WARNING on Fort McMurray Trails

[Dare]

Good day Drifters, I just spoke with our Trail boss for the Anzac loop, and he informs me that Industry has taken over a good portion of the previous snowmobile trail and it is presently a road. He rode it on Tuesday, December 9, and the same area that Imperial used last year, is again a road, except this time all the way to the swale at E corner. This is a good chunk of trail. Also, he met a pair of cats by D corner and they were headed to C at the railway crossing, so that will take out another chunk, and make it hard to reach the Anzac fire pit. He informed me that Real has started to follow up on this, and I am sure he will have an update as soon as info is available. For now, the trails remain CLOSED, and are to be treated as USER BEWARE. There is also word of the following doing work. Imperial, Opti, and CNRL. PLEASE USE THE TRAILS WITH EXTREME CAUTION, NEITHER OF THE CREWS THAT HE SPOKE WITH WERE USING SAFE SIGNAGE.

NO word on Stoney, except that I hear it is being beat to death. STILL CONSIDERED CLOSED AND USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. RIDER BEWARE.

[brew_doo]

We are constantly dealing with the same thing around Whitecourt with all of the oil & gas exploration. All you can do is work with the companies with an open mind and in our experiences here, they usually end up helping out with trail replacement or at least returning the trail to the way they found it.

[Dare]

We do work with them, and they are supposed to help us out as well on this problem, well, IOL is.... the others are a bit of a surprise but I am sure they are going to do the right thing as well.... it was just a bit annoying to find our trail a road... main reason to put in the message is to warn as many users as we can.... it is not unusual to have a hundred sleds a day on that trail on the weekend, so the more word we get out the safer it is for other riders. Cheers, Darrell

[Dare]

Just spoke with our Trail Boss for the Anzac system. There have been some good talks between Industry and the club, and the new trail is being mulched even as I type this. It will mean a major change to some of our trail system, but may be better in the long run if it allows them to do their yearly work and leave us alone. Expected completion date of the new trail, and seismic work associated with it is mid January, PLEASE, use caution until we post the trail open. Signage in the work area is improving, and the club will put up warning signs as well, identifying the problems. Cheers, Dare

[starchy]

Hi all,
Does anyone have a map of the Anzac and Stoney Mountain trails?

[Scuba]

Originally Posted by starchy

Hi all,
Does anyone have a map of the Anzac and Stoney Mountain trails?

You can go to quadra truck which is the polaris dealer in town they have them, or online on the snowdrifters web page which is not working right now for some reason. I also have one if you in the area, pm me.

[starchy]

Sorry, I'm new to this. How do I pm you?

[Mike270412]

Originally Posted by starchy

Sorry, I'm new to this. How do I pm you?

Click on his name"Scuba" and some options should pop up.

[fargineyesore]

Please be advised that starting the morning of January 22/09, industry will be opening the Stony Mountain Road from the Stony Mountain Radio tower site south, then picks up the Petro-Canada winter road south to the to the Pembina Pipeline right of way the runs east to west about 10 miles south of the Radio Tower site. They are clearing the snow on the roads to get to the pipeline right of way to do some reclamation. They will try to make sure that they do not leave any snow banks where the road crosses any snowmobile trails, but they may not catch all of the trails they intersect.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL when riding in these areas. I will be attempting to contact the club directly and provide some maps, but this is a heads-up for now. If anyone has any questions, they can either reply here or can pm me and I'll try to help with more info. I don't know the area personally, but am in contact the the contractor doing the work.

[Anzacron]

Originally Posted by fargineyesore

Please be advised that starting the morning of January 22/09, industry will be opening the Stony Mountain Road from the Stony Mountain Radio tower site south, then picks up the Petro-Canada winter road south to the to the Pembina Pipeline right of way the runs east to west about 10 miles south of the Radio Tower site. They are clearing the snow on the roads to get to the pipeline right of way to do some reclamation. They will try to make sure that they do not leave any snow banks where the road crosses any snowmobile trails, but they may not catch all of the trails they intersect.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL when riding in these areas. I will be attempting to contact the club directly and provide some maps, but this is a heads-up for now. If anyone has any questions, they can either reply here or can pm me and I'll try to help with more info. I don't know the area personally, but am in contact the the contractor doing the work.

This maybe my first post, but I "attempted" to get up SMR yesterday @ approx 2 pm, and could not get more than 1 km up the road to the tower. Heavy haul trucks had the roads blocked, and access was restricted. Today (Jan 31/09) maybe another story!

[Slamnek]

Are you gonna be around for the rally? I'm working at long lake right now and should have a decent crew for that rally.

[Dare]

Rode the rally this weekend, and enjoyed the new section of trail. Good work by all those who did the hours required to get it ready to use. EXCELLENT work by Barry to get as much base as he did after it was only mulched this season. New section is a great addition, and more fun that the old one. Hope the snow stays for a while so I get another chance to enjoy it.

Thank you to all the Volunteers for the Rally as well, it was the best one the club has put on, and the banquet afterwards was a blast. Cheers, Dare