The reason why I ask is me and my wife rode from her work in E. Montpelier, through Plainfield, Marshfield (those two not good because of not much snow to do anything with) up through Cabot and on to Danville on Tuesday to eat at Good Fellas (which we found out was closed).

The Cabot trails were not good. I would have guessed that they had not been groomed for over a week and but they had plenty of snow. Trail 15 was rough and so was 232 (really bad) until where Groton grooms (he had just been out getting the trails ready for the storm). I work with a guy who lives in Cabot and he said the guy went out saturday night but I find that hard to beleive unless they got a large amount of traffic on sunday or he didn't have is cutting blades down. My friend here at work said he didn't see many machines.

I was wondering if anyone could confirm the trails had been groomed saturday night or had similar experience riding through. They really need to keep up with it because it is now the route to Danville and North now that Peacham is closed.

I did a symilar trip two weeks ago and found the same conditions and yes good fellas was closed even though they have signs on the trail saying they are open. Needless to say i was very pissed and went into their back kitchen door and gave them a piece of my mind.

JUST A PIECE OFF YOUR MIND NOT A ASS WOOPIN

Hello mxzwild,

If you were up on snowmobiling in Vermont you would know that the Cystic Fibrosis ride came through Cabot on February 3rd which beat the crap out of our main trails in Cabot...we had over 150 sleds come down those trails in one day! What snow we had was demolished by that ride and damaged some areas of our trails....and until this week we had very little snowfall, certianly not enough to repair our trails.

Our groomer went out before that ride...and he went out again all night Feb 9th and groomed the small amount of snow (5") we had gotten that week, so the trails would be ready (the best they could be) for the weekend. We simply had not gotten enough snow for our groomer to be able to fix the trails! This was out of our control... the ride happened, and Mother Nature just didn't provide the snow to fix the damage.

With the snowfall that we got on Valentines Day...the trails were buried...the groomer went out last night smoothing and packing the snow...today he will be out actually grooming...please remember it takes over 12 hours to get through the entire trail system and these groomers deserve a lot of credit for the time they put into the trails so that we can play! But they are not snow gods and can not do wonders with nothing...there has to be over 18" of snow to create a 4" groomed base....so any snowfall less than that doesn't provide much for cover on the trials.

The Cabot Skylighters have worked VERY hard over the past three years, replacing or re-decking 14 bridges, built two new reroutes, and have excavated - removed rocks - debrushed - and removed trees to better our trails. If you want up-to-date information regarding the Cabot Trail system then see our Trails Conditions page on our website...there is even actual snow depths provided...so that you don't have to "guess" ~!

Thanks,
Brigitte M. Codling, Program Manager
Cabot Skylighters Snowmobile Club

www.cabotskylighters.com

IcePrincess, Bridgitte, this is J. Wild, there was more snow in Cabot then in Barre area and to me it did not look like they had been groomed for well over a week. I have been riding for many years and in my opinion there was plenty of snow to groom and they could of been smoother then they were, even if there was a lot of sleds on them that one day. Hopefully he keeps up with them because with Peacham closed, Cabot is the main route to the north now, good luck.

My understanding from the clubs website is the groomer is a sub-contractor who is paid to groom the trails. We thank him for his effort and all we ask is for him, is to stay on top of his job. I have know idea what the trails are like, I know in the past when I have been through it has been good. Thanks. BT.

I live rigth on the railbed in woodbury...and it was groomed once all year...since the snow it hasnt been groomed at all...very dissapointed. I cant even get out of my driveway onto the trail. 2+ feet of powder on the trail...no thanks.

Does anyone have a phone # to the woodbury groomer, id like to give them a call and see waht the problem is... not enough money or what...because my driveway is the snowmobile trail, and i still cant even ride out of my house. Im leaving on a trip for 9 days this friday, i would like ot get a good ride in after work before then!

if your leaving this friday 2/23/07 bring your rain coat flooding is a big concern for this coming weekend...sorry just giving you a heads up

The Woodbury railbed has been a problem because of trail closures that kept the groomer from having access to that part of the trail system...and the groomer from the other end broke down recently... the Hardwick groomer is now going out but the Calais groomer is still down...they were trying to get other groomers to go out but have had little luck...I think that you should see improvement by the end of the week...they are trying.

Hi Jim,

Sorry for the sarcastic tone...I admit I got a little defensive... we have worked very hard over the past three years to better the clubs relationship with Luke (the contracted groomer) and our efforts as well as his have been very successful. Luke has been grooming as he and all other groomers are contracted to do(twice a week) even when it has beat up on his equipment, which is his alone to maintain and pay for. Beyond his contract, Luke has gone out every time the club has asked him to and every time VAST has asked him to this Winter. As I stated in my post he was out the night before the Feb 3rd ride and was out again just before you came through; whether it looked like it or not....we know this because a club officer has riden with Luke nearly every single trip since the first of the Winter.....but regardless, without adequate snowfall there is not anything he is going to be able to do to remove washboard frozen into the trail caused by excessive traffic on little to no snow or flaws in the trial that still exist that the club has not been able to repair yet. We may have had more snow in Cabot than in Barre but new snow on the trail after Feb 3rd barely measured 5" collectively all week....and technically, according to the VAST Groomers Manual it is recommended that the groomer not even go out until there is 18" of new snow to groom. Anyway, we understand that those riding through will assume many things, many that are not true. As people ride through they often don't take into consideration the many many hours of hard work that went into the trails...all year long...not just in the winter months...most of our work happens in the summer months... it would just be very nice for people to start really looking to the source for the real story. As for this week, Luke has already groomed twice since the heavy snowfall and will be going out again in the next few days but with the consistancy of this snow it is very difficult to groom and keep compacted...when a sled or sleds come through after the goomer it just rips up the surface (again making it look like he has not groomed)...so it will be a week or more before this new snow is really good to ride.

We are keeping our Trails Conditions page up-to-date...so if you have questions I would recommend that you look there and if you don't find the answer then contact a club officer or the groomer himself...we have been actively responding to concerns and truly want people to enjoy the trail system here in Cabot. We look forward to seeing the north bound traffic come through Cabot as it is good for the community...and lets us show off our new bridges and wider trails.

Enjoy this new snow....

Brigitte