Grooming x-country ski trails

[Featherbrained farms]

Anyone here uses a wheeled tractor to groom ski trails? My pal uses an ATV with a homemade sled so I have no doubts it can be done, but I'd like to hear about your experiences, tips and tricks, and any gear you use to get it done. INteresting video on the topic here: Grooming the cross-country ski trails up on the farm - YouTube

 

[Stomper]

I have been grooming ski trails for close to 15 years now and have always used a snowmobile. With a big dump of snow such as in the video I could see using wheeled equipment such as a tractor because there would be enough snow to fill in the tire marks. But having said that, the key to grooming ski trails is to keep the snow on the trails, which would help fill in the tire tracks. The tire drag in the video pushes the snow off to the side. It does fill in the tire tracks but it does so by pushing the snow off the trail. I made a 5' x 7' drag out of 2x2x1/8 angle. It has two cross braces width wise. They are angled in opposite directions. The front one pushes the snow from left to right and the other pushes it from right to left to help fill in any dips in the trail. The long length also helps to shave off any high spots and fill in any low spots. I live in precambrian sheild country in northern Canada where the land is either rock, lake, or swamp so grooming with a tractor is completely out of the question. Being able to use a tractor would definately take the being "to heavey to pull" out of the equation. As far as grooming with a quad goes, I would think that in too much snow the tires would just cause more damage than good because any amount of added weight from snow build up on the drag would cause traction issues. I use my sled and complete all the trails with the drag and then use my homemade tracker to track them. This takes some time to do because you have to go over the trails twice. I am going to modify the drag so that the tracker is attached to the drag so that I can do one pass grooming. I have concerns though that it may be too heavy for my snowmobile to pull because when the snow builds up on the drag now, I some times spin.
The video below shows a home made groomer pulled by a quad and it seems to do a good job. It's a sweet setup.
The Best Homemade Groomer 2 of 2 - YouTube

 

[ArlyA]

XC trails are my job. A tractor is a wast of your time, like you need to run to the store to get groceries, so you take your Kenworth. Do you have anything else to use as a tow machine?

 

[Featherbrained farms]

XC trails are my job. A tractor is a wast of your time, like you need to run to the store to get groceries, so you take your Kenworth. Do you have anything else to use as a tow machine?

I get it - snowmobile the way to go. But I don稚 have one and there are no chances I値l get one in foreseeable future. All our pocket change going into tractor - so I guess my question is, seeing as it is not the best tool for the job, how would you go about doing it if at all - keep in mind, I知 talking 1.5 km in the bush behind my house for family use.

 

[ArlyA]

I never said "snowmobiles are the way to go". Stomper comments are correct, a tractors PSI is high enough you might not be able to repair its tracks or fill them back in. An ATV or UTV might be a better option for you.

I should add than many people think "its just for me, it will be fun, and I don't want to spend any $$". So they go out to trim their grass with a chainsaw since they already have that. After doing that for a while , it wasn't all that fun and whatever the did was such poor quality, why keep it up.....

 

[Egon]

Why do you have to groom for cross country? Get a strong young lad to break a trail & all is good. Or take turns breaking trail. In the backcountry there is no grooming, just deep snow.

The mechanical grooming methods make the surface crystalline which is not nice stuff to climb on.

 

[zing]

Why do you have to groom for cross country? Get a strong young lad to break a trail & all is good. Or take turns breaking trail. In the backcountry there is no grooming, just deep snow.

The mechanical grooming methods make the surface crystalline which is not nice stuff to climb on.

I do the same thing myself, break a couple of kms the day after a snow and then add some distance to it each day after that by gliding on my old tracks and then breaking a bit more, until it snows again and I have to start again. That is fine for classical style where you just want two straight tracks to glide in, but these guys seem to be looking for the wide, flat, packed down tracks you need for skate style x-country.

 

[Egon]

Some will enjoy the Skate style, but if you wish a backcountry expierience the skating style just don't work. I'm a little biased on cross country skiing.