snowfarmer

We finally received a good snow drop of around a foot or a bit more on last Satuday (16 January) with still mild temperatures just below the freezing point. It was still mild on Sunday morning so we just did a short 45 miles run from St-Gabriel de Brandon going north on the #63/#23 round-trip to enjoy the scenery before the soft new trail base turn bumpy.

I mounted a short video of our small ride. The video is in color but have alot of white!!! outstanding scenery, too bad the sun wasn't there.
The temperarure drop to January like weather in the next days and with this new snow, most snowmobiles clubs will be able to open their trails and I expect the trail network to greatly shape up this week up to the south of our area even if some swamps and rivers will still need more time to be safe. We can tell that this season will really begin with the conditions we have now
Alain

We stayed near Gaines at the Rough Cut Lodge (Excellent Place). Dropped our sleds first day 5 miles east at Ansonia Parking on Colton Point Road. Second day dropped 20 miles west of Lodge at District 15 Office Parking which is just west of Denton Hill State Park. Both spots are just off Route 6. Heard weekends were crazy busy. We went during week. You need PA registration to ride in PA. We got ours at Larry's sport Center in Galeton

Drove 3 hrs to get here, on the trail by noon, 80 miles in. Trails were 7-9 in my opinion. Glad we came. Going to ride again tomarrow. Thanks all for the input.

It was finally the start of our 2021 season yesterday Saturday january 9! We had waiting for this since a long time and even conditions were not perfects it was a real soul therapy to ride again!
Other that the Pandemic issue, mother nature have not spoiled us up to date. Rain and very low snow level pretty much everywhere and temperature way too warm for the date. My area have begin to open some trails but it is still limited with low snow so we choose to go a bit norther than usual to begin our season by starting from St-Michel des Saints to ride the Taureau Reservoir and norther.
In place of a pics report, I will go with a video report this time with 2 detailed video to report the conditions we encounter during our ride.
here the first video that describe the ride from St-Michel to Repos Outfitter. 
  To comply with the government restrictions associated with the covid-19 the services suppliers have to adjust the way they usually serve us. At the repos the fuel is available as usual but food is only available to takeout (the dining room is closed) but the toilets are accessibles. We can rent rooms or chalet but we have to get the food and eat in our rooms.
A 2nd video will follow just below for the rest of the ride...
 
 

107 miles in 4 hours today in Tioga and Potter County. A lot of great groomed trails! 

224km
313 Val d’or to 93.....10/10
93 to Amos 10/10
309 from 93 back to Val D’or total trash in some spots. Avoid for now.
Groomers / Clubs working hard.
Meet QPP at 93 / 309 junction. Super nice. Thankfully too cold for radar gun today😊
2021 Gade is awesome.
Great day overall
More tomorrow 
Gowser

Mounted my new Garmin 750i today. Played around with some different mounting locations. 
Been using a Montana 610 for for several years. Last year had it mounted on my handle bars. Liked this location bit better than the glove box mount location l used previous two years because it was easier to reach. The 750 is to large to mount to handle bars. Obstructs the view to much.
Previously had a SPOT3 mounted to wind deflector with Ram mounts.
Decided this is where l will mount the 750 for now. If for some reason don’t like it there will relocate to the glove box location.
Wired it direct to the solenoid.
Fits the glove box location well.
 

Ram Mount on the wind deflector
 

Blocked view gauges mounted to bar.

Going with this location. Doesn’t block view of gauges and bit easier to reach vs the glove box mount location.
 
 
 
 

I would like to wish all my friends and fellow Quebec Riders my best wishes for the Holiday and the up coming year. May you all enjoy family and friends, happiness, good health and great prosperity in 2021.
Hope to see you soon,
Steven
 

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The search for snow and open trails for the first ride was very limited this year. Then all the problems with the Pandemic didn’t make it any easier.
We live in Ottawa which is considered a orange zone so if we want to stay together in a condo or cabin it will have to be in a orange zone. Lucky to see Sacre-Lecour is yellow zone and with the new restrictions put in place two days earlier it will be considered a orange zone and the trails are groomed and marked green. Bam book a cabin at 5 Ferm Etoiles for Friday to Monday.
We leave Ottawa all loaded and ready for our eight hour drive at 5am. Great ride up all the way, 640 to bypass mtl, through Quebec City and up to meet the Ferry at Tadoussac.


As we pull up to wait for the Ferry we are stopped by the QPF. Asking us what our intentions are and where did we come from. We are a orange zone traveling to a orange zone. It’s discouraged to travel but can’t stop us, on we go. As we pull up to Sacre-Lecour there is now a road block. Same procedure and questions as before. We arrive at our cabin around 2pm, unpack, get sleds ready and off for a short 100km ride before coming back for dinner.
Leaving the small trial out of Le Ferm 5 is a bit thin but as soon as we get a little farther up the 93, it was snow heaven.

We took the Tq3 to Relais Escoumins, had a snack and beverage and then back to the cabin.
Saturday morning up and adam we are on the snow for 9am, plan is to ride up the 93 to La Chappell, get gas, take the 267 to the Bras Louie and lunch at the out door smoke cookers at Destination Mont Valin. As we were on the 267 we stopped for a break halfway there and some other guys coming from there said the Bras Louie is down to dirt due to logging. We turn around head back to the 93 and head to Des. Mont Valin. Lunch was friggen awesome, sun was out and lots of people.

As we are coming to the ski hill the Fcmq had a trail stop checking for compliance.


After lunch it was back to La Chappell for fuel taking the secondary trail to get there. From there we took the long loop up towards Les Escoumins and back to the cabin. Back to the cabin late, 8pm with just over 380km for the day.
Sunday was going to be a easier day of riding as we were all a bit sore. Sunday we rode to Les Escoumins, a small loop out of there, then Relais Escoumins for a drink and back to the cabin for a total of 220 km.





It was a great trip. Left Monday morning for Ottawa. Hoping for Val-Dor towards the end of January since we still have no snow back home.

Hyner Mountain area ride yesterday. Riding in Pa on the 19th of December with 20-30 inches in some areas is freaking unheard of!!!. While it was a great day and to be riding in my home state, this snowmobile season is going to suck with unusual weather patterns, covid restrictions and all the covid testing I have to get done  before and after traveling with all my trips I have planned out of state.

In Pennsylvania 😀👍

Happy December to everyone, been AWOL on here this fall , Waiting patiently for a good freeze up and  snow here in Maine.  The whole December Valin crew has been going thru withdrawal pains, but hey, that’s 2020😊
I was going thru some of my Dad’s picks this weekend from the mid 70’s and ran across this trail map. Wow have they come a long way! 

 
Got a chuckle out of the pricing, $20 for an individual season pass, $30 for the family or $5 a day!

Even back than they had the best trails in the world, groomed to perfection, just not so wide!

 

 
 

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:

 

I agree that true studs will always hook up better than a pre-studded track. However for the kind of riding that many members on this board do an ice ripper track will provide the extra traction and confidence needed to ride safely on the perfectly groomed trails of Quebec.
Agree 100%!
Whether to run true studs or a pre-studded track depends a lot on your style of riding and what you consider to be a"normal season" trip and mileage wise. If you only ride a limited number of trips/km then true studs can work for you. However, if you are like myself and the guys I ride with and unload your sled and set off on 10 day plus rides in excess of 4000 km then true studs are not the answer. On my most ambitious trip of 19 days and over 6700 km I was on a sled that had true studs. I changed 7 yes 7 idler wheels a real pain in the butt not to mention the cost. I remember at one point in Hearst Ontario being bent over in a garage that belonged to the hotel changing an idler wheel and my so-called buddies were standing around drinking beer and laughing at me! It was at that point that Andyman made the decision that this was the last sled that would have true studs! Lol
These are just my personal views and observations and I hope we get to enjoy this winter despite Covid!
 
Andy

Reggie has been busy making things even nicer. Hoping to welcome you all sooner than later.
New outdoor area installed, Sweet Hot Tub, and Fire Pit area. All fenced in looking beautiful.

How to measure Quebec neige 

Beautiful day here today, 17°C. Decided supper would taste better at the cabin looking at the lake. 

 

bonsoir !!!
 
great shot for sure....make my eyes click-click !!!
saw a similar one this morning taken in the prairies.....super nice !!!
im not mr metéo ,but cloud is full of rain and storm coming ...2-3 years ago ...there s was a big one like that over l s j 
when i came back from work ...checked the weather/ temps at  the airport....at 2 pm .....27 c and with humidex 35 ....very hot at work !!!
pic taken at  a camping in bonaventure !!!
 
jean-guy

............nice women in mtl ...
scenery too !!!😉
 
jean-guy

Sic of all the political, COVID and all lives matter 
Left work early and hit the black trail turning on the classic rock and banging the gears  all threw western ma ,southern Vt and NH   500 miles of stress free weekend  Back to the real world tomorrow!!! 

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Drove the Cabot Trail this weekend in Nova Scotia.  Hiked the Skyline Trail, into a few waterfalls, to Meat Cove, and a few other neat spots.  Spent Saturday night in Baddeck, a nice spot too.