Southwest

[CatsPride185]

I see listowel just opened, anyone live around? Have some info on snow conditions and if they are out grooming the surrounding areas? Love riding that area

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

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.

[CatsPride185]

Ahhh okay makes sense, thanks for the info appreciate it

[Blackstar]

Brussels area is now open. Lots of posts on Facebook from the neighbouring clubs that the trails will open before the weekend. Its just taking time to pack and get some frost in those wet spots, paperwork, etc.

 

Palmerston club has an event Friday night so you can bet they want the trails open.

[Strong Farmer]

1 hour ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:

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.

How thick is base by your place after it was packed? 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

2 hours ago, Strong Farmer said:

How thick is base by your place after it was packed? 

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

[Dave K]

The wind is our enemy.  It hasnt stopped blowing since Fri here.  Drifts along fencelinces, and fields are bare..

  

[stoney]

4 minutes ago, Dave K said:

The wind is our enemy.  It hasnt stopped blowing since Fri here.  Drifts along fencelinces, and fields are bare..

  

Also not helping the lakes freeze, that have not already froze over.

[wrightonalan]

more areas opened up .i think with weather coming next week ,clubs will open with marginal conditions this weekend .

[Strong Farmer]

Thanks everyone for updates. Looks like waiting game continues. 

[Blackstar]

FEB now open yellow.

 

Any body else doing the refresh every hour like me?……lol

 

Picking up my buddy at 8am and heading out for a ride. Will report where I go and what I find.

[CAT RIDER]

Yes refresh very frequent, sometimes cant wait the hour!

 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

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

[Strong Farmer]

17 hours ago, Blackstar said:

FEB now open yellow.

 

Any body else doing the refresh every hour like me?……lol

 

Picking up my buddy at 8am and heading out for a ride. Will report where I go and what I find.

Listowel area has more snow so maybe Fergus Elora area does too 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

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. 

[Blackstar]

Flat light day with squals. Parked at Linwood Community Center.

I rode from Linwood, through Conestoga Lake, Listowel, Atwood, lunch at Brussels. Across the top of what is open after lunch, wroxeter, Fordwich, Clifford, Harriston Teviotdale, Arthur and back to Linwood.

 

Conestogo is fine. The odd thin spot in a field, bush trails are thin. West side had not been groomed in a couple days. Some areas heavily drifted. Couple of wet bushes near Listowel, passable.

 

Snow is better above Atwoodand kept getting deeper to Brussels. Atwood was groomed. Bush trails are still thin but many of the fields are heavily drifted. 
 

As we travelled east towards Clifford the snow gets thinner. Clifford area was groomed. Below Harriston the plowed fields start showing through. There was a section of trail near Harriston that should be closed. It’s completely chewed from a tractor, no snow, 5 mph crawl. Below Teviotdale there are plenty of plowed fields where the tops are showing through and it’s very thin cover near Arthur. Arthur area was groomed.
 

215 kms for the day. Good first run. I stained my knee on the weekend but figured I’d be fine. My knee says NO…..lol
 

Half a dozen trucks at the Linwood community Center when got there around 330. 
 

Id say we passed 70-80 sleds through the day, half of those after 2pm.

[wrightonalan]

24 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Flat light day with squals. Parked at Linwood Community Center.

I rode from Linwood, through Conestoga Lake, Listowel, Atwood, lunch at Brussels. Across the top of what is open after lunch, wroxeter, Fordwich, Clifford, Harriston Teviotdale, Arthur and back to Linwood.

 

Conestogo is fine. The odd thin spot in a field, bush trails are thin. West side had not been groomed in a couple days. Some areas heavily drifted. Couple of wet bushes near Listowel, passable.

 

Snow is better above Atwoodand kept getting deeper to Brussels. Atwood was groomed. Bush trails are still thin but many of the fields are heavily drifted. 
 

As we travelled east towards Clifford the snow gets thinner. Clifford area was groomed. Below Harriston the plowed fields start showing through. There was a section of trail near Harriston that should be closed. It’s completely chewed from a tractor, no snow, 5 mph crawl. Below Teviotdale there are plenty of plowed fields where the tops are showing through and it’s very thin cover near Arthur. Arthur area was groomed.
 

215 kms for the day. Good first run. I stained my knee on the weekend but figured I’d be fine. My knee says NO…..lol
 

Half a dozen trucks at the Linwood community Center when got there around 330. 
 

Id say we passed 70-80 sleds through the day, half of those after 2pm.

great trail report but what about your new ride ??

[Blackstar]

33 minutes ago, wrightonalan said:

great trail report but what about your new ride ??

Meh……..lol

 

It’s alright. I was hoping I would like it more than I do right now and most likely with more seat time and adjustments, I will.

8 years on my Cat so I have to compare. 1 ride and I miss my studs. Ice Ripper needs to go. Steering is heavy which I figured it would be. I find the seating is too far forward, banging my knees on the console, Cat felt more spacious. Cat front end is better in the corners. The ride is better on the Skidoo, especially the rear. The hand and thumb warmers are great and the multiple settings is handy. Can’t even compare the gauges, Doo by far but I have a lot to learn.

 

From the seat of the pants, the Cat pulls way harder. Prefer the Cat exhaust tone. The Doo drones at low speeds.

 

Interestingly, I was told I would never use the comfort setting for the Smart shocks as it’s too soft. I was preparing to send my shock module in to Precision EFI for their programming. Well, I couldn’t stand sport mode. It bothered my hands and shoulders cause the bars shook so bad. I switched to comfort and thought it was great, could be a tad softer yet for me but a huge improvement over Sport and never bottomed once.

 

And I miss my heated seat…….lol

[stoney]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

Meh……..lol

 

It’s alright. I was hoping I would like it more than I do right now and most likely with more seat time and adjustments, I will.

8 years on my Cat so I have to compare. 1 ride and I miss my studs. Ice Ripper needs to go. Steering is heavy which I figured it would be. I find the seating is too far forward, banging my knees on the console, Cat felt more spacious. Cat front end is better in the corners. The ride is better on the Skidoo, especially the rear. The hand and thumb warmers are great and the multiple settings is handy. Can’t even compare the gauges, Doo by far but I have a lot to learn.

 

From the seat of the pants, the Cat pulls way harder. Prefer the Cat exhaust tone. The Doo drones at low speeds.

 

Interestingly, I was told I would never use the comfort setting for the Smart shocks as it’s too soft. I was preparing to send my shock module in to Precision EFI for their programming. Well, I couldn’t stand sport mode. It bothered my hands and shoulders cause the bars shook so bad. I switched to comfort and thought it was great, could be a tad softer yet for me but a huge improvement over Sport and never bottomed once.

 

And I miss my heated seat…….lol

 

Good report and comparison!
 

[wrightonalan]

Not the rave review i was expecting .Im sure with a bit of sorting you will love it .Part of the fun .

[Pota]

13 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Flat light day with squals. Parked at Linwood Community Center.

I rode from Linwood, through Conestoga Lake, Listowel, Atwood, lunch at Brussels. Across the top of what is open after lunch, wroxeter, Fordwich, Clifford, Harriston Teviotdale, Arthur and back to Linwood.

 

Conestogo is fine. The odd thin spot in a field, bush trails are thin. West side had not been groomed in a couple days. Some areas heavily drifted. Couple of wet bushes near Listowel, passable.

 

Snow is better above Atwoodand kept getting deeper to Brussels. Atwood was groomed. Bush trails are still thin but many of the fields are heavily drifted. 
 

As we travelled east towards Clifford the snow gets thinner. Clifford area was groomed. Below Harriston the plowed fields start showing through. There was a section of trail near Harriston that should be closed. It’s completely chewed from a tractor, no snow, 5 mph crawl. Below Teviotdale there are plenty of plowed fields where the tops are showing through and it’s very thin cover near Arthur. Arthur area was groomed.
 

215 kms for the day. Good first run. I stained my knee on the weekend but figured I’d be fine. My knee says NO…..lol
 

Half a dozen trucks at the Linwood community Center when got there around 330. 
 

Id say we passed 70-80 sleds through the day, half of those after 2pm.

Haha must of missed you in the parking lot at Linwood.. I left from there as well. Very accurate report.

[UsedtoSkidoo]

14 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Meh……..lol

 

It’s alright. I was hoping I would like it more than I do right now and most likely with more seat time and adjustments, I will.

8 years on my Cat so I have to compare. 1 ride and I miss my studs. Ice Ripper needs to go. Steering is heavy which I figured it would be. I find the seating is too far forward, banging my knees on the console, Cat felt more spacious. Cat front end is better in the corners. The ride is better on the Skidoo, especially the rear. The hand and thumb warmers are great and the multiple settings is handy. Can’t even compare the gauges, Doo by far but I have a lot to learn.

 

From the seat of the pants, the Cat pulls way harder. Prefer the Cat exhaust tone. The Doo drones at low speeds.

 

Interestingly, I was told I would never use the comfort setting for the Smart shocks as it’s too soft. I was preparing to send my shock module in to Precision EFI for their programming. Well, I couldn’t stand sport mode. It bothered my hands and shoulders cause the bars shook so bad. I switched to comfort and thought it was great, could be a tad softer yet for me but a huge improvement over Sport and never bottomed once.

 

And I miss my heated seat…….lol

Looking forward to putting miles on mine. Mine has a lot of studs so I can see that will make a huge difference. 

 

Still south so Ill get out next weekend hopefully

[Spiderman]

15 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Meh……..lol

 

It’s alright. I was hoping I would like it more than I do right now and most likely with more seat time and adjustments, I will.

8 years on my Cat so I have to compare. 1 ride and I miss my studs. Ice Ripper needs to go. Steering is heavy which I figured it would be. I find the seating is too far forward, banging my knees on the console, Cat felt more spacious. Cat front end is better in the corners. The ride is better on the Skidoo, especially the rear. The hand and thumb warmers are great and the multiple settings is handy. Can’t even compare the gauges, Doo by far but I have a lot to learn.

 

From the seat of the pants, the Cat pulls way harder. Prefer the Cat exhaust tone. The Doo drones at low speeds.

 

Interestingly, I was told I would never use the comfort setting for the Smart shocks as it’s too soft. I was preparing to send my shock module in to Precision EFI for their programming. Well, I couldn’t stand sport mode. It bothered my hands and shoulders cause the bars shook so bad. I switched to comfort and thought it was great, could be a tad softer yet for me but a huge improvement over Sport and never bottomed once.

 

And I miss my heated seat…….lol

Pretty honest report.

Those Cats are pretty good sleds 

[Blackstar]

4 hours ago, Pota said:

Haha must of missed you in the parking lot at Linwood.. I left from there as well. Very accurate report.

We were the only truck there at 830am. We left at 4pm.

 

I was pulling the trailer with my work truck. It hard to miss.

 

 

 

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, Spiderman said:

Pretty honest report.

Those Cats are pretty good sleds 

 A lot of people bitched at how old the Procross was and that it had fallen behind the others. But I still like it. It just fits me better. 
I was in the shop this morning going back and forth to see where I need to change the Mach to feel more like the Cat. The difference is in the distance from the rear of the seat to the footwells. The Mach is definitely shorter. I have to sit on the tail of the Mach seat to get the same knee bend.