I used to live 10 minutes from Weston Ski Track, a ski area with night skiing laid out on a golf course just outside of Boston. If the snow was too soft at 6 PM I just went home for a bit and came back at 9 PM. It was easy to ski every day, even though weekdays and busy weekends were limited to skiing loops at Weston, most only 1/2 a mile long. But even skiing endless loops I was on snow. Without Weston and those small, endless loops of skiing I would have skied maybe 10 days a year. But with Weston I skied 50-60 days a year. Then I moved to Denver where the nearest machine groomed trail is an hour away. With 3 kids, a hectic job, and busy weekends getting to a Nordic center was a rarity. I might as well have moved to the Equator. Boy did I miss Weston and those 1/2 mile loops.
But soon I discovered that the 13th hole of a nearby golf course faced West and was shaded enough to hold snow, it just needed to be groomed. After consulting some xc grooming veterans my head was spinning -- the ideas these grooming vets gave me were comical and not based in science: "Drag an old box spring, knock the air out of the snow, snowshoe, pull chicken wire, give up" were all suggestions I heard.
In the end I relied on my knowledge of physics, plastics, and product development. What started with a 4" diameter plastic drain pipe and a lot of sand evolved over 6 winters into what you can buy today, the HPTG skate lane 1.1.
You can benefit from my contraptions, contraptions that were too heavy to lift into the car, contraptions that didn't fit in the car, that couldn't handle soft snow, or wet snow, that fell apart 1/2 mile from anywhere in the cold predawn. There is no shortage of ideas on how to make a groomer you can pull through the snow. If you're reading this you probably have ideas of your own. Few of the ideas I've heard take into account the physics involved, the best materials for the job and the enviroment the groomer must work in, and most of all the user.
The HPTG is proven and filled with little features that make grooming easier and big features -- the material, the limited weighted contact area, and the snow packer -- that give you a professional quality ski trail.
Sure, grooming takes time and it takes effort but in the end you'll have your own private ski trail.
Cool.
But soon I discovered that the 13th hole of a nearby golf course faced West and was shaded enough to hold snow, it just needed to be groomed. After consulting some xc grooming veterans my head was spinning -- the ideas these grooming vets gave me were comical and not based in science: "Drag an old box spring, knock the air out of the snow, snowshoe, pull chicken wire, give up" were all suggestions I heard.
In the end I relied on my knowledge of physics, plastics, and product development. What started with a 4" diameter plastic drain pipe and a lot of sand evolved over 6 winters into what you can buy today, the HPTG skate lane 1.1.
You can benefit from my contraptions, contraptions that were too heavy to lift into the car, contraptions that didn't fit in the car, that couldn't handle soft snow, or wet snow, that fell apart 1/2 mile from anywhere in the cold predawn. There is no shortage of ideas on how to make a groomer you can pull through the snow. If you're reading this you probably have ideas of your own. Few of the ideas I've heard take into account the physics involved, the best materials for the job and the enviroment the groomer must work in, and most of all the user.
The HPTG is proven and filled with little features that make grooming easier and big features -- the material, the limited weighted contact area, and the snow packer -- that give you a professional quality ski trail.
Sure, grooming takes time and it takes effort but in the end you'll have your own private ski trail.
Cool.
