towing

I take few minutes to give you an update of Lanaudiere from my last ride from saturday 8 jan. We did La Glaciere to Mattawin round trip via trails #350/345/360 and a loop via M20 on the return. Around 3 miles from La Glacière, they had to repair an hill and a creek bridge that were damaged by the thaw, with an excavator so there was maybe 500 feets with dirt and rocks Other than that, we were on a very hard base with an half inch of new snow. Not much but enought to make the difference for hifax and cooling. On the #345, the trail was just groomed There was the last 2 miles of new trail near Cabanon that were less good, tend to brownish... On the north side of the Cabanon to the dam, the first 5 miles were pretty thin and tend to brownish by spots After that when the trail come back on the reserve road the condition come back pretty good, on the thin side but very hard base groomed. to be continued...

I have don't been up north since that last report (26 dec) but the comments I read in frenchs forums and the Lanaudiere trail conditions web site are clear on the conditions for now: General conditions * Very limited State of trails * Impraticables The temp. should lower this next night and keep below 0C for the next but the damage is done and we are now in a big need of more snow and there's nothing big in the next day forecast :( :( Alain

Thanks actionjack, I really hope to meet you now... :D :D ;) It's a fun to do a ride report when I have so many good pics B) Alain

I'm jalous, too bad for me,I was at work today ...... <_< <_< .... Next ride in 2011 for me... :o Alain

You nicely summarize the situation with the Tremblant Park timbo. Actually from what I had seen on the trails many peoples just don't know that Rouge-Mattawin relai is closed. Also many went at St-Donat gate without really knowing that is was supposed to be closed... at least it was still open for them, and the message will pass... For the forecast, keep positive!!! there was some rain in the last big snowdrop but the finals results were really good Alain

From St-Michel village, we continued on the #318 in cabanon direction. We're back in winter conditions. The big hills near the village are pretty nice, here in one of the hills Too late for more pics. From Cabanon we took the #345 that is still very nice and keep the same morning's trail to get back to our starting point. Just south from pourvoirie St-Damien we crossed the groomer that was making a real good job in smoothing the trail and improved condition pretty weel from the morning. Here the approximative ride path from my spot device To conclude, the cold and the grooming job have really improved trail condition in the north from what it was last week and it was winter condition unless the Rouge-Mattawin/St-Michel #318 trail that need snow but still very acceptable. More souther areas like St-Jean de Matha and St-Gabriel will need more snow to give really good conditions. I keep my fingers crossed to have more snow to enlarge our playground on the south side soon... Alain

Took back the park in reverse direction to go to St-Michel. Conditions good and fast Just have to be careful because curves tend to wash out as usual here nice and fast from park gate we took the #318 to St-Michel. Many of you already know but reminder for those who may don't heard about it, yes the Rouge-Mattawin relai called "the cantine" is unfortunately closed for the winter so you have to preview fuel according to this.. Here trail condition was less good, acceptable but some dirt tend to mix with the snow and the rock base is very near on some spots. Need more snow to improve it.. To be continued...

Many trees are frosted and give nice scenery We decided to go on the wolf mountain. The dozer had tried to groom but went back because it was not frozen enought. We passed anyway and slowly got on the top They also call it the square lake mountain...easy to figure out why... And we continued on the #63 trail Very nice scenery... here in the shade of the mountain all was frosted... And here in the sun that goes down too fast... When we reached the park, we switched south to go to Coin Lavigne. The new trail #33 is not groomed yet, heard that excavators just been out few days ago... Here the deers that look at us during we fueled up there to be continued...

Yesterday, Krikri and I started our ride more souther in St-Jean de Matha near the golf club. We first tried to switch on the #63 trail to go in Ste-Émilie direction but the trail was not groomed yet, so we went back and took the #349 trail to St-Damien. It's season's beginning conditions, Propably still in the first grooming pass because the trail shape is still choppy and the cover is on the thin side,there is some dirt spots but not too bad North from St-Damien, we took the #345 trail in Réal Massé direction. Trail condition improved but still beginning... passed Pourvoirie St-Damien, the trail make a strech on the pourvoirie road that is open longer than usual but it ride very nicely To be continued... A little farther , it's winter conditions Very good, 10/10 North from Real Massé, just before the #350 junction, the trail have been moved and pass directly on the mountain in place than around it. Good hill on each side, I love it. We switched on #350 to La Glacière, perfect... After a real quick lunch, we took the #63 trail in Mt-Tremblant park direction to be continued..

Thanks you very much for your report When you got to Real Massé, maybe you seen that the trail junction with the #350 trail have been moved... Do you remember if there is a long strech of new trail path there ??? Alain

Merry Christmas to all of you guys. Have a good time with your family and friends Alain

Thank you for the good comments Buy her a warmer suit ;) It's always a guess, but mid february to the first of march should be in the best time frame to have not too cold weather and good trail condition and still wide trail network availiable. March is fantastic for warm temp but sometimes the trails begin to suffered... and april is good for short sleeve rides B) B) If some of you would like to see more pictures of the last week-end, this ride was called by Coyote from passion yamaha and they rode to Repos friday, saturday(with me) and sunday to Koubec. The forum is in french but the pics are pretty nice. On the link below, you're on the second page. Scroll down the my photo-report and you will begin to see pictures from other riders. Coyote post particulatly good pics on page 3 http://passionyamaha.superforum.fr/t5659p20-randonnee-des-membres-passion-yamaha-samedi-le-18-decembre-a enjoy Alain

on the other side... And we took the #318 to go round the lake. From our morning start, we only had took trails that were groomed before the snow/rain from last sunday, which had pretty hard base. This one was probably on the first groom pass, plenty of snow but soft powder base. The trail was wide and fast and it was a real blast to ride But we had to be really careful because there was some little ditch that are not frozen yet, nothing hard to cross but not at hight speed... The second part from #33 trail junction to St-Michel was more bumpy( the #33 trail to Repos was not groomed yet). From the morning, we had saw near no rocks but we begun to see few there. This is not because there was no snow (I measure more than 15" to the ground with more the half in granular dense snow)but the trail base had not the time to harden and suffered from traffic. From there it was too late for pics, those we took are all fuzzy From St-Michel, we took the #318 trail to Cabanon. The traffic did the job and the big rocky hills near St-Michel were a little ruff, it's normal we are at season beginning... From Cabanon, we took St-Zenon village direction to have fun in this big hill trail and went back to Glacière by 33/63 trail that was pretty beatup by the traffic. All skidoozer were already gone from Cabanon to groom when we passed there so all the trails in the area have been in ready shape this morning. We completed the ride with a good meal with my gang. Total: 163 miles of fun To conclude, the trail condition are very good for the time of the year (maybe twice better that last year at same date). I don't saw any sand, maybe 2 rocks before the lunch but few when the trail got beatup by the traffic in the afternoon and especially at the end of the day. With some cold and groomnig to harden the trail base this week, those of you that will come during Christmas holidays will have some nice conditions for sure !!! Alain

When we got back on the #345, we switched south to go lunching at Cabanon. Here's the only sun ray of the day... After the lunch, we got in dam direction to go round the Taureau Lake. The #345 was in winter condition and always even fun to ride... The second part of the oneway trail near the dam was already groomed. And we arrived at the dam...

And we continued on #345 trail Around 8 miles before Cabanon, we swithed to the right to go in Mastigouche reserve. On the first miles, the trail was narrow and there was some branchs on the sides reminding us that's still the season beginning but there was plenty of snow and the trail became larger just a little farther... and we could speed up a little... In this area we would think we were in the middle of january... To be continued...

I did a wonderful ride this last saturday. A bunch of friends got to St-Zenon and I guided and shape them a good ride. The Yam team at start... The pics are not the best because it was very cloudy and dark but for the rest it was perfect, There is between 2 and 3 times more snow than last saturday and the trail conditions are incomparables. Very good beginning conditions, near winter conditions. We started in Cabanon direction on #350 trail. For those who well know the area, they moved the #345 junction (to Real Massé) around 0.5 miles farther, it's well marked.. The river that begin to freeze offered a nice view My friend Coyote, using his monster lens camera To be continued...

Alain

All those comments refered to farmers blockade and are before the great today's news. I would think that there's no more problem now that the trail blockade is lifted... maybe I miss something ??? :unsure: Alain

I don't heard about this one ? explain what you know and I will try to get you an answer... you can also pm me if you want... Alain

Yessssssssssssss, :yahoo: What a good new !!! the size of our playground will increase fast, and I will be able to start from home soon Let's ride Alain

Thanks for your post NSnowCruiser, feel free to let us know how the combo does during the winter. I am somewhat interested because I don't have GPS yet, and will maybe make a move on that next year. Alain

Yes I think to you when I saw this news today . I have checked with my contacts to be sure it was not a mistake and yes, the Pimbina gate entrance is open and the trail is already groomed between Pimbina at St-Donat and the little Cyprès shack. This trail link was not supposed to be acces by snowmobile this season (I had already made a post on that) but they have problems with the alternate trail (no sure exactly where at the moment) so they had been able to make an agreement with the government to open this link, at least until the alternate trail be ready. So you wil be able to start your season there quebec#1 Enjoy :D :D Alain

Yes it does, I come back later with detail.., Alain

considering it's also an outdoor GPS at the same time, the price is not so high... for those who don't already have a GPS... Alain

For those who are not used to the Spot services, there's the basic services that enable you to manually send "OK" ,"help" or "911" messages for around $100/year and there is the tracking option that enable you to use the tracking mode on the spot that automatically send a tracking point each 10 minutes that can be seen on a their goggle map link. This last option is around $150/year including the basic services. In my case, I always left my spot in tracking mode so my family can always follow the progression of my ride on-line and know in which area I am if I ever failed to give news in time. As for the text message option with the Delorme GPS combo, it is only one way so you can text messages but you can't receive message. If they ever offer a two way text message option, I will step on it right way, it would be very nice... Alain