As we approach 96 consecutive hours of grooming, busting banks and drifts, opening road crossings and moving snow, I am pleased to announce that we are only a couple hours away from having the entire close to 360 kms of the Eastern Trail system open and passable. This has been the toughest test ever of man and steel trying to get trails open. The machines are working on the final leg of the system opening the #305A as I write this report. Yesterday we completed the #105 into Mt. Mellick as well as the #217 from Vernon River to New Perth. After a quick trip on the #103 to Cardigan for fuel the operators began the opening of trail #305 towards Murray Harbour. After making to Ocean Acres they turned around and headed back the same Route trying to widen and smooth the best they could, filling with fuel at Grandview before heading south on Route # 104 towards Murray River. May I remind everyone now that the trails are finally open after 5 days of operating with the box drags that none of the trails have had a pass yet with the drag. The box drags we have been using do a great job of making a trail usable but is definitely not a finished product. Once we get back to home base we will be installing the drags, doing a quick maintenance and making a decision on whether the temperature is suitable for running the drags. With the temperatures going above 0 degrees for the day and a half we may be forced to wait till it gets colder to start again. I assure members that when we do start the groomers and drags will be going steady again to make the trails the best they can possibly be. At this time I want to thank all 7 of the operators who worked tirelessly around the clock to achieve our goal. I am sure they may never want to see miles and miles of nothing but snow drifts and banks 5 feet to 20 feet high again. Just a reminder to those on the trails today and tomorrow it has been up to 4 days on some sections of the trail since the groomer opened some sections up and they may be getting a little rough, but those are the sections we will be heading too first once we start with the drag. Please everyone adjust your speeds for the conditions
