|   snow removal---is it trail maintainence or sanitation? | alibi
Apr 28, 2003 4:34 PM | | Many of our mid-elevation trails here in northern Utah are finally 95% dry and rideable save for the occasional 20-50' long patch of snow. These are machine-cut trails, and when a traverse is cut into the steep slopes, snow fills in much deeper than elsewhere, and tends to linger in shady and north facing areas. It can't be ridden through, usually being knee deep slush, so people tend to ride around the snow on the downhill side where it is still very wet, leaving a temporary, deeply rutted detour that never recovers, as the snow stays late in the same spots every year. So, is there a reason not to shovel out a path through the snow where the trail should be and hope that people will take the hint? Granted it will be a wet rut until the snow patch is completely gone, but a least the damage is being confined to the trail, and from my observations, will go away once the spot dries and begins to pack down.
And on a similar drift, what about a large rock that weathers out of the uphill side, tumbles onto the trail and lands smack in the middle of the singletrack. Hundreds will ride around it until someone finally moves it; why not just move it upon the first encounter and eliminate the lensing of the trail?
Opinions please, and thanks much in advance. |
| sounds like people really shouldn't be riding them | Jm
Apr 28, 2003 4:59 PM | | even if they are 95% dry, if they got snow on 5% and that 5% is getting messed up-doesn't sound to me like people should be riding it. Anyway, I don't think snow removal should count as "sanitization" because there are just too many variables, snow can be rock hard, slushy, powdery, etc, its not just one way so at different points in its evolution(from powder, to hardpack, to slush) it affects the trail differently. |
| I've heard that leave removal isn't sanitization....... | celly
Apr 28, 2003 5:56 PM | | then again, I don't take the source of that information very reliable.
I'd just wait until the snow melts before riding it. Let nature take it's course.
Just my $0.02. Canuck bucks, so that's not much. |
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