The Nordic Series: Classic Skiing

Classic skiing is a great workout for the entire body. The bottom of the skis have diamond cut grooves to help grip the snow. It works best when you keep your skis in the grooves or pans provided and shown below.
Move your body in a running fashion and keep your balance in the pans. The past few days have been great for cross-country skiing with plenty of warm sunshine. The track remains to be in great shape with more snow on the way.

Don Donofrio

Some sad news came across today. Long time employee of Vail Golf Club, Don Donofrio passed yesterday. Don lost the battle with ALS.
Don was not only a great employee, he was a good friend. He worked out of the pro shop cleaning clubs, marshaling the course and sometime starting groups at the first tee.
Don always had a smile and greeted guests and longtime locals at the golf course as great friends.
I always enjoyed talking baseball with Don, he was my favorite Yankee fan. He will be sincerely missed.

The Nordic Series: The Snowcat, Part 2

This post I want to discuss the plows and the pans of the snowcat. They are both critical parts of grooming to provide a quality track. Let's start with the pans.

The pans (above) are set for classic cross country skiing. During classic skiing, the skis grip the snow as you move in a similar fashion to running. The grooves help keep the skier balanced. It is important to keep these pans as straight and smooth as possible. Due to the length of the skis, sharp turns especially on hills can be quite difficult to maneuver. Classic skiing is usually the place to start for cross country skiing. We see a lot of "first-timers" out there classic skiing.

The pans can also be used during races for any type skier. We usually set a number of pans for our events at the starting line.

The plow in the front of the snowcat certainly helps moving snow and leveling out the track. Often times when the wind is blowing, we use the plow to manage the drifts. The wings of the plow help carve out the snow required. The plow can used to move snow onto thin areas of the track. The plow can also be used to scratch up a hard/icy track so the snow can be processed through the tiller easier.

The wings of the plow can be helpful with the edges of the ski trail.

Nordic Update

The Gas line is complete and the nordic track is back to normal. The supplemental line was installed back in the original trench. There is a little bit of cleanup that will be done after the snow melts away in the springtime.



On another note, It is hard to think about golf while the snow continues to pile up around here. However, it is always nice to be reminded of how the game of golf can be cool. I was forwarded this link to a cool video from the European Tour. Click here to view.

Gas Line Update

Yesterday was an eventful one for the gas line install. As a reminder, this is a supplemental line that goes through the golf course. It feeds homes on Sunburst Dr from the Frontage Rd. The easement leads from the intersection of the 12th tee and the Frontage Rd, along the utility path between the 11th and 16th greens, under 17 bridge and off to the neighborhood.
They are replacing the entire line due to a failed valve and a pressure overload on the line before the new bridge on 17 was installed. Once the bridge with a new line was complete the gas company has been working on replacing the line from the bridge back to the Frontage Rd.
Here you see they have discovered the old 4" HDPE line after three days of thawing the ground. They removed the old line and installed a new identical line. The next picture, is a pressure test being performed on the new line. Let's say conditions are not ideal for these guys, but they are making way.
Due to another cold front coming our way this weekend the new plan is the install the entire line and have everything completed by Saturday afternoon. The gas company rented another thaw machine for the remainder of the line. Friday they plan to be here and install the rest of the line and be off site by the weekend.
As you might have guessed, yes this does interfere with the nordic track. The snow shoe course is unaffected.
For the safety of the skiers the nordic track has been routed closer to the 11th and 16th greens and over the easment that has already been replaced. This is a temporary fix and the normal track will re-open when the work is complete. The trail is clearly marked.

Interns

Andrew Evans completed an internship for the 2010 season and he did a fantastic job. He graduated Iowa State University in December and has a bright future ahead of him in turf management.

I was forwarded this blog post from Dr. Nick Christians at the University about his experiences here in Vail. There are some gret pictures to... Click here to view the post.

2010 Review

Another year gone by. Not a bad one at all. A warm year, lots of golf, very little weather delays and rounds were good. 2010 brought a decent amount of spring snow, sustained high temperatures, flooding, drought conditions and somewhat early snow.

This year we finished up the pumphpouse landscaping, new cart path in areas, new tees on 4 & 8 and we now have a final master plan. This year we also began perfecting the irrigation system, tore into the 7th tee, built two new bridges and a new weather shelter.

The weather numbers for the year are as follows:

warmest month: average high, July 74.9, highest temperature: July 18th at 85 degrees; coolest month: average low, January 6 degrees; lowest temperature: January 8th, -13 degrees. At the golf course we measured 26.43" of moisture with 197.75" of snowfall for the calendar year.

2011 is looking real good right now. We'll start the year with better knowledge of the new irrigation system, finishing touches on the bridges, #7 tee and the weather shelters. The master plan is beginning to open the door to possible new projects on the horizon.

Thanks to the great staff here in the Vail Golf Maintenance Department, especially to Equipment Manager, Kirk Hower; Assistant Superintendent, Justin Gompf; Second Assistant Superintendent, Tony Giroux and a special thanks to VRD Facilities Manager, Scott O'Connell for making us look better.

Happy New Year!