Cooperation is needed
 

A little cooperation from Mother Nature and all snowmobilers is needed to keep our trails open. Currently there is snow cover on all of the Moultonborough Trails, however it is not thick and with this weekend's riding it got pretty beat up. We will try to groom it back into shape but there is only so much we can do.

Please try to recognize a freshly groomed trail and then ride lightly over it until it "sets up" or gets firm after grooming, usually 2-6 hours. I groomed Corridor 15 from the power lines to Center Harbor Friday night. By the time I had turned around and back up from the end (opposite of Ambrose Cove), a lone snowmobiler had gone through ripping his/her way through every corner all the way up to Murphy's. We realize that there are fewer things better to ride on than a freshly groomed trail but please go easy!!

Thank you for your consideration. Now let's get Mother Nature on board too (looks good though)

I was about to start a new thread about grooming and Moultonboro but I guess I'll just tack this one here in this thread:

On Friday I rode from Suissevale up the Powerlines to Kanasatka to Meredith bay to the tracks. Good conditions on Moultonboro side as usual. Trail from Center Harbor to Meredith was decent on the Moultonboro side. As soon as you pass the farm on to the Meredith side it was pretty poor. By the way getting to the Tracks from Meredith bay is a huge challenge these days. The steep hill is not an option when I have my 7 year old on the back. I could not find the old entrance to the tracks from the lake by the Grouse Point Docks. There was a group of 5 people looking for that same access point I was looking for and we never found it. Did they put up a fence recently? Anyway instead of going all the way to The Weirs I found a really nice guy Ice Fishing nearby that let me cut through his yard. Thanks to that guy if you are reading this.

Tracks were miserable all the way to Ashland. Stay away at all cost. Ride up toward Rumney over the mountain was good. Ride from Plain Jane's to Plymouth was a B-. Plymouth to Ashland was ok. Best riding all day was Squam Lake. So beautiful and it seems that they do not have nearly the slush problem that has been plaguing Winni.

Squam to Kanasatka was just ok at this point and then Kanasatka to Winni on 15 was bumpy at this point. 4pm

100 mile day all in all decent riding.

Ok so I go to bed and I am dreaming about the bumpy conditions and dreading that when I wake up. So I'm supposed to meet a crew on Kanasatka at 10am. I wake up and hit the Suissevale access trail to 15. Access trail is bumpy of course as it is not groomed being that it is an access trail. Every bump re-aggrivates a sore muscle from the day before. In my head I am like oh man I can't do this today. Guess I am getting old.
I get on the main trail and there it was!!! All I could think of is that it was like magic elves came out overnight and made these magnificent, amazing, flat trails. Immediately I smile from ear to ear. I think to myself there is no way that all the trails in Moultonboro can be this good today. It's impossible I thought. It's kind of like the whole concept of Santa Claus. How does he get to every house in one night? ;) There is no way the groomers were able to hit all the trails overnight? So I meet my crew after a fantastic ride up the powerlines and tell them of my great fortune. So instead of our original plan to go up to Sandwich I suggest we ride all of, or the majority of the Moultonboro trails on Sunday. I wanted to explore new ground in Moultonboro and everyone was fine with the idea.
We had a GREAT day. We only logged about 60 miles but it was so fun. Red Hill was in great shape and so fun. The trails by the Village kitchen were awesome. Trails by the Castle were awesome. Powerlines were fun and smooth, best I've ever ridden in that area. We took the Kona loop and Far Echo trails to Braun bay (less grooming there and tight and windy but real fun).
All in all we had such a great day on the Moultonboro trails on Sunday I wanted to thank all the groomers for all their hard work. I really really really appreciate all the hard work you guys do for us. I had one of the best days riding even though I stayed close and never really left Moultonboro. :D

Thanks for the nice report and kind words about the Moultonboro Club's grooming. It is appreciated!

Great novice outing until...
 

So today we took out the new sled for its maiden trip on the M'boro trails...so, so beautiful!! We only put on a few miles this morning as the temperature gauge was in the red, making us nervous. We called the store we bought the sled from and they told us it was due to the lack of snow powder on the trails...that the sled was overheating as we were not kicking up enough snow to cool it off. They suggested going off trail into a field to kick up some powder. As rookies we were uncomfortable with the going off trail idea (just our luck...we would have a landowner come by!) so we stopped for the day.

Thanks to everyone who works on these trails! They looked great to us! We look forward to putting many miles on our latest toy!

PK- I would have to question the dealer regarding the temperature guage. While there is not a ton of snow, there should be enough to throw onto your heat exchangers and cool the sled. You should not have to go off trail to cool your sled.

The club has a ride out of the Village Kitchen on Saturdays weekly (snow dependent) at 0830 that may interest you.

Mind if I ask what place you bought the sled from? I'd like to make sure I never walk through their doors.

Bad information!
 

That is absolutely terrible information, unless your new toy is a circa 1971 "Sno-Jet." Under no circumstances should you have to go "off-trail" to cool down your sled. There is plenty of snow out there right now to cool down your machine. What kind? What Year? and more importantly What Dealership?

I defiantly would be http://i53.tinypic.com/1f7g4h.jpg at that dealership or individual that gave me that wrong information. :(

I was afraid of that...
 

Yikes! The suggestion to go off trail seemed a little odd to us as well and you have confirmed that. Like a car, I assume using the sled with the heat gauge in the red zone is a bad idea. The sled is a 2006 Ski Doo GTX that had 50 miles on it when we purchased it, so essentially new (it certainly looks brand new!).

The dealer is a major local player and the folks there have been super nice and good to work with up to this point. So, I want to give them a chance to fix this. Because of our schedule, we will not be able to ride until Saturday at which time we will go right to the dealer if the problem repeats.

Any ideas as to what the issue could be? Thermostat stuck? Automatic sensor that rookies were driving? :)

The only thing that you could have been doing was going too slow. If you go really slow they will heat up from lack of snow kicking up on the heat exchangers. The other possible issue wouls be conditions being soo firm that no snow is kicking up, but I don't beleive that was the case yesterday either. Maybe a bubble in the cooling systems needs to be burped out? That occationally happens. There is one very local dealer that is good, and the other not as local dealer has a less steller reputation. Hows that? No names needed.

My money is on an air bubble in the cooling system.

Oh, and great job on the trails Vitabene. I have not been up that way, but it sounds like people have been out enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Moultonborough SNC does a great job grooming...we see them out there day and night,even durring some of the worst storms.The problem as I see it ......and I've met lots of them on the trails.....is the people who treat the trails like a snocross track.Spinning on corners and jumping moguls on the trail.Lots of fun for them but it ruins the trail quickly for other riders and makes a huge job for the groomers.
Those of you who like to get rowdy....why not do it on the lake instead of tearing up the trails for the rest of us??? Thanks

The Dealer may not have miss spoke?
 

One observation of yesterdays conditions. When I left my house yesterday morning (9:00am) it was 10 degrees. As I went up the Neck Road I could see where the Tucker had been out the night before. The groomed trails looked like they could be a little hard from the "COLD" night and still low morning temps. With this type of a hard surface being the first one on these trails could present a "cooling" problem. With such a hard surface very little snow will be picked up by the track. It can be even more problematic with out studs.

The dealer may have chosen the wrong words as to how to correct the over heating problem. What he could have said was to ride the "EDGE" of the trail where you could "Pick Up " some "Loose" snow. This maneuver is usually accomplished by going form on side of the trail to the other to get an equal amount of snow on both sides of the track. This maneuver is also used if the "Hyfax" (Sliders)start sticking.

This would bring the temp back down if it was the lack of snow being churned up by the track not an actual mechanical problem.

WINNOCTURN

Meredith bay to the Railbed
 

I tried to go from Mededith Bay up up to the railbed last weekend and did not make it. It is really steep and at the top I hit a rock with my right ski and the left ski fell in a hole. The sled went sideways and then rolled. I was sliding back down on my stomach and the sled was coming down after me on it's top.

I am ok and the sled only had minor cosmetic damage.

Please beware of this access route

I've done that. I had done that hill a number of times even with my bobsled trailer attached. But it got tracked off real quick and had no traction. Same result, got close to the top, sled stopped, got sideways, scrambled to hold the sled from rolling to no avail. No damage to me or the sled, or the little bobsled type trailer I was pulling. That made it interesting. The whole thing "jacknifed". There is usually a better access point just around the point (forget the name of that point) towards the Weirs.

Tried finding that access point last weekend and could not find it. Grousse Point is the place you are speaking of and I swear they must have put up a new fence there. Can anyone confirm? If that is the case to get to the tracks (without climbing the death climb) you have to go to the Wiers and hop on by the Akwa Marina development.

I haven't done it yet this year, and it looks like the trail has been rerouted since I did it last, but I think you could go to the end of Meredith Bay and take the trail that goes to Waukewan. Cross Waukewan and I believe there is an easy spot to hop onto the tracks. Anyone done that this year??