in Fatbike Forum

If anyone happens to be in the cable area next week there is a Fat Bike advocacy meeting covering grooming and access issues: https://www.imba.com/civicrm/event/info

On a related note I have two projects in the queue to for grooming, one is a small sled meant to be pulled behind snowshoes that won't completely pack the trail in but it should smooth the snow after the shoes have compressed it which will make it easier for the first couple of bikes to lay down tracks.

The other I feel is the most promising.  The hoofers outdoor club likes to do outings and snowshoeing is on the list of activities that they enjoy.  I'm going to try organizing an outing with them after the next good snow fall.

If anyone happens to be in the cable area next week there is a Fat Bike advocacy meeting covering grooming and access issues: https://www.imba.com/civicrm/event/info

On a related note I have two projects in the queue to for grooming, one is a small sled meant to be pulled behind snowshoes that won't completely pack the trail in but it should smooth the snow after the shoes have compressed it which will make it easier for the first couple of bikes to lay down tracks.

The other I feel is the most promising.  The hoofers outdoor club likes to do outings and snowshoeing is on the list of activities that they enjoy.  I'm going to try organizing an outing with them after the next good snow fall.

Rich I am hoping to be in attendance for this summit. I actually have hotel reservations and plans to go. With all of my travel I have some free hotel nights coming and am planning on donating to CORP.
The only caveat is that I am resigning from my job tomorrow morning and taking a job at a new company. And I have a work vehicle. So if they accept my two-week notice and allow me to take Friday as one of my remaining vacation days I am in. If they reaction goes south then I have no vehicle to get there. I would certainly allow anyone else from CORP to use my reservations. I think as a club we need to find a way to get some representation at more of these meetings and gatherings in our region.

The other I feel is the most promising.  The hoofers outdoor club likes to do outings and snowshoeing is on the list of activities that they enjoy.  I'm going to try organizing an outing with them after the next good snow fall.

I'm a member of the outing club, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of interest lately for winter biking or snowshoeing.  This is something I'd like to change, but part of the problem is that it can be difficult for me to lead these kinds of trips without a car.  I did post a trip on Sunday to QR to snowshoe and bike, but I have a feeling that it is likely no one will sign up.  That being said, I do feel like the idea could gain a lot of momentum if just a couple people became interested; I'll have to wait and see.

Somewhat related, but does anyone have any cheap/DIY snowshoe recommendations?  Or maybe someone has an old pair they'd like to sell? 

I can help with the car bit. If we get another substantial snow in the forecast get in touch with me.

With a good healthy dump of snow falling it's time to implement operation "Hoofer Stomp".  Mccarthy, do you think you can help to put this together?  I'm able to take 9 passengers in my van and am free on tues and wed night.  Ideally I'd like to get the snowshoes on the trail Tuesday night with the hope of being able to ride on Wed.

Here's my initial proposal: A lovely evening snow shoe walk through fresh powder at Cam Rock 3.  We will meet at location <TBD, somewhere downtown i presume> at 5 pm, rolling out at 5:30 which should have us on the trail a bit after 6.  I'm completely flexible on every item, so if Quarry Ridge is easier for everyone (that should cut down on total outing time by about an hour) that works too, or whatever makes it easier for the most number of people.  I think if we can get 4 hoofers along with a CORPer or two it will be worth the effort.

Cool.  Let's give this a try.

I will make an event and let you know if 4 or more people sign up.  Weekly meetings are on Tuesday, so I think Wednesday at 5pm will work much better.  Best place to meet is probably Memorial Union.

Just a couple questions Rich,

Do you expect gas money?
Can you transport bikes if people want to go for a ride after stomping? (if you don't want to avoid complication and just stick with stomping that's fine too)
How long do you estimate for total outing time?

thanks!

Typically you need to wait a day after snowshoeing for things to setup before you will want to bike on it.

to echo what G said, things need to setup for a day or so after being packed in so I wouldn't recommend bringing bikes.  For gas money, it's not required but is always nice when people chip in, the trip to CamRock will cost about $12 in gas so a couple bucks per person easily covers it.

An hour of stomping around in the snow is probably enough for most people, if we leave Madison at 5:30 then I estimate being back by 8:30, we can compress that or get more time in the snow if we go to Quarry Ridge.

to echo what G said, things need to setup for a day or so after being packed in so I wouldn't recommend bringing bikes. 

Good to know - I just asked since it might be a selling point.

For gas money, it's not required but is always nice when people chip in, the trip to CamRock will cost about $12 in gas so a couple bucks per person easily covers it.

Definitely.  Maybe we can just go to quarry ridge? I'll be happy to help you pay for gas, but if it's alright I think I'll advertize the event as free to try and maximize attendance of poor college students.  There hasn't been a single snow shoeing trip all winter, so I'm just trying to do everything I can to make this work.  Cross country skiing is much more popular and just heading out on Lake Mendota is usually a more attractive option than going somewhere else (unless it's really noteworthy), so that's what we're up against.  If there is enough interest, we could always lead a trip to Camrock in the near future and ask everyone to chip in.

Thanks again for offering to help make this happen.  I'll keep you updated as people (hopefully) sign up.

Rich-

Good news.  There are 5 people signed up so far including myself and another person that can drive if need be.  Does your van fit 9 people total (including you?).  Now that we've hit critical mass there is a chance things will snowball and we'll get even more.  I think I sent you a PM with contact info.  Let me know if it didn't work.

PM replied to.

On my commute home it was clear that the stomp down probably isn't absolutely necessary given how much (little) snow fell, but this should still be fun and a good practice run at the concept.  Hopefully there will be some fresh snow still on Wed, if not we can make up some new winter lines

It would be awesome if you can get things stomped in now. With the warmer temps coming it should firm up nicely and make for some fast riding when the temps cool again!

Well the general idea of actively bringing snowshoers to the trails has some real potential.  Last night we had a total of 8 pairs of snowshoes (counting G and Jin who showed up later) packing things in and were able to hit most of the trails Quarry Ridge.  A good portion already had some tracks down but we were able to open up some of the runs that don't see a lot of action in the winter, effectively adding useable miles to the park. The sections that were packed in but had some post holes from regular shoes or ruts were nice and smooth after we passed over them.

The group from the hoofers seemed to enjoy themselves and total time from pickup to dropoff was about 3 hours, not bad for the amount of work that got done.  It may not have been a critical mission for this particular snowfall but if we can get some relationships built up with the hoofers or other clubs that would be into this sort of thing we could really make some headway on the grooming challenge.  Maybe CORP could invest in a supply of loaner snowshoes to make it accessible to more folks.

Thanks again to mccarthy for doing the recruiting, although suspiciously only ladies showed up for the adventure 

Seems there is more interest in snowshoeing in the club than I originally thought, so I could definitely see holding an event after a big snowfall to camrock or blue mounds and asking everyone to chip in a few dollars.  While it seemed that everyone had a good time, I think more fresh snow would make the event more fun for the participants and more worthwhile in terms of grooming.  That being said, I am excited to get out this weekend and test out some of the stuff we stomped that doesn't usually get ridden as much (sandy climb, sandy bowl, three sisters, tunnel trail).

A couple things about how the outing club works if anyone is interested:

The hoofers outing club has a lot of snowshoes that can be used for any outing posted on the club website with more than 3 people signed up.  For something like snowshoeing, the only limiting factors would be lack of interest or lack of transportation.  Sometimes cars are a big issue and sometimes not depending on who signs up.  It is really helpful to know that transportation isn't going to be a problem (thanks Rich!).

In most cases, people just post events with a description and then wait for people to sign up possibly promoting them at optional weekly meetings or other outings.  You get to know people with similar interests as you that tend to sign up for similar events.  In this case, none of us had done any snowshoeing with the club before.  There are a ton of members (100s?) in the club although not that many are active.  As a side note, anyone that is a union member (expensive for non-students) can pay a reasonable fee to join the club and have access to lots of club equipment (mountain/road bikes, canoes, kayaks, cross country skis, etc), so there are quite a few community members as well.

not sure if this is the right spot for this but; I stumbled upon this, for a project I have in mind, and I thought it might be of interest to someone here?

http://www.humanpoweredtrailgrooming.com/fat-tire.html

Looks like it would be a handy little unit (if it works as well as they say it does) and not a huge cash layout.

there it is, take it or leave it.