S
Sasksummit
Member
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Valemount - Mcbride 08/09
- Thread starter steveo10
- Start date
Well we woke up this morning and low and behold there was about 8 inches of snow on the ground........by noon there was close to 10 inches and its been snowing on and off since then.......should be a good week for anyone coming to sled......just and update for those interested.....Boadie, C/O Willow Burl Cabins.
Just checked out of willow burl this morning after a 3 day stay. Wow simply a beautiful place to stay, would highly reccomend them to anyone looking for a clean, gorgeous, cozy place to stay with all the amenities and a reasonable price. A+.
I'm not sure when they plan on grooming the trail to clemina but that is the most disgusting trail I have ridden in a long time. 18km of absolute torture. There is plenty of snow to groom clemina but still no groomer. I'll ride elsewhere till they decide to fire up that snow cat.
I'm not sure when they plan on grooming the trail to clemina but that is the most disgusting trail I have ridden in a long time. 18km of absolute torture. There is plenty of snow to groom clemina but still no groomer. I'll ride elsewhere till they decide to fire up that snow cat.
I wouldn't feel bad about being a narc on this Jacka$$, actions like this need to be reported, call the cops, if he has a legitimate business file a complaint with the BBB,report him to all the agencies involved, in my books actions like this make him the enemy. He's contributing nothing to the sport. We'll lose a riding area, and he'll just move to another untill we lose that one too!
valemount
just got back from a 3 day sled trip this weekend. Willow burl cabins are awesome for sledders, they even have a dry room set up for all your gear, with dehumidifier and boot dryers all set up in a separate building. as far as valemount, they should be embarrassed to capture all the money from us sledders and deliver us the worst trails i have ever seen. its understandable not grooming allan creek, (icy hills, rocks, etc) and millage(not enough snow to groom properly) leaving us only clemina to sled at which was the most sad excuse of a trail i have ever seen. 17k of 15km/hour stand up only beat the crap out of yourself and sled kinda trail. no excuse not to groom this one.
millage was great sledding but long trail and getting worse. spent 2 hours dragging sleds up creek banks at one creek.
allan creek has very icy switchbacks and very risky if you do make it up, which takes hours of yarding sleds up icy hills. and if you do make it up, lookout skating down. heard one guy broke a femur coming down, not sure on the details.
I estimated well over a hundred sleds at clemina, probably close to two hundred total over the weekend and if they are like me, they dropped about $600-$1000 each in valemount over the weekend. And they as a community should be ashamed to take that money and offer trails like that. We would understand if they weren't groomable, but there was tons of snow for grooming clemina!
mcbride was grooming this weekend and will make that our next trip, Valemount doesn't deserve our money till they clean up their act.
Snow was great, but not worth the trail ride. wow, cant explain how bad it really was and i've been on really bad trails before.
just got back from a 3 day sled trip this weekend. Willow burl cabins are awesome for sledders, they even have a dry room set up for all your gear, with dehumidifier and boot dryers all set up in a separate building. as far as valemount, they should be embarrassed to capture all the money from us sledders and deliver us the worst trails i have ever seen. its understandable not grooming allan creek, (icy hills, rocks, etc) and millage(not enough snow to groom properly) leaving us only clemina to sled at which was the most sad excuse of a trail i have ever seen. 17k of 15km/hour stand up only beat the crap out of yourself and sled kinda trail. no excuse not to groom this one.
millage was great sledding but long trail and getting worse. spent 2 hours dragging sleds up creek banks at one creek.
allan creek has very icy switchbacks and very risky if you do make it up, which takes hours of yarding sleds up icy hills. and if you do make it up, lookout skating down. heard one guy broke a femur coming down, not sure on the details.
I estimated well over a hundred sleds at clemina, probably close to two hundred total over the weekend and if they are like me, they dropped about $600-$1000 each in valemount over the weekend. And they as a community should be ashamed to take that money and offer trails like that. We would understand if they weren't groomable, but there was tons of snow for grooming clemina!
mcbride was grooming this weekend and will make that our next trip, Valemount doesn't deserve our money till they clean up their act.
Snow was great, but not worth the trail ride. wow, cant explain how bad it really was and i've been on really bad trails before.
snow
we were in really nice powder, about 2-4 feet in places, but rocks are a huge problem. out of the 10 sleds in our group, 1 bent a arm, one broken secondary, some plastic damage, bent trailing arm, and alot of people looking for missing lugs on tracks. lol
we were in really nice powder, about 2-4 feet in places, but rocks are a huge problem. out of the 10 sleds in our group, 1 bent a arm, one broken secondary, some plastic damage, bent trailing arm, and alot of people looking for missing lugs on tracks. lol
M
maxwellzx
Active member
the owner of said groomers was talking to me and made a very good point
they are called snowcats.. not rock cats
clemina trail may apear to have enough snow but if you see even one rock or patch of dirt which i did down low because i rode that trail last weekend. that means there is not enough snow. the damage one rock can cause to a groomer is not worth the risk for the owner.
they are called snowcats.. not rock cats
clemina trail may apear to have enough snow but if you see even one rock or patch of dirt which i did down low because i rode that trail last weekend. that means there is not enough snow. the damage one rock can cause to a groomer is not worth the risk for the owner.
Email sent to VARDA
Varda,
Your community should be embarrassed and ashamed of yourselves for taking all of the sledding money over the weekend and in return we get the worst trails i have ever seen. Your trail conditions this weekend were horrible and there is no excuse for it. Understandable that allan and chappel would be ungroomable, and almost impossible to get to on sleds with the icy hills and tough creek crossings. (I would never ask you to risk hurting an expensive groomer in any way) which leaves the majority of sledders riding clemina which is easily groomable with plenty of snow on the trail. Very dissapointed with varda, it is a coin flip whether to go to Mcbride or Valemount for everyone east of you, be it Edmonton, Edson, Hinton, Jasper, etc........... I believe it would benefit your town ten-fold to make the trail experience more acceptable, after all, we all drive a long way to ride the mountains, the trail shouldn't be the reason we choose Mcbride over Valemount. And I for one have no issues paying to ride a good trail.
On a brighter note, your lodgings, facilities, and hospitality within the town and surrounding cabins are excellent and for those reasons will be back for more rides to Valemount in the future. But will phone ahead for grooming conditions before we choose whether to spend our money in Valemount or Mcbride.
I believe this to be the opinion of nearly everyone we met at clemina over the weekend, if it is not, please accept my apologies.
If you have a good reason for not grooming clemina, I'd love to hear it.
call me anytime
Tyler Nycz
Edson Ab.
780-725-1310
Varda,
Your community should be embarrassed and ashamed of yourselves for taking all of the sledding money over the weekend and in return we get the worst trails i have ever seen. Your trail conditions this weekend were horrible and there is no excuse for it. Understandable that allan and chappel would be ungroomable, and almost impossible to get to on sleds with the icy hills and tough creek crossings. (I would never ask you to risk hurting an expensive groomer in any way) which leaves the majority of sledders riding clemina which is easily groomable with plenty of snow on the trail. Very dissapointed with varda, it is a coin flip whether to go to Mcbride or Valemount for everyone east of you, be it Edmonton, Edson, Hinton, Jasper, etc........... I believe it would benefit your town ten-fold to make the trail experience more acceptable, after all, we all drive a long way to ride the mountains, the trail shouldn't be the reason we choose Mcbride over Valemount. And I for one have no issues paying to ride a good trail.
On a brighter note, your lodgings, facilities, and hospitality within the town and surrounding cabins are excellent and for those reasons will be back for more rides to Valemount in the future. But will phone ahead for grooming conditions before we choose whether to spend our money in Valemount or Mcbride.
I believe this to be the opinion of nearly everyone we met at clemina over the weekend, if it is not, please accept my apologies.
If you have a good reason for not grooming clemina, I'd love to hear it.
call me anytime
Tyler Nycz
Edson Ab.
780-725-1310
yes, i understand they are not rock cats
There was eight km of road which was bladed to construction site earlier on, with good road and snow cover for miles beyond. like i said, i would never want or ask anyone to hurt their expensive machines for my benefit.
There was eight km of road which was bladed to construction site earlier on, with good road and snow cover for miles beyond. like i said, i would never want or ask anyone to hurt their expensive machines for my benefit.
on the bright side no break n enters to report in vale at least?
maybe a little harsh,
I own equipment and have experience with snow cats, and yes they are weakly built, and touch anything with the blade and your welding for a day. No fun and not cheap, i know. But from the towns point of view i would think taking a very low risk of hurting the machine by dragging even a tire float to level off the bumps and fill the troughs, leaving the blade up high for early in the year wouldn't be too much to ask. Works very effectively in the oilpatch, but I have no experience with mountain trails so sorry if i just dont understand the risks completely.
If you feel a tire float would be a worth trying, i would be willing to build you one and donate it to your town. I have built four in the past, and tire weight, design (flat edge ones in front row and rounded edges in back), and width are important to level things off and not push snow to the outer edges and keep it within the trail.
tyler
I own equipment and have experience with snow cats, and yes they are weakly built, and touch anything with the blade and your welding for a day. No fun and not cheap, i know. But from the towns point of view i would think taking a very low risk of hurting the machine by dragging even a tire float to level off the bumps and fill the troughs, leaving the blade up high for early in the year wouldn't be too much to ask. Works very effectively in the oilpatch, but I have no experience with mountain trails so sorry if i just dont understand the risks completely.
If you feel a tire float would be a worth trying, i would be willing to build you one and donate it to your town. I have built four in the past, and tire weight, design (flat edge ones in front row and rounded edges in back), and width are important to level things off and not push snow to the outer edges and keep it within the trail.
tyler
L
ledoo
Member
lots o snow up allen creek and it was snowing all weekend up top. we had to drive back sunday morning and i was very sad 'cause there was 4 or 5 inchs of fresh snow in the parking lot of the hotel and it was coming down hard. there will be lots of snow @ allen for sure. and it was socked in so if you could get to the premier range it'll be awsome (for this time of year) still some rocks and stuff but there's always risk right? it is the mountains. as for the trail up was there the last 2 weekends had rookies both weekends and maybe 5 or 10 min extra to get up. but the icy switchbacks did keep the sledder volume down up top
darn!
we were at allan friday morning, about 35 sledders got all suited up, unloaded, and gave up trying to climb one icy switchback. came back and loaded up and went to clemina. we talked with a group of about 6 very experienced riders that had came back down and would have never turned back if it was possible on friday (this was about 10am). (maybe first few sleds on new snow would have made it early on) they added that a few sleds had ignored the varda block and took the new trail and made it on top. good to hear you made it up, the new snow must have helped friday night.
we were at allan friday morning, about 35 sledders got all suited up, unloaded, and gave up trying to climb one icy switchback. came back and loaded up and went to clemina. we talked with a group of about 6 very experienced riders that had came back down and would have never turned back if it was possible on friday (this was about 10am). (maybe first few sleds on new snow would have made it early on) they added that a few sleds had ignored the varda block and took the new trail and made it on top. good to hear you made it up, the new snow must have helped friday night.
yeah we were up there friday and saturday and some of the switchbacks were icy, but not impossible. hopefully the snow comes down hard and they can start grooming soon!
Another story about guys going up the closed trail.
Im 8 hours away and I shake my head.
Im 8 hours away and I shake my head.
L
ledoo
Member
when we went up (allen creek friday) there was a bunch of guys fighting with the fist old trail. turn left @ snow fence travel a little ways and there's another y in the trail, that particular group was going to the right of that y we went around a guy to the left he saw us go and we didn't come back personally i would have followed. used that same trail saturday too. wuold definately have gone no place else sunday if we didn't have to head back. and as for the guy that broke his leg, unless there were 2 we found an abandoned polaris dragon and acouple hours later a couple guys doubled in and picked it up told us the guy drove into a creek bed and broke his leg got choppered out. that sled was halfway to the premier range not on the trail.
one other thing we did not cross the snow fence and when we came back down saturday it was either still up or back up.
one other thing we did not cross the snow fence and when we came back down saturday it was either still up or back up.
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Thanks to all the edson sledders for the positive reps.......glad you enjoyed your cabins but sad to hear the trails werent so good for you......we did end up getting about 10 inches of snow the day you headed out but that didnt help you guys much .......Thanks again and happy to hear you liked the place........Have a great day, Boadie C/O Willow Burl Cabins.
.......glad you enjoyed your cabins but sad to hear the trails werent so good for you......we did end up getting about 10 inches of snow the day you headed out but that didnt help you guys much .......Thanks again and happy to hear you liked the place........Have a great day, Boadie C/O Willow Burl Cabins.I'm with upnover on this one. I rode the trail twice, very slowly (because going fast was impossible) and the only rock I seen was within a 1/2km of the parking lot(where you go over the bank onto the road). IMHO the trail was groomable.
While where on this topic why doesen't the valemount grommer pull a drag? Is the trail really too steep even if he only puts the drag down while on the down pass? The trails that are dragged are always head and shoulders above the rest. Plus they would only need half the grooming if this were done, saving time, fuel and hours on the machine.
While where on this topic why doesen't the valemount grommer pull a drag? Is the trail really too steep even if he only puts the drag down while on the down pass? The trails that are dragged are always head and shoulders above the rest. Plus they would only need half the grooming if this were done, saving time, fuel and hours on the machine.
like i said
i never once said it was you that used the new trail, and i got the broken leg thing second hand from another group of sledders, which is why i said i didn't know the details, but thanks for clearin that up.
The groups that turned back must not have known about the other old trail. darnit, we should have went in! would have saved a whole lot of hurt. lol
i never once said it was you that used the new trail, and i got the broken leg thing second hand from another group of sledders, which is why i said i didn't know the details, but thanks for clearin that up.
The groups that turned back must not have known about the other old trail. darnit, we should have went in! would have saved a whole lot of hurt. lol
We rode Clemina saturday. What a waste of time. The trail up was brutal, and there was less snow than at Renshaw 2 weeks prior. we packed up and went to Renshaw sunday, found tons of bottomless, deep powder. Much better snow than was down Clemina. Trail up there was rough too, but not to the extent of Clemina, and now with them grooming McBride as we speak, ill continue to stick to McBride for sure now.
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