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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 20 2010, 11:36 PM (760 Views) | |
| pablo | Jan 20 2010, 11:36 PM Post #1 |
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Hack!
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Howdy, I thought I'd start a new thread. I've been busy with work but I couldn't take it anymore ... I wanted to go and play/practice. I dropped the knives and took a run. As I looked back on the groomed trail, I am very impressed with the YST. I added two 45lb weights to the groomer. After one loop, I dropped the track setter and laid down a Classic trail. This too looked great in most areas. It seems I didn't have the down-pressure too much because at some points, the track isn't well-defined. Overall, for my first track, I think I did pretty well. Okay, so it's only 1.4KM! ![]() I'd say the tracks get a B- ... but I'm fussy. Although I think I'm being realistic too. Tomorrow, Jenny and I will Classic ski and I can see if it's truly a B- or ... worst?! ![]() btw, I did go over the snow-dunes slowly and I was able to mostly smoothen them out. Not perfect. I read the other post about needing a drag which spans from peak to peak. I'll have have to keep that in mind if/when I get a drag. Cheers! -pablo |
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| pablo | Jan 21 2010, 09:37 AM Post #2 |
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Hack!
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Howdy, This morning Jenny and I Classic skied on what I groomed yesterday. I'm upgrading my grade to a B+. A couple of points which need work.We had a couple of wind-blown areas which got very icy. Consequently, the track isn't great. I think I need to go over these areas a bit more, slowly dropping the knives more and more until I've loosened the snow a bit. Is that what folks would typically do? The other point is a few of my turns, the track didn't come out that great. Seems like the setter came up a wee bit while I made the turn. Interesting because on other turns, roughly same radius, the track is fine. Is this an indication of the track setter not having sufficient downward pressure? The Skate area will be tested tomorrow. ![]() My eight year old son wants me to use the following emoticon: Cheers, -pablo |
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| couchsachraga | Jan 21 2010, 09:47 AM Post #3 |
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Advanced Operator
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Make at least two passes if you don't have fresh snow and see how that goes (everyone's snow conditions are different...) - first pass deep (to renovate and loosen for track pan), second pass set track but keep the knives higher up (still in the snow, just not deep) - better finish for the skate section. Going from a "driver" of grooming equipment (tooling around the trails) to an operator (who uses the groomer AS the tool) is a long process. A long time cat operated used to figure at least 2 full seasons (1000+ hours) of seat time before he felt he was an operator of any given new machine. In my opinion a snowmobile / atv setup is a easier to learn (less variables), but it is still a long (and constant!) process. Learn, and remember to have fun! |
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| pablo | Jan 21 2010, 01:39 PM Post #4 |
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Hack!
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Hiya, Thank you for your response. As always much appreciated. Just to be clear in my noggin, I'd go deep on the first pass if it's not icy. Is that right? The YST instructions said to not go too deep when icy otherwise you end up with ice chunks. Or do you resign yourself to two or more passes, going deep all the time? And yes, I'm beginning to appreciate groomers and the fact that I'm now becoming an "operator" I have a small patch to maintain and I'm already seeing benefits in trying different things: knives too deep, not sufficient pressure on the track setter, varying speed of the ATV, etc. Quite a few different variables to play with! And as you point out, snow variability also comes in to play. What's really nice is I get to reap the fruits of my grooming labor! ![]() Cheers, -pablo |
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| Steve.M | Jan 21 2010, 02:00 PM Post #5 |
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Advanced Operator
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Pablo-With the Ginzu, the teeth cut really well and if there is too much resistance the blades swing back and up- a feature which works really well compared to a G2. I don't know that I'd cut too deep-you will end up with bigger chunks, that will have to be re-chopped again. Big variation on snow too, but 2 passes to fluff up hardpack and comb it works well. On boilerplate conditions, you may only be able to scratch the surface, but then again, 2-3 pases should yield a skatable surface. For setting tracks, probably two cutting passes will give you enough loose snow to set a track. There are many times tho, with super hard conditions, we just can't set a decent track-so we leave good ones until there is new snow. On your short trail, that may not be an issue-you could go around and around cutting a little at a time until you have loose snow to work with. |
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| jenny | Jan 29 2010, 10:42 PM Post #6 |
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Member
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I thought you folks would get a kick out of my first grooming mishap. We had the big rain many of you had last Monday. Part of our loop was flooded. Yesterday Pablo and I skied over it (there were several cm of loose snow on top of the ice) and it seemed solid. So I decided to get out the ATV and Ginzu ... First pass through was fine. The second time I lowered the knives a bit further and chopped myself a hole in the ice. Both the ATV and the ginzu were deep in a mud/ice/water mixture. I thought we'd never get it out. With a deep freeze predicted for today I'd figured it would freeze in for the winter. As it turns out, with the ATV in low, the winch on the front of the ATV, and a well placed tree, we were able to get it out without even disconnecting the drag. Really no big deal at all. We decided to reroute that part of the trail ... Now it's -22C at our house going down to -26 tonight, and that's not the wind chill. Hard to believe it poured rain on Monday. By the way, for any weather buffs this is a link to our personal weather station at our place where we're grooming. http://weather.hillsandlakes.com/ Jenny Edited by jenny, Jan 29 2010, 11:08 PM.
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| fisher205 | Jan 29 2010, 11:22 PM Post #7 |
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Member
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Just a suggestions: on the drifts and when cutting ice, on the second or later passes, pull from a different direction. This will help fill in the valleys and take off the tops. The knives seem to work the snow different. I have noticed most people tend to go in just one direction (even when they ski). |
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| Glide | Jan 29 2010, 11:28 PM Post #8 |
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ADK Nordic
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Doug at YTS who designs and makes the Ginzu says to go shallow (not deep) with the knives and make several passes rather than go aggressive and deep with the vertical knives. For you it's easier because you have a smaller trail system and making several passes isn't time consuming. I have a n ATV but I sure wish I had a Ginzu like you. |
| Glide | |
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| pablo | Jan 31 2010, 07:53 AM Post #9 |
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Hack!
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Hiya, Great idea about going in the reverse direction to cut down the snow drifts. Going slow made a difference and I suspect changing directions would have helped too. I also agree that dropping the knives incrementally makes the most sense all around. Aside from having smaller clumping, it seems like it'd also be less stress on the equipment (ATV pulling and the groomer itself). Thank you for the excellent suggestions. Cheers, -pablo |
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