PISTON LAKE CRUISER

Short story is that if the stump was on the groomed/travelled portion of the trail the groomer wouldn't miss it and in fact it may have been the drag from the groomer that took the bark off the stump on the last grooming. In Ontario each club was supposed to have someonne whose responsibility it is to look for dangerous spots on the trail and direct having it repaired and also go out to accident scenes and take information and pictures for use by the OFSC in defending themselves. I believe the position was called Orr's (sp). I cannot say for sure if that is still a requirement of the OFSC or not. If the Quebec clubs had a similar club job the lawsuit results may have been different.

I believe that I had read a few years ago that Quebec has the right answer. For lawsuits up to a maximum $ amount (can't remember the amount) If you sued and lost, you had to pay the other parties costs. Too bad Ontario wouldn't adapt this system.

In this case it only requires a sign at each end which states "follow road to trail" and possibly 2 small blue arrows at the turn. Rules of the road apply.

No the sled club folded a few years ago. No newbees to take over. The last wonderful gentleman and his wife to put all the trails in for them was 74 years old when he retired. Elmira club took over the trail from the north and St. Clements took over the trail to the west.

Just as an FYI, trailers are not supposed to park in the parking lot closest to the trail. Park in the area on the right as you come down the hill driving in. Bad scene last Saturday as trailers parked all over the big parking lot while the Rod & Gun was having a Wing Night fund raiser starting at 3PM and no where to park cars. If the trailer parking area I mentioned is full, drive down the driveway past the trail and there are areas you can park down there.

Not the best conditions of this season on our trails yesterday afternoon but not the worst.

Good question Dave. If you were like me, you couldn't find any info. about the day permits on line unless possibly if you went through the purchase procedure which I didn't do.

Either way when it ends up in court and the video is shown it would be a travesty of justice to rule against the truck driver in this situation.

Aside from size, the sled started his turn 150 feet or more before the corner and that is just wrong. JMHO

Its recorded and if something bad had happened there is no doubt that the recording would be viewed by the police. The sledder didn't look behind before crossing lanes. The sledder did not cross the road at 90 degrees. The sledder should have/ could have continued up the right haaand side to the road crossing and there, he could have/ should have gotten himself situated properly to cross the road properly at the road crossing. Above all this he rode up the wrong side of the road and right across the side road again while on the wrong side of the road. This is a good example of why more and more responsible truckers and trucking companies are installing camera's in their trucks.

Agreed Dave. I said to my wife that I had never seen anyone ride that side. I check for sleds coming from the opposite direction, wait them out and then get through that bridge at a brisk pace. There are just no other options for the trail in that area. Pretty certain the truck driver was on the horn as the sledder sped up at the last moment. Sorry the driver had to go through that but glad his brakes were in adjustment. Grain hauler from the Grey Highlands so he is likely and fortunately familiar with sleds and dumb sledders.

How did you get the ammonia infection?

You better go for a ride this weekend or sell it.

We can now ride from Heidelberg up through Conesoga Lake to Blyth in the west or Clifford in the north. More trails opening in Western Ontario daily.

Groomer just went through our place headed west. I'm staring to smile!

Not very thick but its frozen hard due to the rain on it last Saturday night after it was packed.

I was told that Milverton was intending to start packing on Tuesday. Elmira/ St. Clements has packed last Saturday and has been doing some work in the Linwood to Conestoga Lake junction. Rumors that Conestoga Lake & Palmerston may have some open by the weekend. As of Monday there was no frost in the ground anywhere a groomer hadn't packed in the St.Clements and Wellesley areas. There was stilll a few wet spots and some really rough plowed fields. We really need one more dump to get a lot of area trails open.

Our trails are mostly farm fields so we have to be sure that the wheat fields have sufficient coverage that we don't damage the crops and that the trails are safe to ride. We do pay for crops that we damage but that doesn't fix the farmers feelings about their damaged crops. Fine line deciding when to open in this low snow area.

Our groomers trails got a double pas on Saturday. The groomer ran from 10AM to 5AM on Sunday. We went out to do a final sign and stake inspection on our trails yesterday. The base is frozen hard and flat but unfortunately there are still some wet spots and there are a lot of wheat fields that don't have enough coverage to consider opening yet. It appears that the clubs to our west and south had not gotten out as their trails had no sign of packing. Need more snow!

There have been major changes there. There is no longer a District 8. The clubs that made it up have joined whichever surrounding District they are closest to. Maybe an OCer closer to the situation could explain it better if they wish.

Lots of Mennonite farms all over Western Ontario still having feed delivered and unloaded by blower trucks. The 3 month old tri-axle my son is driving came with a blower / sucker /auger.

Their are still many feed companies who have some trucks with rectangular "box" style blower bodies. For example locally there Floradale Feed Mill, Jones Feed Mill, WS Feeds, Sharpe Farm Supplies, Niewland Feeds.

Unless the yard they are leaving from is set up with some type of snow removal system the driver cannot clear the roof. The roof an dry vans is a very light smooth aluminum skin. they can't safely be on the roof to remove snow and even if they did they did get up there it would be extremely slippery and they would likely break through the roof, not to mention the need of a long ladder and snow removal tool. Many companies won't allow drivers on roof due to liability issues. Wallenstein Feeds fired a driver a few years ago for going up top. No way no how is their rule.

Groomer just rolled through our place. He will have at least one pass on 90% of his assigned trails by midnight. A goood days work.

Hoping that if he gets it packed down with these cold temps we are to get this week it might tighten up.