Good points coldone! For the most part I agree with all that. There are more variables to the equation than just those three but those three are the basis. Right now we have all three of those components but yet we have less than great trails.
We have the snow but lack of new snow degrades the current snow to "sugar" or "recycled." Cold temps will set up sugar to some minor degree but you need 0-15 to get that to happen and we have had little of that this season. Actually in these conditions, a warm day can get moisture back into the sugar and set up a trail but than you may have overheating issues on the sled. Put a little snow on that base and we're off to a great start.That's exactly what we strive for in Dec. Even on an average snow year the trails often turn to sugar and the base is shot, not all the way to the ground because there always seems to be ice there but the normal durable base is greatly compromise. Even on a high snow year, if you get prolonged no new snows and heavy traffic you get the effect we have now but with monster moguls. Personally I believe things could have been worse around here if we had a huge base because the moguls can get bad but only as high in relation to the amount of snow, which is low now on the trail so the moguls don't get as big. With heavy traffic, and no new snows, sugar snow takes about a week to develop so it's not that long or unusual. When this sugar snow develops there is little you can do with it and that is where we are now and have been for a few weeks. Keep in mind I am referring to my area but we are receiving new snows now and and we may see some very good trail condition real soon. I think by Monday they will be real good and after next weeks snows even better. Traffic normally begins to slow right around now or in a week. So, we can fight "base" issues on any level of accumulated snows if we have a prolonged time frame of no new snow and experience heavy traffic.
We also have had the temps for the most part. We have had a few warm ups but the lack of fresh snow has been the main crippling factor of the three basics you mention. The over all determining factor of rough trails is the traffic. That's not a bad thing in general but add that to low snow and we have problems. Basically the UP has all the snow in da Midwest so everybody is around here which is nice for business but the riders experience no so great of conditions. I would say the temps have been the least of our issues but than again I could be wrong there because with cold temps comes LE.
We also have had the grooming working at least on a normal basis on average and extra efforts to some degree. I do know that the trail you are referring to has been run by 2 machines at the same time on at least one occasion. Many of us hit areas twice or three time. I often back up and hit corners numerous times to get the snow in shape so we have taken extra precautions to try and deal with rough trails. The only improvement we as groomers could make is to ALWAYS go out late to take advantage of few sleds destroying a clean ribbon which is critical and at the same time we would have the coldest temps of the night and early morning hrs to see it set up. Oh yea, the warmer daytime temps contribute to rapid deterioration of trail conditions.
So,,,,in our current condition, daytime additional grooming does virtually nothing to improve trail condition except in the mind of the riders because they believe something is being done to fix the problem. Maybe the first 25 sleds can say it wasn't bad and that is worth something. In reality and I mean literally, five sleds can take a fresh ribbon to a unnoticeably groomed trail. On a cold day with fresh snow a mid-day groom will yield much better results and worth the money.
Lastly, double or triple grooming a 23 mile one way trail that has twisty, hills in the mix is very time consuming often running at 3-5 miles per hr on rough, especially with no grooming blade in front. Double grooming the grade from Twin Lakes to Toilola or Mass is less than 14 miles one way and flat, much easier to do and makes many people happy. I agree, sometimes PR is worth while because the trail can be almost impassable for some rider so an effort to knock the trail down does help but right back up they come (moguls.)
