Gullyrider
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Posts posted by Gullyrider
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On 11/28/2020 at 7:59 AM, skidoo420 said:
WOW the video says it all. Nice machine
So true... if you look at Dufour's channel, he's got a few of a unit in the process of being installed in the shop, along with a few others where it's sitting outside and "flexing"! Anyway, I'll get back with a report once we get this baby rockin' ..
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On 11/26/2020 at 3:31 PM, smclelan said:
Nice looking machine. Is that an auxiliary engine on back to run the side cutter?
You're absolutely right. A 38 hp fuel injected Kohler with a remotely controlled solenoid to start and stop the blades. The positioning of the cutter is done using the hydraulics for the wings on the blade. They are sold by the Québec distributor for Pisten Bully, Mécanique J. Clair and they are super folks to deal with. I believe the unit itself is manufactured by one of J. Clair's local machine shops, Usinage JS. There are additional videos of the brusher on Louis Dufour's channel. P.S. I don't know what the hurry is ... are those guys not paid by the hour?? PP.S. If videos promoting non-members are frowned upon, feel free to delete the following:
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On 11/26/2020 at 2:56 PM, Je me souviens said:
Sweet new Pisten Bully. Complete with a hedge trimmer that means business...
You know ... the PB seems "brand new" to us too but, coincidentally, my five year facebook message today was us saying goodbye to our Gilbert/Valtra (it went to a club in the good ol' U S of A). The Pisten Bully arrived a few days later. Five years .... now where the hell did THEY go??!!
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On 11/24/2020 at 3:17 PM, actionjack said:
Shoulda just put the trail back on the L' Ptit Train du Nord. Its idiotic! What a waste. Well I for one like this area so when ever we get back to Quebec it will help make starting in Lac Carling even better. Hopefully the club does some massive signage on either end of this trail.
Funny to see that picture of the lady with that massive tow truck rolling behind her. Other than cans or extreme speed not much chance the trail will be louder.
Thanks to the Langlois judgement, re-establishing it on the old Petit Train du Nord route is a complete impossibility. The more cancerous aspects of that judgement were the payouts she offered to those nearby neighbours who "had suffered", and the fact she left the door open for one landowner to sue his neighbour should said neighbour authorize a trail across his or her own property. We almost lost the entire network because of it, and only the periodically reinstated moratoriums on these sort of legal actions saved it. It was a very stressful time, let me tell you.
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On 11/25/2020 at 1:36 PM, largedaryl said:
Thx for the info. I guess we will find soon enough how things will turn out on the 386. Grader was on the Dumoine Rd last week.. giving us a smooth base to start with as things are starting to turn white. Two snowfalls back in the Ottawa area this week, about 6 inches on the ground but set to melt in the next few days... which is OK as the ground is soft and warm still.
Hey .. our dozer was out yesterday (though not on a trail). We were trying out our new early Christmas present to ourselves .... !
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13 hours ago, largedaryl said:
Thx for the info. Never heard of the early/late season $, but again, I guess it rests on the club volunteers to request that $ and line up an operator. I coordinated a groomer for a dozen years... a tough go most years. I did have a few good years of 7 days a week grooming all line up, but that came to an end as well.
I guess it is a wait and see. I am in Swisha now, and yes, local word is the 386 will b groomed from the south, but finding a few reliable operators sounds like it is an endless challenge. Anyone looking for a part time winter job?
Looks like the snow season starts in this area on Sunday/Monday. Beauty day today, +12 and no wind until sunset. Got the last of my camp jobs done today before the snow makes it slippery.
Pardon me, Daryl, but I erred with respect to the péréquation, lumping it in with the annual trail grooming assistance doled out by the FCMQ. In fiscal year 2018-19 , in Region 13 (the Outaouais), only the Pontiac and Maniwaki clubs received Péréquation monies ($60,000 ea.). As the other five clubs have sufficient member/kilometre ratios, they didn't receive any of those funds. In our case (the Hill & Gully Riders), we received $12,850 as our annual operating grant. The Fonds de Neiges assistance for grooming after 15 March was $1152.92. In season 2019-20, no Fonds de Neige funds were disbursed in the Outaouais because of the COVID shutdown. All that to say that the FCMQ funding plays a smaller part of any club's budget as compared to membership/trail pass revenue.
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19 hours ago, largedaryl said:
What r the odds that the federation can take the $ saved from the 3 closed trails around La Pavillion and that $ put into the 386 south? Two passes a week on the 386 trail would make it sweet! It is 100 miles one way from Swisha to the Pavllion, which means one pass a week, and usually is only good a few days after grooming. One groomer issue and there you go... mogul city. This is a sparsely populated area, and doesn't seem to have the grooming love that other parts of QC get to keep the trail top notch.
I bought a pass from that local club ( pingions ) that last two years, and did not touch their trails either year as grooming ended mid-march. Never got a clear answer why, but the brief answers seemed to lean towards volunteer burnout.... which as a 15 yr volunteer club exec I can understand.
The Federation doesn't save any money per se because it's not the Federation doing the spending. Under the current model, the Federation's main contribution to club funding is the "Perequetation" where, according to an agreed upon formula, clubs receive additional funding based on the kilometres and hours groomed vs what their level of membership is. High mileage clubs with low membership numbers receive more while low mileage clubs with many members receive less. Some clubs never receive a cent owing to their high rates of memberships and low hours spent grooming. Still, promoting increased membership is always more lucrative than relying on the additional Perequetation assistance. Besides, that money is better left for remote clubs who don't have the option of easily increasing their membership.
The Federation also administers the "Fond de Neige" which subsidizes grooming early or late in the season. This is to help out clubs that have extended winters because of their locations. Still, with the snow seeming to hang around later these past few years, our club northeast of Ottawa has been able to avail itself of the Fonds de Neige funds a few times, but it amounts to just a very small portion of our funding. The main source of revenue is always the actual sale of memberships (aka trail passes).
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On 10/24/2020 at 4:28 PM, dooright said:
Party over ... yikes
I know .... a ridiculous characterization. And this from the political party (the CAQ) which was supposed to be "snowmobile club friendly". Anyway, what follows is a translation of a communiqué issued by the FCMQ to club executives yesterday. In the end, we don't foresee many negative consequences of this legislation when and if it is eventually adopted and if it ends the threat of lawsuits to landowners, or regional governments, for allowing off road vehicle right-of-ways, well, all the better.
Good morning all,
This communication aims to follow up on the announcement of the tabling of Bill 71 of 22 October 2020.
The Fédération des clubs de motoneigistes du Québec (FCMQ) is currently working, together with legal authorities, as well as other stakeholders, to properly assess Bill 71 presented by the Ministry of Transport.
Each section of the law will be carefully evaluated in order to recognize the changes made to the Act respecting off-highway vehicles.The FCMQ will express its point of view on the subject, via a brief, to the National Assembly. The author of the brief will be invited, during public hearings, to present the brief or the views of the FCMQ and answer questions from Members.
This will take place at the Parliament Building at a later date which is not yet determined.We have been waiting for a long time for clarifications and revisions to certain points of the law, our job now is to ensure that this bill reflects our interests.
Please accept my best regards,
- MrsGTRider and dooright
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The decision was taken to suspend the publication of the province-wide map and accompanying service guide as the two of them were expensive to produce and of questionable utility. When it comes to hard copy, most people prefer the regional maps anyway. Unfortunately, in the Outaouais region, we were also forced to suspend publication of this season's regional map because, with all the uncertainty, the sponsors just weren't interested in jumping on board.
However, iMotoneige will be continually updated, and trail and equipment preparation is proceeding as per usual. The ability of those in the hospitality industry to accommodate us is still an open question. There might be a whole lot of trailside munching going on!
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So far, one of our groomer operators has seen it flash once .... when he met a neighbouring club's groomer at an intersection. Oh well .... at least we know it's hooked up right!
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10 hours ago, doo4adoo said:
Yes that's him. I'm sure he still frequents the place.
Yep ... it's a good spot for snowmobilers and locals alike to drop in on winter weekends. We sure do miss it once the snow's gone, but the off-season traffic doesn't warrant paying a someone to man the place during the spring, summer and fall.
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14 hours ago, doo4adoo said:
Gullyrider
Not sure if you frequent the clubhouse but is there a fellow by name of jeff hang out there still. He’s the tire guy and has a cottage nearby. Haven’t seen him in a while. He's a Good guy but not really a sledder.
Hi doo4adoo, I try to get to the clubhouse when I can, mostly on the way home from some excursion or other, and certainly at all the parties and special events. The fellow you're remembering is Jeff Muldoon who has a cottage at Hawk Lake and I believe works (worked?) for Goodyear. I can't claim to know him very well, but I certainly remember him from various events, and, as you say, he is a well liked and fun fellow. Apparently he used to sled back in the day. Exceptionally, the clubhouse will be open this Friday morning for the launch of our annual club trip, so I'll ask our bar gal Tammy if Jeff has been around so far this winter .... if anyone would know, it would be her.
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3 hours ago, Blueskyride said:
Thanks for the info. This should save an extra 45 min. off our next drive. BTW, I 'accidentally' purchased our 3-day permits through your club for this last trip. Meant to buy through the Valley Nation there in Montpellier since they've helped us in the past, but didn't figure this out correctly on line. You guys all do a great job!!
Hey, we're not proud .... we'll take your "accidental" money! Still, we are very lucky to have the AMVN as neighbours. Their grooming and signage are top notch. I think we're there with our grooming, but it will take us years to match their signage! I'll keep an eye out for N.Y. plates in our lot 'cause we're always pleased to be able to host our American neighbours. Have a great winter ...
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On 1/28/2020 at 1:35 PM, sledfarmer said:
Great, thanks for the feedback.
We actually park right at the Hill and Gully clubhouse , which is about 10 min north of Mayo and by trail its 18 miles to Montpellier. Very nice clubhouse with a huge parking lot and they always welcome visitors .
Hi Blueskyride ... if you're using Google maps, or perhaps a GPS, our civic address is 149 Chemin Inlet, Mulgrave et Derry. Parking is available to everyone 24/7, and the clubhouse itself, which is a licenced bar/restaurant, is open weekends from 9:00 am each morning. So, there's no need to suit up out in the cold if you're leaving on a Saturday or Sunday. We're located about a kilometre or so directly north of Lac La Blanche, and the trail passed right through the yard.
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4 hours ago, sledfarmer said:
Planning on a ride starting at the Hill and Gully and heading to the Cabonon later this week, does anyone know how trail conditions are from Mayo up to Duhamel ? I know further north is good , Im just a little concerned about the south.
Hi Sledfarmer ... Thanks for the compliment! Up until this past weekend, conditions from the clubhouse north were all-round excellent. Now, we're currently facing a minor challenge as the John Deere that grooms north towards Duhamel from the Clubhouse calved Saturday evening, and we only managed to limp it home yesterday morning (a hydraulic hose for the ramsteer popped a fitting and, while attempting to limp it home Sunday, electrical problems erupted. We thought it was a bum alternator, but it turns out an electrical junction box under the cab became mangled. We're currently waiting for our chief mechanic/dozer driver's garage to be available before trucking it south for repair. In the meantime, our Pisten Bully will be doing double duty. It will be heading up that section of trail starting 5:00 am tomorrow morning.
That heavy wet snow was just what the doctor ordered to put the finishing touches on our trails. Once we get that all groomed, now that it's cold, things will be in great shape! We're still lacking in the signage department, though, so the iMotoneige app would be a nice feature to have on your phone.
Dan
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One of the francophone forums has a lot of detailed discussion of this tragedy by people who are either from the area, or are involved. Once again, "get-home-itis" played a significant role. They departed later than scheduled that morning, the trajectory was too long (350km) for tourists, and they arrived late, north of Alma, with still an hour to go if they took the marked trail through town versus 15 or 20 minutes across the unmarked lake. The guide made the wrong choice, and led most of his party, including himself, to their deaths. Why people continue to ride on unfamiliar or unverified ice confounds me too. However, in this case, most of the victims were blameless.
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On 1/16/2020 at 9:31 PM, PLAYHARD said:
One step back for three steps forward. Understandable. Thanks for the insights!
Thanks for your understanding, Playhard. Case in point: Virtually all of our trails were dragged within the past 24-48 hours, but the trail conditions still show "closed". I contacted the director in charge, and she explained that she couldn't get the spreadsheet to open while she was at work and, while drafting a message to that effect to the tourism authority, someone came into her office with some crises or other (she's a fairly senior manager) and that was that. She only realized just now, while trailering to Ste-Anne-du-Lac, that the information wasn't relayed. She's trying to do it in transit from her phone, but I doubt the regional people are at work today (they're Mon. - Fri. 9 to 5'ers). Oh well ... it is what it is .... now ... bring on that storm!!
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The new "trail conditions" function is causing some confusion. The FCMQ has allowed each regional tourism authority back-end access to the interactive map. Each region has a point person who is supposed to upload data gathered from each club in their respective region detailing trail closures, conditions and the odd information note. What's happening, even in our club, is that the groomers are running around packing, or even grooming, but the club is being hindered from designating the trail "open" for various reasons. Thus the "grooming delay" function shows groomer activity, but no one has yet made the call showing the trail "open". It could simply be a matter of the club representative not having yet completed the requisite spreadsheet that has to be forwarded to the regional authority.
Our club gal contacted me this evening wondering when we can designate sections of our network "open", but we'll have to hold off until tomorrow evening when we get reports from our drivers who will be out tomorrow grooming what we hope to be 10 cm of snow (though it's looking more like 5 cm or less - oh well ... there's more coming to our area on the weekend). Very long story short ... another duty has been downloaded on to the club executives' shoulders, and there will be teething pains until everyone is comfortable with the new arrangement. It should work well eventually, however, when it's all sorted out and everyone's comfortable with the system.
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Yipper .... we drove into Mékoos from 100 Lacs late Friday afternoon in a very light freezing mist. We woke up to pouring rain Saturday morning, but it had quickly turned to wet snow by around 10:00 am. By the time we left Mékoos for the trucks at Ste-Anne Sunday morning, there was close to a foot of good snow on the ground and still falling. On the way home, it had thinned out a bit by Mont-Laurier, and diminished to about an inch of wet snow by the time I reached home in Mayo. Anyway, Ste-Anne-du-Lac to Fer-à-Cheval and on towards 100 Lacs then back Ste-Anne via Mékoos was all good .... 10/10 I'd say.
Quebec possibly banning gas powered sleds by 2035
in General Discussion
Posted
You're probably right ... I forget when the Québec two-stroke ban was announced or when the provincial government was convinced to rescind the threat as the result of the development of cleaner two strokes. I think the U.S. EPA requirements probably had more to do with that development than the Québec legislation, but it all helped. It's a long way from cleaner two-strokes to 100% electrification though.