❄️ Tales from the Trails – Winter 2024/2025 By Nick Beatty, Program Director
Want to nerd out on all the details and graphs? Download PDF
🎬 Once Upon a Snowflake
This past winter had all the drama of a Netflix series—wild weather swings, heroic volunteers, and even a small-but-mighty snowcat stealing the spotlight. Spoiler alert: the trails stayed amazing. Let me take you behind the scenes of another magical season of grooming in Teton Valley.
🧊 Meet the Upgrades
Every good adventure gets better with a few upgrades. This season, we brought in Mike Barklow to pilot our Snow Rabbit like a pro. We also scattered fuel storage boxes like Easter eggs at every venue—because running out of gas is only fun in action movies.
We doubled down on classic tracks (retro is in), and grew our grooming family so no one had to play trail fairy 24/7. 🌧️ Rain, Snow, and Drama
Winter had a bit of an identity crisis this year. One week it was all 'let it snow!' and the next, rain showers like it thought it was April. From November 26 to April 8, we counted 59 days of measurable precipitation—9 more than last season.
Was it always snow? Nope. Did we wish it was? Absolutely. Still, we made the best of it with some serious grooming wizardry.
🚜 Machines that Make the Magic
Our machines were the real MVPs. Reliable, efficient, and just the right size to make groomers smile. No big breakdowns, no crying in the snowbank. Just quality equipment doing what it does best—turning snow into smooth, swooshy trails.
🐇 Enter the Snow Rabbit
If the Snow Rabbit were in a Marvel movie, it’d be the underestimated sidekick who saves the day. Instead of doing full venue grooming, we used it for the tough spots: uneven terrain, soft edges, and trails that needed a little extra love.
It worked its tail off—50 grooms, 170 operating hours (add another 100 hours for transport and maintenance), 261 gallons of go-juice—and was absolutely key to pulling off the TRC and IYC races at Mike Harris. Not all heroes wear capes... some wear tracks.
📏 Miles, and Then Some
The numbers don’t lie—we covered a whopping 7,569 miles. That’s like driving from here to Miami and back... twice. All without leaving our wintry wonderland.
👣 Who Hit the Trails?
Our trusty trail counters told the tale: 40,455 visits. A bit lower than last year, but hey—people had options. Teton Canyon saw fewer visitors, probably because of cool new nearby trails (North Side and Sheep Bridge connector) luring folks away like shiny objects.
⏱️ Grooming Hours: Powered by People
Our grooming crew (23 rockstar volunteers and 5 equally awesome staff) racked up 1,395 hours. That’s a lot of early mornings and late-night snowmogrooming rides. Pro tip: Everything runs smoother when people work smarter, not harder—especially when you’ve got the Rabbit and snowmobiles tag-teaming the terrain.
📊 Visits Per Hour: Our Favorite Math
To keep things efficient, we track how many visits we get per hour of grooming. The magic number? 20. This year we averaged 31.9!
Some trails knocked it out of the park (Driggs!), while others like SV Singletrack... let’s just say they’re works in progress.
🚴♀️ The Curious Case of Singletrack
Singletrack use is trending downward. Maybe people are switching to fat tire yoga. Maybe we’re just over-grooming, or people are accessing the trails in different locations. Either way, we’re putting on our thinking caps for next season.
⛽ Fuel Talk (We’ll Keep It Quick)
Snowmobiles sipped 739 gallons ($2,594). The Rabbit slurped 261 gallons ($875). All in all: 1,000 gallons of grooming fuel = 40,455 visits. That’s 40 smiles per gallon! Not bad for a winter’s work.
🏁 The Final Chapter- So here’s how it ends:
28 dedicated humans kept 61 miles of trails looking fresh
7,570 snowy miles groomed
40,455 trail visits = 303 smiles per day
The snow may come and go, but our mission stays the same—epic trails for everyone, all winter long. Thanks for being part of the story. See you next season!