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good morning !!! back from tq 5 ....when i left , it was -6c.....snow and windy most of the time... deer are back on the trail in town !!! jean-guy

Oops! Sandi it is after 6:00 am and we are still in bed. I know we are on vacation. Slow down, no hurry today. Breakfast with Jay and Christina. They trailered to Valinuet yesterday and said it was pretty good. Sounds good to me. We will head to the north for today's ride. Note: I bought the toolbox LinQ set up. Guess what. It doesn't fit with the fuel caddy. I'm going to have to ask the dealer. Maybe I'll get a different storage unit. We are on the sleds and stop at the Ulltramar to fill up. Off we go. The spur hasn't been groomed in awhile. Turn right on 83 and this is good. Turn right on 367 heading towards the two bridges. Not bad for this early in the season. Some of the corners have a little snirt. A few weeds sticking up thru the trail but overall, better than I thought it would be. I can smell the paint burning off the exhaust. That new sled smell. Sandi is leading so she doesn't have to put up with the stink. We cross the two bridges and turn right on 134, aka Pickle Park. Oh this is bad. I thought the groomer map had this as being groomed recently. Maybe 10 days ago. We go past the first water tower and turn right leaving the road and staying on the trail. This is pretty poor too. Winding around thru the woods the trail comes back to the road by the second tower. Sandi, stay on the old road. Everyone else has run the road. I don't think the trail has seen the groomer in a long time. The road is good. We turn at the cemetery and this is good too. Along the power lines it gets rough again and we get to the junction with 93. We stay straight on 134. This was groomed. Finally, the groomer map is telling the truth. Easy riding up to 328. Right to St David and top off the tanks. We have only been 40 miles but I know St David is open and this will give us enough gas for the day. Staying on 328 a few more miles and onto 476 to Onatchiway. The lower half of 476 is twisty and today it is also bumpy. As we get further along 476 straightens out some and gets smoother. The last few miles into Onatchiway gets rough again. Wow! 12:45 and the place is packed. I was hoping everyone would be over on Mont Valin but they had the same idea as us. There must be 60 - 70 sleds here. Trucks and trailers are lined up down each side of the road. Sandi finds us a pair of seats in the corner. This is fine. At least we got a place to sit. A few other riders come in behind us and they have to wait for someone to leave before they can sit. We order a light lunch and relax. Oh this feels so good to be riding again. The summer is way too long. (Time to go have supper. I'll finish a little later. Sanid is hungry.) Jack & Sandi

good morning artsled !!! yaaa...way better...still a few bad spots....but the riding is ok !!! just too bad it was nt cold last night.....machine was heavy ,snow sticking everywhere...blue sky day ....-8c !!! might go to clubhouse for the first time since april !!! jean-guy

I was so offended that I just took a plane and spent Chrismas in Martinique! here on Christmas eve... (this pic is not intended to be in the boobs contest!!!😅) We had been invited by Kristine's sister and her husband to join them for few days on their sailboat in the Caribbean... if we had to have our feets in water at Chrismas, this one was a good choice!!! As for my thread, don't feel bad for me! but I agree that Snowmaster reports deserve by far to have their own thread here, his reports are always in the 5 stars range and more than entertaining, we should rename him "reportmaster"!!! I'm sure everybody don't want to miss one! So we are now back home, having a couple new year partys ahead and some jobdays... we should hit the trails again on next weekend to see how the trails looks like in my neck of the woods. stay tuned!

(Back from supper.) OK. We finish up lunch and head out. We op to go toward Valinuet. This showed groomed yesterday on the map. We leave Onatchiway and bear left on 477. Oh this is bumpy. Well maybe it's just a mile. No it is still bumpy. After about 10 miles we are up on the flat and it does smooth out , no I should say some of the bumps are gone. It is still bumpy. Not what I was expecting. Sandi is pushing along. For all the sleds that were at Onatchiway, there isn't much traffic. Maybe the others stayed in the park behind Onatchiway but this trail has seen a lot of use. We get to Bras Louis and a few sleds are parked. I know the feeling. It is time for a rest. Bras Louis must be better. A few sleds take off. I watch them and the trail looks smoother. OK our turn. Sandi takes off. At least we can roll along. Plenty of snow cover up here. Cruising along. We can see where the off trail guys have been cutting back and forth across the trail. About half way down we go thru the gate coming out of the park. Not to many more miles and the trail turns left off of Bras Louis. Someone else posted that Bras Louis was cut short this year. A few sled marks staying on Bras Louis but we turn left like we should. Oh what a mistake. Where has the groomer been. He definitely hasn't been here. This reminds me of riding in the Eastern Townships about thirty years ago. Bump after bump after bump. We caught up to I see six sleds ahead of us. Some are two-uppers. This isn't a good trail to pass on and how much faster would we want to go. Hopefully it won't be too far before we get to Valinuet. This feels like forever. We must have gone ten miles. Maybe not that far but it sure feels like it. Finally we get to the road that goes up to Valinuet. The trail crosses the road in the same spot. It was just torture to get here. Not too much further and we turn right on 93. Now this is better. A trail we can ride. Heading south we go by the groomers house. I see an operator out with a groomer hooking up the drag. I don't know which way he is going but I know where he should be going. 93 is getting better. We cross 328 and this is the best trail we have been on all day. We head towards St Honore. Where 93 runs parallel with the VTT trail, it is nice. By the airport is better. This groomer has been out doing his thing. The old Sonic gas station, it has been re-branded and I forgot the new name, is packed with trucks and trailers. There is a short driveway behind the gas station and both sides of it are lined with trucks. We cross the main road and start tooling along. 93 is perfect compared to what we've been riding on. Sandi is running along now. It's getting late and the sun is going down fast. It's only 3:30 but the sun drops fast this time of year. We turn left on 134. We get to Pickle Park. Stay on the road Sandi. No sense in running thru all the trees. That still hasn't been groomed. We cross the two bridges and 383 is fine. This is one of the better trails for all of today. Who would have guessed the south side of the river would be better than the north side. Fill up with gas at the Ultramar and a quick stop at the Metro grocery store for a 12 pack. Back at the Sag and no one is parked in front of our room. Back the sleds in and lock them up. Plenty of snow cover on the mountain but it really needs grooming. Sandi mentioned that there are rental sleds at Valinuet now and she was wondering if the trails are getting that much more traffic. I know it is the weekend but Bras Louis was pretty bad. There is sufficient snow cover between the Sag and the two bridges. Tomorrow, should we stay on the south side? Sunday is going to be a day to stay off of Valin if today was a precursor to tomorrow. We will see what was dragged overnight. Our first day this season. Hopefully it will get better. Jack & Sandi

29 December keeping the fingers and toes crossed for some real snow tomorrow and Tuesday. Bring it! That will make for a very Happy New Year.

Too much Beaver.

SnowMaster has gone silent for 12 hours. Must not be wi-fi at the jailhouse.

No Team IceMan Sticker? Could get the chair! GutZ

This morning the groomer map shows a lot of activity last night. Let's stay south of the river today. I wonder if Kenogami is frozen? We get on the sleds and head 83 west, 367 toward the two bridges. But instead of going to the north shore, we get on 383 towards Spence Ski-Doo. This was groomed last night and it is nice. Very refreshing compared to yesterday. The snow cover is thin in spots with a little brush sticking up thru the trail. Under auto route 20 and right staying on 383. Sunday morning and no traffic. We cruise by Spence and wind our way around to the end of 383 that drops down and meets 83. Let's go take a look at Lac Kenogami. The groomer made a pass as far as the lac. Yep, the lac is frozen and there are many tracks on it. I'll go first. Sandi is a little skittish of lacs. Pretty smooth. No drifting or ice heaves. We get to Relais Grenouile. It's open and a few sleds parked here. We'll u-turn and go back across Kenogami. I'd like to run the length of the lac but I know Sandi isn't going to agree to that. We get on 83 and this has been groomed. It is a little thinner in snow cover because it gets so much more traffic than 383. A little snirt and some brush sticking up thru the trail. Overall the groomer has done well with what he has to work with. Local trail 2 is closed. I wonder why? Just before the intersection with local trail 7 there is a detour sign pointing to the left. This must have just been cut thru the woods. Pretty rough and more dirt than snow. Watch out for the rocks Sandi. It's only about 1/2 mile long and we are back on 83. Nice riding in the fields where the terrain is already smooth and it doesn't take much snow cover. We stop at the Delta. A fair number of truck and trailers here. They are parked in the same area but no snow bank to enclose them. Just part of the parking lot now. The new snowmobile enclosure looks, ah, maybe not quite as secure as the old pool area. We park the sleds and go inside for a late lunch. No crowd here. We must be behind the rush today. We relax. No hurry. Just a short loop around town. Mid day here and it is quiet. We finish up lunch and get back on the sleds. 83 east back to Chicoutimi. In a little early today. These old bodies don't take a beating like they used to. Jack & Sandi

We have gone from his last trip of boobs and wolves, to this trip of beaver, beaver tail, and jail.

back from downtown albertville !!! jean-guy

At exactly 8:32 just before I’m ready to start digging in this local guy “Eric” (I now refer to him as the Lord Savioir Jesus Christ) comes around the corner. At 8:39 she was back on the trail and Eric with his 165 Liter storage box (also has another 25 liter one) was gone.

Hello Everyone, Another season has started. Boy does it feel good to close up the shop and head north. We left Connecticut early this morning. Drove up to Valcourt and picked up the trailer and sleds. I had brought the sleds up a couple of weeks ago to get them to Canada for the winter. Not much snow thru Vermont. A little in the Eastern Townships but not enough to ride on. About 30 miles before Quebec the drizzle started to freeze on the road. In Stoneham it turned to sleet and then finally it turned to snow. All the way thru the park it's snowing. The trail that crosses at L'Etape had been groomed and it had sled tracks on it. We didn't stop at L'Etape but there were sleds in there. This is a good sign. As we continue up, we see more trailers heading north and south. The southbound guys must be the ones that were up over Christmas. One of them may have been EastMark. Hi Mark. We get to the Sag and there are about ten trailers here. There is snow cover and the groomer map had shown that it was groomed here in town. We will see if we can get any info at supper. Happy trails. Jack & Sandi

27 December -3c with freezing drizzle right now. not alot to be excited about yet. Maybe 5” of snow on the ground. It’s white and surely more encouraging than looking at the grass. We need a major storm or two to kick things into gear. River St Mauricie not safe at all yet. Way too early for me to trust the Ice anywhere yet. Sure it might be fine, but it will be surely better in a few weeks. Showing snow for Tuesday but only time will tell. When it is time it will be time. Good things come to those who wait. Or we can all drive to Abitibi. No?

Very true. is a serious offense. They may hold him until the snow melts.

That's only 100 miles a day? What do you do after lunch every day?

Might want to shave before enjoying that native beaver?

Snowmaster's adventures, pictures, writings and stories are so good maybe we should have a QuebecRider "Pay Per View" section to finance more trips for him.

Snowmaster, You must speak French or the entire province learned English since I was there last season! You seem to be accepted as a local everywhere you go up there. And now you are going to eat their local critters! Next thing we know you'll be marrying one of their sisters and living there. mike

Good morning. What a good night's sleep. Back in Quebec and no phones to answer and no customers to worry about for a week. It is 6:30 am and there are a few sleds already running out in the parking lot. A couple of inches of snow yesterday. The groomer map shows that 83 around Chicoutimi, Jonquiere, 383, 23 down to L'Etape and 93 on Mont Valin all were groomed. Today we get our snow legs under us. Maybe a ride to the north side and up to Onatchiway would be nice. 93 was groomed yesterday and Onatchiway looks like that was groomed the day before. The trail condition overlay shows the trails either green (good) or yellow (acceptable) for the whole area around Lac St Jean. Usually the west side by Roberval isn't open this early. We aren't heading that way but it is a good sign. Sandi is on her yellow 2019 MXZ 600 and I am going to be breaking in my safety yellow/green 2020 Renegade 850. Sandi says it is so bright, she needs her sunglasses. We will report back tonight. Jack & Sandi

Tell Sandi that speed limit is only inside the city limits, lol

Last known photo of the night!

The way things have been going lately with him, I suspect he will come back to tell us he is at the first nation chiefs hunting lodge eating moose steak and drinking wine at a community celebration on his behalf!!! LOL

I my be wrong, but didn't Chris say he was in chapais last nite? I think he's making us think he's in jail But as Andy says, that's a strong possibility. So the waiting continues..

Twas the night before Christmas.....still can’t ride from the house. Not a groomer out working down here in the south. The helmets are hung by the chimney with care. In the hope that the groomer soon may pass here. The sleds all nestled snug in the shed. While vision of more snow and groomed trails danced in their heads. Mrs. Iceman in her kerchief and I in my cap. Had just settled in to take a little nap. When out in the driveway there arose such a clatter. I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash. Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below. When what to my wondering eyes should appear. It’s the men of Team Iceman I’ve been waiting all year. First out the trailer who could it be? On the 154” was easy to see. It surely is Quick Nick none faster than he. He turned and called to the rest of the Team. He whistled and shouted and called them by name. Now Snohorse! now PLAYHARD! now NHmoose! and Scorpionbowl! On Iceman! To the trail, to the trail. Now Ride. But not yet. Merry Christmas Stay Naughty.

Glad to see you back here Don, welcome back home and Happy Holidays!!!

Speeding were we Chris?

Or maybe he tried the wrong beaver

Hi Jack it's very very wet here in uk, the ground is sodden everywhere. But were all good.. we arrive at the delta on 5th feb and leave on 19th. Be safe n see you both soon.

Most compelling snomo thread since Andymans blizzard regaling. Thanks

Hi Mark, It's the weekend so I expected more traffic but that lower re-route of Bras Louis was tough. The groomers are out but with temps just below freezing, the trail doesn't really set up like it does when it is -20 C. The snow stays mushy and it doesn't take many sleds to push the snow around and bump it up. 93 and Pelchat have been groomed but from the Sag, it is a big loop to go to Sacre-Couer and back for us. I know people do that loop and it is great but we have shortened up our days a little. Especially the first trip up. Hi Pat & Gary, It is good to hear from you. How is it on the other side of the pond? Pat is correct. The bumps slowed us down but we did manage to get a seat without waiting. We have our reservations at the Delta when you are here.

Hi Jim, I'm happy if we can ride out of the hotel on our Christmas week trip. From the Sag to the bridges wasn't too bad. Hi Rusty, I thought about that too. Stack the tool box on the gas caddy. I was disappointed because I thought Ski-Doo would have designed it so it would fit with the caddy. Hi Dave, Yesterday was a bumpy ride. I remember the old conventional sleds, pre-Rev, that would have bottom out on every bump. At least we could still ride. I hope I got everyone's name correct.

Love your reports Jack ! Sounds like the traffic has really picked up for sure since Wed/Thur Jack. Hit some of the same rough stuff up toward Onatchiway Wednesday. Thursday we started out again but went 93E east then north east on club trails and back down all the way to a club (something Rouge) just past Sacre-Coeur and came back from that club down a trail with a little logging to 93W and hit mostly great trails. Exception...Unless it was groomed since that top upper loop was rough. We should have skipped the top loop and tipped back down closer to 93 knowing it was early season grooming. I know better. Overall there was very little traffic and better grooming the further east nearer 93 from what we saw Thursday. Again we started off there at Passion so it was a bit different. The in/near town Sag just didn't look ready to me yet. A bumpy day of sledding is still better than a good day at work especially the first day of the season. Feels good to get the rust off Im sure. Groomers must be out tonite full tilt now. Glad you two got out there and love the reports ! Good luck with the new ride. That is a great sled.

O.k........I can’t resist before I go to sleepy sleep. even though 99% of the journey has been “most epic” there have been there pitfalls anyome know what it’s like to be at the jailhouse in Mistissini for a “somewhat major” snowmobile infraction ???

Sponsor/Tourist Board highlights places for "breaks" & "pit stops" & "must sees", aka: Stimulate the economy SVP! Count on lodging & gaz & SAQ from QR's!

The “epic ness” continues......I’m just to shot to download all my pics (and the rest of today’s/ tonight’s” craziness right now. rest assured there is “more to today’s stories/travels” i got into Chapais a little later than I expected (actually not I have been polishing off a 6 pack down by my sled and watching the locals and gas station area) and I just ate and laying on the bed. I promise I’ll get up (maybe a little later than usual) and post more AWESOMENESS of the rest of today’s adventures for the inquiring minds. sleep tight my fellow trail shredders

Just magic in Mistassini. Trail is a great one and you have been lucky enough to experience a whole lot more. There is Nothing like getting to know all you can about these places we usually pass right through or just spend a night then move on. very cool. Auberge looks sweet, we almost stayed there a couple years back but did not. We shall return.

Hi Jay, The grooming delay, when the groomer ran last, is purple / blue. Different than last year. I liked last year's colors better. The trail conditions, good acceptable closed, is green yellow red. Trails and EcoSentier I don't see a difference other than the EcoSentier which I do not know what that means. Jack & Sandi

bonjour !!! 4'' of fresh snow last night ....fell down very quickly .... grooming tq 5 tonight jean-guy

Beautiful hotel and restaurant at the Auberge Mistissinni

As I’m at the depaanneur inside de icing my helmet from the bullshit freezing rain here today I nice older fellow asks me where I’m heading and I say Mistissini. He replies I just got back yesterday morning from grooming that.i thanked him and we chatted for several minutes. He says first time in three years it’s been open due to logging. As I’m weaving out of town to where that trail heads north I’m crossing my fingers no body has been on it. Could it really be ???? No, no way.....then BAM.....

Did a 221 mile eastern loop today most of the way to the St Lawrence via the most northern loop past Lac Trembley. Id skip the upper larger northern loop til it is groomed...mostly awesome bit hit about 10-15 miles of straight crap at the northernmost part of the loop up near the 2 lakes...but mostly great with many just perfect on either end of the loop. There was also some noise in the inside corners on 93 for 10-15 miles closest to Passion going out and back but groomers were out. We passed only about 8 sleds Wed and about 30 yesterday....quiet....but this parking lot was full when we got back to the Sag tonite about midnite. My speed sensor fell off my chain case so I was doing 261 mph even when parked Wednesday and on the trails...with a side effect of no reverse. Didn't hurt the ride. Just needed to be put back with a dab of adhesive. Fixed that Thursday AM with the guys next to Passion helping me with a T25 torx bit and dab of ultra bond I was lacking. Real nice guys. So we were ready now...only to have Lisa’s sled not start. Messed with that...fuel relay...easy enough...and off we went. We rode with the same couple we met at Vincents Wed AM again. Great fun to ride with. As crazy about riding as we are so it worked out great. So really great trip. Impressed with the beauty of the mountains and the trails. Signage was terrible in many spots but there may be more to be set with it being early season. Many trails had 1 or none signs stating the trail #. Had a few bottles of eine with our riding freinds at the Ski lodge to celebrate some great riding when we got back. We will definitely be back to this area ! We loved it. Very light snow now...drive back will be a drag...but so glad we came. You guys will have a ball this weekend ! ps. 475 trail I said stay off of shows groomed now ! This area wi

Surely there was one at least, I put it there myself. I think it was inside. Or it was anyway. We got lots of em. I’ll be back. Nice run you got going. You carry a satellite phone? Just curious as riding alone in da bush like that, it’s surely a good idea to have one. Especially with not much other traffic. Enjoy. The Mistassini run is awesome done it twice. If they haven’t changed it, then the first 20km or so is just ok, but the payoff is the rest of it is on the summer road big and fast up to just outside town on the other side of the Lac.

just North of Desmairsville all the way into Chapais clubhouse.....double fresh groomed from days ago with no tracks

You know where this is......

Just me and the moose track for an unbelievable 10-12 miles that poor bastard must have walked all night and this morning

Since the moment I left the Auberge Timblemont (SUPERB) this morning at 9:30 to Hotel Opemiska in Chapais I have NOT SEEN ONE SLED in 225 miles. Not in Senneterre topping off, not in Le- bel-Sur, not in Desmairsville ......not ANYWHERE!!!!! here coming in towards Le bel-Sur

I tell them........”they no listen”....... two years in a row with even more snow this year and more miles of consecutive groomed trail. last year we had to start in Le-bel-sur but this year it started at the Timblemont 80 miles south of there. Unfortunatley I’m solo again this trip as my buds can’t start till after the first of the year. comsecutive pics to follow of my 225 mile (on the nose) day. why no Iceman sticker here ???