The Ginzu will groom while the PistenBully gets fixed
Wednesday December 16, 2020
We still love our PistenBully. But complex machines will have ocassional down time. That is why we have great mechanics and backup machines to fill in while our the mechanics do their magic.
The bracket that attaches the tiller to the PistenBully is broken. Luckily, it broke while the PB was in the staging area. Also, we are fortunate to have Brant Dahlie ready to help fix it. Brant got hold of our favourite PistenBully mechanic, Jason of Jace Heavy Duty Repair in Kelowna. Jason is available to leave Thursday and will bring the part we need. The new part will take a bit of modifying but will be more durable than the original bracket design. Hopefully it should be ready sometime this weekend.
In the meantime, Patrick Dumais has a plan to keep up with the grooming using the Ginzugroomer pulled by our new tracked quad. Other operators are being recruited to help plow witht the skid-steer and take shifts on the Ginzu. Patrick will test a different way to make a firm skate lane by having the quad & Ginzu follow a snowmobile & roller.
A fair bit of planning, recent trail improvements and new equipment has really come together to make this a great ski season despite saturated ground, low-snow and inevitable machine down-time. The fundraiser for the tracked quad really helped get us to this stage. Thanks to those who donated. We were able to buy the quad for use this year by dipping into our contingency fund but we still need to repay about $4000 to that fund, ideally from fundraising. If you are able to help, donations can be made through Nordiq Canada, and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes. Donating is simple:
- Go to: https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/Cross-CountrySkidefondCanada/club-donation.html
- In the pull-down menu, select Bulkley Valley Cross Country Ski Club
- Enter how much you want to donate, your address and payment details.
