New Brunswick Riding Conditions

[off trail mike]

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Fall colors coming on!



But what's this white stuff??? Elevation 450 meters.



Still early and no expectations but it always good to see!

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Dec. 16, 2015 Update. 35cm's of Snow!

It was 15 deg. C in my back yard last Saturday, and 4 days later....POW....

News said Bathurst got 58cm's but didn't see that on the ground, more like 30-35cm's, but it's consistent and heavy enough that you don't touch the ground.

Supposed to rain/snow tomorrow...10mm rain & 10cm snow but that may be all snow at elevation. Will be watching closely. More on the way next week....

Bring it on!!! :thumb:

 

[off trail mike]

December 25, 2015 Update - Merry Christmas All

So managed to get in the second ride of the year on 22nd and mostly a trail event. With most sleds in break in mode and only light cover we basically stayed on trails and cutting roads.

Since then the weather has warmed up and we got a bunch of rain on the 24th. Our weather station recorded 18.5mm's so the snow took a beating but it's still there.

So we need snow... and it looks like another 15-25cm's is coming on the 27th and 28th and with little squirts after that, a good base is starting to form.

The Trend is definitely cooling and since December was pretty light in the overall precipitation department hopefully January delivers big.

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

January 24th Update....Send Snow!!!!

So....th Chic Choc's in Gaspe have beacoup (lots) of snow and so does the Highlands in Cape Breton. Saw pictures of the PEI crew in CB and it looked epic.

Bathurst on the other hand is brutal..... We have maybe a foot of base and nothing in the forecast for two weeks. You can trail ride and that's it.

January is typically snow stingy anyway and I think our weather station recorded 37mm's of precip so far this month which is a third of normal.

So backcountry here is closed for now..Here's to hoping February is better!!!!!!

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Feb. 8th Update.....still No SNOW

Desperate and totally insane. Nova Scotia/PEI/NFLD all going epic...even southern NB. Us....NONE, Notta, zilch.

Heading to Newfoundland!

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Feb. 21st Update.....see Feb. 8th Update

And getting worse....30-60mm's in forecast this week. I think I have maybe one inch of snow in my yard. Same time last year I had 40"!! Warmest Feb. on record.

Time to shine up the golf clubs.

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Winter In Northern NB is over. Tune in for 2017

So if you want to ride backcountryin the East.... skip northern NB and head straight to Gaspe. Although only 60km's as the crow flies....it might as well be in another world.

Just got back Sunday .... thanks PEI crew .... and conditions where outstanding. Murdochville got like 90cm's of snow last week and with very little traffic, it doesn't take much imagination to find it. And no ice pellets....anywhere. How much base?..We got stuck in some places where there was over 6 feet of the fluffy stuff!!!

As for northern NB....trail riders are loving conditions...but I have like 3 inches in my back yard. Backcountry is basically non existent. Maybe spring conditions will give us a bit, but not expecting much.

Gaspe....my friends....

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

June 8 update

Gotta love living in the Maritimes....

No snow this winter and it hasn't stopped raining since the snow melted. Looks like there will be a couple of 4G doo's and a new RMK in the pack next winter....so the BS/mud slinging is already in full gear.

Will update some trail stuff this fall but in the meantime.... Hope all have a great summer. .

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

July 9th Update......a winter's worth of precip in a month.

So winter sucked on the precip front but Mother Nature always levels out. Instead of winter precip we got spring/summer deluge recording over 180mm's of rain in a single week in June and it has been consistent ever since. Imagine if that had landed in March!!!!!

What's that mean to sledding???? Nothing....except El Nino is gone and we are HOPEFULLLY settling in on a normal precip year.

Time will tell, but 2017 is looking alot like 2014 so far.

OTM

 

[turbonatorz]

July 9th Update......a winter's worth of precip in a month.

So winter sucked on the precip front but Mother Nature always levels out. Instead of winter precip we got spring/summer deluge recording over 180mm's of rain in a single week in June and it has been consistent ever since. Imagine if that had landed in March!!!!!

What's that mean to sledding???? Nothing....except El Nino is gone and we are HOPEFULLLY settling in on a normal precip year.

Time will tell, but 2017 is looking alot like 2014 so far.

OTM

tuning in, i live up at mont tremblant in the laurentides, we had 4ft last winter, 3/4 of it fell in February, but, since i have no sled, all it meant was more snow to move (snow removal) LOL... heres a pic from last winter in our yard...

 

[off trail mike]

turbonatorz

4 feet all year....wow.....not good....even worse when it all falls at once. I'm guessing it'll be a bit different this year.

Gotta get back to the Laurentides one of these days. Pretty much learned to ski at St. Sauveur!!!!

OTM

 

[Camo-toe]

Keep the updates coming Mike! Rode in Gaspe last year, but would like to make a trip into Northern New Brunswick if the snow is good. Beats making the trip to Labrador city

 

[off trail mike]

Nov. 29, 2016 Update - It's starting!!

So here's the latest.
Northern NB: We have maybe 5cm's at our plant site as of yesterday but here's what's coming.

Also looks like more dirt coming early next week so I hope we will be sledding next week.

The sled Den in Gaspe is now operational on around 3-4 feet which is slightly less snow than usual, but they will be getting the same storm so things are looking up there too.

Time for the snow dance!!!!

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Update: Dec 15, 2016.....A pretty decent start

The snow is starting to pile up!!! As part of our winter routine, I've already been up to our company wind test towers for inspections three times now and the snow keeps getting deeper. The towers are situated between 425-625 meters and I would say there is easily 60-80 cm's of snow on the ground already.



Kinda odd for December, but no rain so far this month so the base is very fluffy (aka POW).

It's really good right now and if we get another storm it's going to be epic. Early days still.... so we will see what comes our way.

Oh yeah, Gaspe is full on. They probably have 2x the base we do so if you are heading that way, it's going to be a Blast.

Here's a few pics of the hood this week.

 

[off trail mike]

Feb 18 Update....We live in Splitsville!!

So conditions here have been good, but not great. The good news is there is approximately 30cm's on top of the granular stuff we got maybe a month ago. Hero snow....you can go anywhere.....and I mean anywhere ...and not get stuck. Carving...only available south and west of Governor's resort.

And that's the problem. All the recent storms have been south of us. Moncton/Halifax got like 100cm's last week and we got 10cms.

The good news is that the Thursdays storm put 30cm's around Miramichi so our southern range should have improved. Hoping to test that tomorrow.

Gaspe is equally spotty. The Sled Den guys might be happy as there was supposed to be a storm there yesterday and highway 299 through the park was closed on account of snow and blowing snow so hopefully they got it, otherwise they are on very old snow as well.

Best maritime conditions are Western Newfoundland and Cape Breton but as March approaches, they become susceptible to rain.

There is a chance for a bomber here the last week of Feb but could be rain too. Here's to hoping...again.

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Feb. 25 Update: Chic Choc's!!!

So last Friday, Feb. 17th, Northern Gaspe got 1.2m of snow in 24 hours pretty much not in the forecast. So much snow they closed Highway 299 which is the main N-S road from New Richmond to St. Anne de Monts.

I'd say the most snow I've probably ever ridden on.

PEI Crew arrived Saturday to this





We arrived in Murdochville to this








So Gaspe is now the only game in the Maritimes if you want to backcountry and with a bit of rain in the forecast, it may not be for long.

Good news is winter is supposed to make a return starting next week so we may yet get another proper dump of snow...but time is running out.

Fingers crossed

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Updated Forecast: 120cm's of snow Monday!!!!!

Well, it's been a long time coming....better late than never...a huge storm coming out of the blue....epicenter is Bathurst..

Isn't it also April Fools???? LOL

So no snow in the forecast. I don't think we recorded one single storm with greater than 25cm's so far this winter..

It's not like we didn't get snow...took this picture last weekend trying to shovel into the camp. The base is 4-5 feet of solid brick cement snow. It just came in snow/ice/pellets/rain/snow and no big quantities ever.



Figure there is probably 3 weeks of sledding left here and maybe another 2 weeks after that in Gaspe.

It's explorer snow from here on out...not great....but when it becomes corn snow...we might get a few good runs yet...

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

So now that Photobucket has completely ruined everyone's threads ....it's time for a picture rethink......and just in time......WINTER IS BACK!!! Not sure what I'm going to do just yet, but will keep the thread alive.....or create new one.

So...Northern NB has snow......maybe 10 - 30 cm's. Christmas mountains West of Governors is the best and saw some crazy mountain guys trying to get there break-ins started!!!!

Forecast this weekend could be a 40 cm event at elevation....Finger's crossed.

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Update: December 16, 2017 First Ride!!!

West of Bathurst saw snow followed by rain. We didn't go far on account of time and it was freekin cold!!! There is around 2 feet of base thanks to this storm and it would have been a lot more had the rain not landed after. Good news is that Moose Valley towards Edmundston got 3 feet of powder and no rain so there is a line somewhere east of Moose Valley were you cross over into just snow..

So if leaving Bathurst, head west and north is your best bet to find good conditions or head directly towards Moose Valley

We didn't have much time but started at Michel's Sugary on Route 180. There is a crust on top of the snow but clearly it starts to die out as you head west. We noticed the crust going away as we headed west on Trail 19 towards Island Lake. Especially after the turn off to Jacquet River.

Will probably try another run this week only trailering further west to see what it is like.

Good news is conditions will improve. There is another round or two of snow scheduled for this week. Combine this with the crust layer and a bulletproof 4" layer on the ground means the base will be very good.

Sorry, no place to host pictures yet. ....

OTM

 

[off trail mike]

Dec 30, 2017 Update - Best early riding ever!!!

Happy New Years to all and what a way to kick off 2018 but with around 4-5 feet of snow in last two weeks. With super cold temps, the snow was blower powder at first but has consolidated thanks to copious quantities of wind.

High exposed terrain is drifted and down to a crust layer we got a couple of weeks back so i'd avoid but anything out of the wind or leeward is bottomless. After 2 days of stuck-unstuck-stuck-unstuck all on 154's, the furthest we got was 80 km's. With 2-4 cm's per day and a storm coming it is going to only improve.

Best early start to a season I have ever seen and by a mile. These are February conditions in December. We even ventured into a few clear cuts which is typically a no-no until February.

OTM