| 2010-01-30 | Friday Morning January 29th Trail Report
The Al Quall Pisten Bulley is continuing to till and groom from the start of the marathon to Deer Lake, this section should be in excellent shape. Deer Lake is likely to be a bit icy but skiable. The section out of Deer Lake to the Dead River Basin was groomed by our PB 180 last night and it went extremely well. The low areas where shoveled by a team of helpers and the PB 180 tilled and groomed this entire section and says it looks great. The tracks set very well most of the way. Some stretches it is thinner than others. Expect mostly tilled corn snow when you plan your waxing for this stretch.
Today, we will be Tidd Tech grooming Deer Lake and the Dead River Basin crossing. We should anticipate that these short sections will not be perfect, but skiable.
Once you get off the Dead River Basin, there will be the 200m section along the campers road that will likely be narrow and icy. We will do the best we can with this section, but plan on this being less than ideal.
After you get through that 200m section of campers road, you will be heading into Granite Pointe for the final 32km of skiing…conditions look great the entire way in to the dome. We are grooming from Forestville to Granite Pointe this afternoon, then again from Granite Pointe to the Dome starting at midnight tonight and ending at the dome around 7AM on race day. I am very pleased with the way the course is coming together. You should expect a real good ski tomorrow. If you have any questions, track me down at the dome this evening. Regards Jon Mommaerts
Wax Tips for the MGHS Noquemanon and mBank Half Noque can be found at www.tokous.com. Print off the wax tip that Toko has set for the Noque. It is pretty detailed. If your in town, visit the gang at Downwind Sports.
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| 2010-01-29 | 5:30PM ET Thursday 01/28/10 Trail Report:
Ok, I am much more encouraged than I was in the early afternoon. We ran the PB 180 from the dome to Forestville this afternoon. I just got out on my skis (3:30PM- 5:00PM) to ski the questionable areas and found nothing but great skiing. The course is firm, yet has a nice mixture of icy snow with new fresh snow. The course has slowed down quite a bit and is very skiable for all levels of skiing. The track is set almost the entire way, with only a few very short sections where it is not full depth. At this point I can say that after the final groom early Saturday morning, that the final 32km of our race course will be excellent skiing for everyone (note that 510 to Forestville has not been groomed with a tiller today due to mechanical issues, so this section will improve greatly on Saturday). I had no trouble getting an edge as I skated. Slower skiers will be able to snowplow the downhills to control speed, and the snowplowing should not do any damage to the trail. I am very happy with the work the trail team has done thus far.
Now, I am not ignoring the first 18km of the race course in this report. My plan is to get more information tomorrow morning, after the PB 180 gets through grooming it tonight. We also have shovelers filling in some of the thin areas off of Deer Lake. Based on what I saw today, I expect conditions to be relatively good through out that first 18km section, but will give you more information tomorrow. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-28 | While I was writing yesterdays trail report, our Bombardier 160 tiller broke down and will take several days to repair. So, unfortunately we are now down to one machine for the final 44km of the race course. We plan to run our newer 180 all day today until Midnight, then all day tomorrow and all night until race time. We do have the Al Quall Pisten Bulley for the first 6km as well. Because of that, here is what I can report.
Al Quaal to Deer Lake will be very firm, we plan to move the classic tracks in a little more than they were on Wednesday, so that we can accommodate two tracks and a skating lane for the first 5-6km’s. The hills in this section will be very fast and klister should be the requirement of the day. Deer Lake is firm, yet icy. We did receive an inch or two of snow today, which has helped. However, on the lakes, the wind is so strong that it blows right off the course. We have a crew going out this afternoon to shovel the hill coming off of Deer Lake. This section (which included about 2km of trail) is icy and thin. It may be difficult to set track in much of this section. From this point on (Aidstation #1 on), the trail is in good shape, with the exception of a couple of downhills. As of this writing, these two hills are very fast and icy. We are bringing our 180 out there now, and will work these area’s a bit more. I will let you know more tomorrow. Heading down onto the Dead River Basin Crossing (1km after Aidstation #2), you can expect chunky ice/snow mix for the 200m on the south side of the crossing (due to width constraints, we must groom this section and the Basin crossing with a Tidd Tech). The Basin Crossing will also be icy due to the windy conditions this week.
As you get back on land heading into Granite Point, you will have that 200m section along the campers Road in which we have a narrow path coned off to keep vehicles off. The challenge we found out here, is that there is minimal snow to pull to build up this section. As of this writing, I am not sure what that 200m section will be like, other than that it has good coverage over the road, but tracks may be thin and icy.
Next, heading into Granite Point, this section should be fine, but a bit narrower than past years as we do not have as much snow to pull from the edges to build up the trail to extend width. Otherwise, this section should be fine and fast. From this point on, you are at the half way point and should experience good fast and firm conditions all the way to the 8km to go point. Our Pond bypass downhill will be thin and a bit icy, but skiable. Once you get off the bypass back onto the standard Noque trail, conditions are good, but a bit thin and icy. Skiing should be pretty good, but tracks may be thin. We just completed hauling of snow on parts of the final 2km of the trail. We had a nice icy base, but we hauled in enough snow to set quality tracks the majority of the way in. This last 2km section should be good to the finish.
In summary, expect varying conditions on race day. We will continue to work the trail to improve skiing conditions. The vast majority of the trail will be great fun and fast skiing, however expect some icy sections where caution may be necessary, especially in the first half of the marathon course. We did receive an inch or two of fresh snow this morning, so I am hoping tomorrow’s report will be much improved. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-28 | 5:30PM ET Thursday Trail Report:
Ok, I am much more encouraged than I was in the early afternoon. We ran the PB 180 from the dome to Forestville this afternoon. I just got out on my skis (3:30PM- 5:00PM) to ski the questionable areas and found nothing but great skiing. The course is firm, yet has a nice mixture of icy snow with new fresh snow. The course has slowed down quite a bit and is very skiable for all levels of skiing. The track is set almost the entire way, with only a few very short sections where it is not full depth. At this point I can say that after the final groom early Saturday morning, that the final 32km of our race course will be excellent skiing for everyone (note that 510 to Forestville has not been groomed with a tiller today due to mechanical issues, so this section will improve greatly on Saturday). I had no trouble getting an edge as I skated. Slower skiers will be able to snowplow the downhills to control speed, and the snowplowing should not do any damage to the trail. I am very happy with the work the trail team has done thus far.
Now, I am not ignoring the first 18km of the race course in this report. My plan is to get more information tomorrow morning, after the PB 180 gets through grooming it tonight. We also have shovelers filling in some of the thin areas off of Deer Lake. Based on what I saw today, I expect conditions to be relatively good through out that first 18km section, but will give you more information tomorrow. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-28 | 5:30PM ET Thursday Trail Report:
Ok, I am much more encouraged than I was in the early afternoon. We ran the PB 180 from the dome to Forestville this afternoon. I just got out on my skis (3:30PM- 5:00PM) to ski the questionable areas and found nothing but great skiing. The course is firm, yet has a nice mixture of icy snow with new fresh snow. The course has slowed down quite a bit and is very skiable for all levels of skiing. The track is set almost the entire way, with only a few very short sections where it is not full depth. At this point I can say that after the final groom early Saturday morning, that the final 32km of our race course will be excellent skiing for everyone (note that 510 to Forestville has not been groomed with a tiller today due to mechanical issues, so this section will improve greatly on Saturday). I had no trouble getting an edge as I skated. Slower skiers will be able to snowplow the downhills to control speed, and the snowplowing should not do any damage to the trail. I am very happy with the work the trail team has done thus far.
Now, I am not ignoring the first 18km of the race course in this report. My plan is to get more information tomorrow morning, after the PB 180 gets through grooming it tonight. We also have shovelers filling in some of the thin areas off of Deer Lake. Based on what I saw today, I expect conditions to be relatively good through out that first 18km section, but will give you more information tomorrow. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-27 | We are currently running our second groom from Deer Lake to the Dead River Basin. Overall that stretch looks fine, we had a couple of small wet areas that we shoveled snow on, but this stretch should be fine and it is predominately icy snow mixed in with an inch or two of fresh snow. The Deer Lake and Dead River Basin crossings are very firm, now that we had this cold weather. The good news is that the crossings have plenty of ice for safe crossing, the bad news is that the crossings have lots of ice and snow is
not sticking to it well, now. We plan to keep scraping those crossings with our Ginsu groomers with the hope that some snow will accumulate in there. Fortunately, these crossings are relatively short. Once you come off the
Basin, we will again enter through Anderson's camp and onto North Basin Drive for a 200 meter stretch. This stretch is an active road for the local residents and it has been hit hard by the warmer weather. The good news is that we are flagging off a 4 foot wide path on the north edge of that road for that 200 meter stretch. It should be in very good shape for classic
skiers but a bit narrow for skaters. But again, only a 200m section. The snow depth should be good over that 200m. Heading into Granite Pointe from there on (32km to go mark), the snow depth is very good and the conditions are excellent all the way to the 5km to go section in town. From 5km to 3km, the trail is covered but slightly hard and icy. We do plan on scraping that with the groomers a bit more so we expect this 2km flat section to be good. The final 3 km to the dome have a solid icy base. We have a front
end loader and two hauling trucks scheduled for 7:30AM on Thursday to haul good clean snow (from the Dome roof...tons of great snow!!!) to those icy areas in the final 2km's. We do have another inch or two of snow in the forecast, if that comes, we will be in excellent shape the entire way. If it doesn't come, the trail will still be in very good condition from start to finish. More updates to come as we have them... |
| 2010-01-26 | The Noquemanon trail is in the final preparations for the races this Saturday. The water crossings have been packed and holding well after the freeze we have had within the last 24 hours. The entire system has been groomed with the final eight hour groom set for Friday night. On Wednesday morning we will be machine grooming the final 5km into the dome. When that is complete we will know if we need to haul in any snow. Regardless, we will be finishing at the dome. More updates as we gather information. |
| 2010-01-25 | The weather in Marquette this past weekend was “Michigan Weather.” Saturday the trail was wicked fast. Then Sunday it was warm and rainy. We still have good snow coverage throughout the trail despite the rainfall we had near the lake. Some snowfall was accumulated in the higher ground during the middle of the day on Sunday. We will update you on Tuesday, once we get another full assessment of the trail. |
| 2010-01-21 | For our MGHS marathon skiers, the course has been pre-packed from Al Quaal to 510 and looking great. PLEASE BE ADVISED that this portion of the trail is privately owned and not open to the public until race day. Absolutely NO Pre-skiing.
The Noquemanon trail snow depths are holding steady at 6 inches in the city of Marquette, to 18 inches in Granite Point and 12 inches in Ishpeming. Regular grooming has been in process on the lower Noque from 510 to Forestville since December 1st. Grooming to Tourist Park has been steady and the ponds are frozen and holding nicely. This week if we receive 6 inches of snow, we will be breaking trail from Tourist Park to the NMU Dome.
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| 2010-01-20 | The Noquemanon trail snow depths are holding steady at 6 inches in the city of Marquette, to 18 inches in Granite Point and 12 inches in Ishpeming. Regular grooming has been in process on the lower Noque from 510 to Forestville since December 1st. Grooming to Tourist Park has been steady and the ponds are frozen and holding nicely. This week if we receive 6 inches of snow, we will be breaking trail from Tourist Park to the NMU Dome.
For our MGHS marathon skiers, the course has been pre-packed from Al Quaal to 510 and looking great.
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| 2010-01-08 | The Noquemanon trail will be opened up from the Forestville trail head to 510 for a great Saturday ski. The trail from Forestville to Tourist Park will be groomed as well, please be safe as you cross the ponds, some standing water on top of the snow is present.
This year we are working on growing this event, mainly by providing increased racer services and benefits. Some of the additions for 2010 will be a new Marquette Sports Medicine Institute 12k, a 15 mile/10k snowshoe, a pasta feed on Friday night, (inside the dome) and additional busing to and from our events from select hotels.
If you’re not skiing and would like to be a part of the festivities please email info@noquemanon.com to volunteer with a great group of people!
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| 2010-01-05 | All trails groomed by volunteers last night. Groomed and tracked from Forestville to Tourist Park, then from Forestville up to the 14k mark. As well as all the interior loops. Groomers are going out this morning to freshen up tracks as another couple of inches have fallen through out the night.
Ponds are still a bit soft but we have been utilizing the bypass.
Sending out snowmobiles to pack above 510 to Al Quaal very soon. |
| 2009-12-11 | The Noquemanon has been rolled groomed and tracks set from Forestville to the 19K.
It is in great condition for the official first groom of the season, no need for rock skis. Plans to groom again tonight are being set. Winter is officially here!
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| 2009-09-28 | The 12th annual Marquette General Health System Noquemanon Ski Marathon and mBank Half Noque is set for Saturday, January 30, 2010. The $58.00 September 30th first cut off date is fast approaching. Then $68.00 until November 30th.
Visit noquemanon.com. |
