept an eye on each other, when "someone" got stuck help was there to get you out, and we all joked and laughed the entire day, it was pretty damned nice! You guys have a good time at Kuster's (which will be tough to do I'm sure! LOL) and for sure give me a shout when your back this way, it'd be a pleasure to join up with you again. Sherm

 

[smittys800]

Anybody Know Rob from Sicamous,
I think he lives on the road to Hunters range. Been tryin to look him up for a few years now.
If ya know him, please tell him Smitty is lookin for him. Nothing serious

 

[Shermanator]

Get hold of "takethebounce" on Snow and Mud, he knows him and we're supposed to be sledding tomorrow with him....Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Rode Blue Lk with Mark and a couple of new acquaintance's to me, Dan and Rob. Really socked in at the cabin, about 4" of fresh overnight but snowing like a bugger the entire time we were there! I'm just guessing that if it keeps up there'll be another 6-10" by tomorrow if not more. We headed to the backside again, still really socked in but Dan and Rob managed to find the deep stuff in the tree's around 200HP. We then did a trip to some areas not that far from the cabin that had epic deep snow and no tracks, pretty nice! I of course had to include a couple of pics of the boys and some problems they had. Great to meet up with you two and we'll definitely team up together again, but hopefully when the weather is better! I also met Brian and Greg at the cabin and on the way down, thanks for the invite for the frosty pop boys, I will definitely take you up on that next time. I'm guessing tomorrow AM is gonna be the best time to get up there, before that big rain storm hits, you guys have fun up there! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

So, Mark and I did a "trail ride" up around Owl's, I honestly didn't expect much else than what we found. Lets see, the word I'm looking for.....................................................................brutal? Ya, that'll work, everything and everywhere was tracked out and it was even tough to find patches of snow to cool the sleds off, that's how bad it was, that and ride with the scratchers down all day. Up around Eco, through the Down and Out trail and then over to Morton Lk.
Hey, the trail up was great though ,good job groomer guys! She's whooped at the bottom but you can't expect anything else with such warm temps, the rest of the trail was pristine. Another 3' of snow would certainly perk things up!! On a positive note, 70km travelled, the gas gauge didn't even move from the top, gotta like Ski Doo! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Snowing like a bugger here, has been almost all day, that and two days of precip on the way so we might get lucky up top! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

I did a quick trip up to Blue/Cummings Lk this AM, the goal was to see if in fact there were any fish in Cummings! I did a quick trip to the cabin and dropped down the back, not much new snow in there. I also dropped into "Marks Hole" on the way down the hill, Dan and Rob know about that one! Still pretty humpy in the tree's, need another foot of fresh to cover it up.
At Cummings I did manage to get a few holes drilled but lack of bites made me wander off into the tree's on the sled, no bites as far as I know! There was 4-6" of fresh snow this morning, not enough to cover some of the big ruts left from the last thaw we had, but its a start. Like the hired girl says, 4" is better than nothing! I met a couple of other sledders while fishing, Billdozer "et al" (only because I forgot your name already!) stopped by a couple times, I'll see you two and "Brianne" tomorrow morning for a ride out the backside!
Big snow on the way down right at the Owl's turnoff, coming down pretty good and rain when I got to the bottom. A note on the grooming job last night, el perfecto! You can tell a good groom job by the hairpin corners and this AM (I was the first on the trail!) were absolutely perfect, all filled in and nice and flat, great job groomer guy! Off to Blue tomorrow..........Sherm

 

[classic-indy]

How was the snow today? Worth driving up from kelowna?

 

[Shermanator]

I haven't been out for a bit now, weather sucks around here, +7 right now and more rain in forecast, monsooned yesterday. From reports on other site's there's snow but its already turned to slush up top, freezing levels 2000m and even higher, not good right now....Sherm

 

[smokindave]

I haven't been out for a bit now, weather sucks around here, +7 right now and more rain in forecast, monsooned yesterday. From reports on other site's there's snow but its already turned to slush up top, freezing levels 2000m and even higher, not good right now....Sherm

Thanks for the update Sherm.I am hoping to be able to sled into Queest Village to the cabin someday soon.
Any idea on conditions thata way?
Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shermanator]

I could only guess that its not different than the other hills, although if they're unloading at 6km still one wouldn't have to ride the sled in the dirt to get to the snow! I'm gonna try to get to Queest on Tuesday, I'll let you know..Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Just thought I'd update you out-of-towners, its been raining like a bastard all night and still is, +6 to boot, it just plain sucks! Sherm

 

[Shermanator]

Still raining!

 

[fastrack0]

snowing at the top?

 

[Shermanator]

One of the locals was up a couple days ago, said they had a foot of fresh but it was pretty soupy! Sherm

 

[sicamous]

Staging Area Update:

I spoke with the Grooming Manager tonight and got the following info:

Owlhead: Parking Lot is bare and not much coverage up to 1.75k. They have cleared off the snow down to ice the remainder of the way to the 2.25k parking area which is plowed. Trailers won't get up there, however, trucks with decks may travel up to 2.25k if they have chains (The annual ladies ride is on Saturday so vehicles may not be allowed up to 2.25k till after the ladies ride is on its way - check with the collector)

Queest: Road bare up to the 6.5k lot - pickups only (no trailers). Some bare patches to 8k then good after that.

Eagle Pass: Leaving from the bottom lot. Watch for open water runs.

Blue Lake: The blue lake road is open after logging all winter. I drove up the road Wednesday and it was bare to about 17.5k. You should be able to unload by about 18k on any wide spot. Remember not to block the road where you park. Do not take trailers up. There will be a collector at the bottom to give instructions.

check out the latest conditions at www.sledsicamous.com

 

[fastrack0]

was up at eagle yesterday. Raining at the top. not good riding at all, very wet snow.