Nordic Trails Open

One of the questions we often get is “what do you do in winter?”  The turfcare crew and I, have many responsibilities throughout the winter (sounds like another topic for a future post).  One of the unique tasks at Greywolf is the maintenance of our Nordic Trails.   Yesterday we opened the Greywolf Nordic Centre for winter of 2010/2011.  For the turfcare crew this means we set and prepped  22 km of trails off the golf course and approximately five kilometres on the golf course.  All trails were opened for classic and skate skiing.  Grooming is scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays unless it snows.



The preparation involves getting the Nordic maintenance equipment ready for grooming.   These pieces include our BR-400 Snow Cat, our John Deere XUV with tracks and our snowmobile.  There are many hours spent track packing the snow.  This is essentially driving over the snow to remove air and compact it to form a base.  We remove all the fallen trees and set up the signage and trail maps.  I will try to get more pictures of what is involved for future posts.  There have been plenty of last minute preparations and I hope everyone enjoys the winter season.



Warming Up Snow Cat

Setting Track on No Name Loop



Lots of Powder on Toby Barbour Trail 





Gator XUV used for on Course Trails



Tarps

Prior to the onset of winter, we installed a new tarping system on eleven of our  greens.  These greens where chosen because we have struggled with them in the spring the past two years.  The majority of the spring turf problems have been caused by ice.   The ice has formed from late fall and early winter rains.    There has also been instances of crown hydration in the spring on several of the putting surfaces.  I will try to discuss this condition in future posts.

After looking at several tarping systems and talking to fellow superintendents, we chose to go with Green Jacket tarps.   There are many different options out there, we felt this was the best option for Greywolf.

The easiest way to demonstrate the steps involved in the tarp installation was to create a slide show.  I hope this clearly explains the installation process, the steps involved, and the monitoring of conditions under the tarps.  

Fungicide Trials

Prior to the snow, Greywolf volunteered to host fungicide trials for the Prairie Turf Research Centre (PTRC) .  The PTRC works out of Olds College and conducts several research projects each year.

The PTRC fungicide trials are normally conducted yearly.  The goal is to test different fungicide combinations, new fungicide products that have gone through the regulatory process, and test the label rates at which these products are effective.  These trials help golf course around Canada determine effective rates and types of products to use to protect their golf course while using the products in environmental responsible ways.   The 2010/11 the trials are being held at Greywolf and the Candle Lake Golf Resort in Candle Lake, Saskatchewan.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

Snow arrived late at Greywolf this winter, but when it started to fall, it came down in a hurry.  Our first snow fall that stayed with us, arrived during the evening of November 15^th and dumped 20 cm in 24 hours.  The next night we received 17 cm.  To date we have 80cm of snow and there is more in the forecast as the ski hill opened on Friday.

What does all this snow mean for the turf conditions at Greywolf?  Snow has never been an issue for our turf.  Ice and low temperatures have been the challenges over the last two years.

Up until the snow arrived, the turf had a chance to harden off and all of the greens froze before the snow arrived.  Those are both good things, and the freezing on the greens was not sudden or harsh.  So I suspect there has been little low temperature damage in the early winter.  Also up until now, there have been no early rains and therefore no ice on the greens.  Ice has been the biggest challenge over the last two winters.

The extra time before the snow came also allowed us to get our new tarp system in place.  There was a large learning curve with the tarps but they are all in place.  I will post some pictures and video of the installation of these tarps and an explanation about the science behind these tarps in future blog post. 

The grounds crew is also transitioning into Nordic mode.  The snow cat is now up and running and we moved it from the shop to its winter home at the clubhouse.   The Turfcare crew has track packed all the trails as well as run the compactor bar around the trails.  This process takes the air out of the snow and gives us a good base on which to establish trails.  Trails were set on the off course trails on Friday and this was our first chance to experiment with the new tiller that was purchased this year.  There is some tweaking to do with the pans but everything should be up and running for Nordic opening on December 17^th.

See you on the hill and on the Nordic trails

Snow Pole at Shop - Recording First Snow Fall

 

Toro 3500 Rough Mower After First Snow Fall

Snow Cat on Way To Shop

Eli Repairing Window Heaters on Snow Cat - Going to Need Them