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Our V.P. Spotted a Husky heading north of North Bay on Highway 11 today.

Mike Jr. & Sr. Putting on some Kms.

 

Our V.P. Spotted a Husky heading north of North Bay on Highway 11 today.

Mike Jr. & Sr. Putting on some Kms.

Sr and Jr delivered one to Parry Sound D10 /Mactier today 

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Ours is being delivered tomorow

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Cochrane closes A105Q, citing loss of a groomer as the cause.

 

post-22473-0-52324200-1453006688_thumb.jpg

 

 

A105Q highlighted in blue. 138.5 kms.

 

post-22473-0-61756800-1453007015_thumb.png

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I guess their other two groomers are running 24/7. The other clubs can't redistribute what they groom and each absorb a bit more? Are they sticking to the these are my club trails and we only groom ours? Are they not adopting the grooming association concept? The idea was to make more use of what you have or is this perhaps simply a way of protesting.

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Not good news, especially for the town itself. Another good link disappears.

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While I am not aware of the decision making process it is important to consider that District 15 is a large district that is very linear.  I am not aware of any other clubs in D15 that had 3 groomers and most clubs are separated by physical boundaries.  I know our club which was fortunate enough to receive a newer groomer last year from D15 (2007 Husky that spend the first 7 years of its life in Nevada collecting about 80 hours of use) could not go to one groomer.  I think most of the other clubs would be in the same situation.  We groom about 200 km of "Main" trails (to Hearst and to Dubreuilville),  and about 100km of local trails so I don't think it is a case of other clubs being greedy, just a case of having to look at the resources available and adjust trails accordingly.  

 

If you read through the comment section on the Cochrane Facebook site they provide some further thoughts to the closing and losing the groomer.  In the end given time, money and volunteer constraints it seems to the most sense to close that trail as opposed to others.  If i remember correctly the trail they closed was not opened until the end of January last year, well after all the other trails, and does not see as much traffic.

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Maybe hoping Quebec takes over the trail.

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If I recall correctly, this was the whole point of the MOTS exercise, wasn't it? Reduce the fleet and rationalize trails to get a bigger bang for your permit buck. If you look at the map, it's not like another club can pick up the slack on that trail, as there is no other club. Many on this board have spoken before about clubs needing to drop the low use trails to focus more effort on the high use areas. This is what that looks like.

BP

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Maybe hoping Quebec takes over the trail.

Not likely, lack of support from Quebec was cited (on the PBR Facebook page) as one of the reasons this trail was chosen.  

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Not likely, lack of support from Quebec was cited (on the PBR Facebook page) as one of the reasons this trail was chosen.

Was mostly tourist riders like myself going to Quebec for lunch and coming back. I can see lack of traffic issue. Only goes to Quebec and back. Most people want to do a loop and not ride same trail twice.

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Whatever the cause, I'm saddened to read this. Every trail closure, gas station closure, restaurant/motel/etc closure diminishes the experience that once was. Not only was this a great trail to ride in and of itself, it was a connector trail. One that connected the rider to a whole other network of trails; and, with similar cross border trails at Kirkland Lake, New Liskeard, North Bay, was part of an offering of a myriad of "Loops" opportunities. Lost.

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Was mostly tourist riders like myself going to Quebec for lunch and coming back. I can see lack of traffic issue. Only goes to Quebec and back. Most people want to do a loop and not ride same trail twice.

How do you know that it was in/lunch/out riders that used the trail "mostly"? Did you do a survey? Only goes to Quebec and back? What the hel-- does that mean??? That trail was used as a loop connection for riders going in/out of Quebec and I believe it saw more use the last couple of years  particularly with the free Quebec weekend. It will hurt tourism in Cochrane and area to a degree. That being said, I understand the clubs decision.

The district grooming concept would dictate that neighbouring clubs would pick up more Cochrane trail to the west and south so Cochrane could run east however, I'm sure those clubs are already stretched to the limit.

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Not going to be a huge loss except for those that specifically target that trail as VR mentioned. There are other border crossing trails ... I'm sure this particular one sees less traffic than the others (Kirkland Lake might be close though) . Not like North Bay area. I'd be curious to see numbers on border crossing trail usage.

But regardless, any lost trail is going to be hard to get back.

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Cochrane closes A105Q, citing loss of a groomer as the cause.

 

attachicon.gifclose trail.jpg

 

 

A105Q highlighted in blue. 138.5 kms.

 

attachicon.gifa105q.png

We take this trail every year on our saddlebag trip that changes our whole plan on our trip ,we usually go thru quebec on the free weekend and come thru on that trail to Cochrane, we will have to replan our trip sorry to see that trail disappear it was a nice trail .

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Contrary to popular belief, the district did not see a big influx of sledders coming from Quebec every year via the A105Q. The ones that did show up always seemed surprised that everybody spoke French here. I'm reading a lot about how everyone used that trail to go to Quebec...why maintain a trail that takes $$$ out of the district?

While it might have been a "nice" trail, I applaud the district on the tough choice....one that ALL other districts will have to make. Before you get your new groomer, you have to make some sacrifices.

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Contrary to popular belief, the district did not see a big influx of sledders coming from Quebec every year via the A105Q. The ones that did show up always seemed surprised that everybody spoke French here. I'm reading a lot about how everyone used that trail to go to Quebec...why maintain a trail that takes $$$ out of the district?

While it might have been a "nice" trail, I applaud the district on the tough choice....one that ALL other districts will have to make. Before you get your new groomer, you have to make some sacrifices.

as mentioned, I understand the reasoning. Our group likes northern Ontario and Northwestern Quebec to ride in. We have used this trail going both directions on various trips (loops) with Liskeard and N.Bay as a start/stop point. Unfortunate loss but means that we will need to decide to stay in one province or the other when on the Northern trails.I'm guessing quite a few others will have to make the same decision.
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I'm reading a lot about how everyone used that trail to go to Quebec...why maintain a trail that takes $$$ out of the district?

While it might have been a "nice" trail, I applaud the district on the tough choice....one that ALL other districts will have to make. Before you get your new groomer, you have to make some sacrifices.

We've taken that trail 'in' to Ontario. New Liskeard >Quebec north>back into Ontario. Stayed in Cochrane (spent $ at Westway and restaurants). Was planning a similar trip this year. Plans will change. Sorry to see the trail closed.

If local (District) riders saw this one as needing to be cut - get it. Still, not good. Hopefully some partnership with Quebec in the future. Each groom halfway?

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This is what happens with a $180 permit, get use to it, lots more to come everywhere. You can stretch steel, aluminum and plastic, the federation has stretched dollars as far as they can go. Everyone will get to ride their 20 grand on a lot less k of trail for the mere rock bottom price of 180 bux.......congrats to all the tight wads that cry about permit price, now suck it up.

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The permit price is still too high. With the cost of everything else today there is a diminishing amount of disposable income to pay for things like sleds, boats etc. Something has to give. After paying $7 for cauliflower, $16K for a new sled, and did you go to the boat show? $70K for a new boat, the kids hockey or dance classes the money to pay for the permit is all but gone. Drop it to $150 a season or lower, especially in light of the late snow season we are seeing this year. Go with higher numbers of permit sales and net same or more total revenue.  

 

Hold on let me rewind and smack myself in the head. I must have been hanging around too many crazy people lately. The permit was a solid value even before they dropped the price. At least for me it was and I never begrudged buying our two permits each year.

 

It's like the laughable situation where someone drops $70K on a new boat but cheaps out on the marine polish to protect it.

 

The attitude of those that will spend large on the latest sled, the trailer and the gear to go with it to try and penny pinch on the permit is just insane. The storage bag that came with my new sled isn't large enough to hold much of anything. I spent more on a bag yesterday than I did on the trail permit.

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This is what happens with a $180 permit, get use to it, lots more to come everywhere. You can stretch steel, aluminum and plastic, the federation has stretched dollars as far as they can go. Everyone will get to ride their 20 grand on a lot less k of trail for the mere rock bottom price of 180 bux.......congrats to all the tight wads that cry about permit price, now suck it up.

100% true, yes there are efficiencies but the bottom line is that price has effectively been reduced to $180 and that is too low to sustain the infrastructure.

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The permit price is still too high. With the cost of everything else today there is a diminishing amount of disposable income to pay for things like sleds, boats etc. Something has to give. After paying $7 for cauliflower, $16K for a new sled, and did you go to the boat show? $70K for a new boat, the kids hockey or dance classes the money to pay for the permit is all but gone. Drop it to $150 a season or lower, especially in light of the late snow season we are seeing this year. Go with higher numbers of permit sales and net same or more total revenue.  

 

Hold on let me rewind and smack myself in the head. I must have been hanging around too many crazy people lately. The permit was a solid value even before they dropped the price. At least for me it was and I never begrudged buying our two permits each year.

 

It's like the laughable situation where someone drops $70K on a new boat but cheaps out on the marine polish to protect it.

 

The attitude of those that will spend large on the latest sled, the trailer and the gear to go with it to try and penny pinch on the permit is just insane. The storage bag that came with my new sled isn't large enough to hold much of anything. I spent more on a bag yesterday than I did on the trail permit.

02 you had my BP increasing quickly until you made your point very effectively.

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I would be happy if they switched permit to US dollars for next season. Can advertise it at 180 and have fine print saying it is in us dollars. That out to help out the shortage of funds and people will think they got a great deal too!

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I would be happy if they switched permit to US dollars for next season. Can advertise it at 180 and have fine print saying it is in us dollars. That out to help out the shortage of funds and people will think they got a great deal too!

 

Yeah right. An organization that has struggled with credibility should now scam its members through a hidden currency exchange?!?

This sounds like another bad Sham WOW commercial. 

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