FasterSkier

Tag: grooming

  • Nordic Pulse Uses GPS Tracking to Improve and Accelerate Communication Between Groomers and Skiers

    Nordic Pulse Uses GPS Tracking to Improve and Accelerate Communication Between Groomers and Skiers

    Now that we’ve got your attention with fresh wintery tracks and crisp corduroy, read on to learn more about a new GPS-based live groom reporting tool to automate and streamline communication between groomers and skiers.

    If there’s a generalization that can be made about cross country skiers, it might be that we like to “know before [we] go.” As the ski season waxes and wanes, or mid-season storms roll through, we relentlessly check the weather forecast and our local grooming report as we fantasize hungrily about the fresh corduroy or classic tracks we hope to enjoy that day.

    But we can’t always know before we go. Timely grooming reporting asks those cultivating the trails to go a step further after a middle-of-the-night shift, when sitting at a computer to update the website in a timely manner might be less appealing than crawling into a warm bed or sipping a hot cup of coffee. This creates friction between the hard-working groomers and skiers who are chomping at the bit and weighing the potential disappointment of making the drive to the ski area without knowing what to expect.

    Luckily for both parties, there’s a new system growing which allows faster and more efficient communication, Nordic Pulse. 

    Former Canadian national team member Julien Locke has been working as a web-developer for several years to support his ski career. Locke raced regularly on the World Cup from 2017 to 2019, before sustaining a severe concussion, which removed him from training and competition. His career best result arrived in Dresden, Germany where he popped a 15th place finish in the freestyle sprint in 2018. Though he still trains as a professional skier, subsequent health issues have prevented him from returning to his former performance level, but the fire still burns, and he aspires to make it back to the World Cup.

    Roughly six years ago, one of Locke’s projects was a website overhaul for Sovereign Lake in Vernon, BC, including integrating a better method for sharing grooming information with skiers.

    “Their grooming team was quite frustrated with not having a slick system for them to use to update the report, and their skiers were feeling like they didn’t have enough information,” Locke explained in a call. “So we made a little web based system and it worked okay, but it really opened my eyes to a real need that Sovereign Lake had, and other ski areas that I was working with also had, to promote the groomers perspective and skiers perspective. And it really inspired me to start thinking, ‘How can we make this better?’ And it took quite a few years for this project to really get going. It wasn’t until a year and half ago that I started developing it full time.” 

    During the interim, Locke continued to work with Sovereign Lake and other ski clubs, all the while listening to the interests, needs, and frustrations of groomers, skiers, and club organizers. Eventually, this evolved into the development and launch of Nordic Pulse, a GPS-based live grooming system that allows for simple, efficient, and automated communication on grooming operations for ski areas of all sizes and capacities. 

    “The goal in the beginning was to make it easier for groomers and ski areas to share what they’re doing, their trail conditions and their grooming reports. And then for skiers to have a central platform so that in November when you don’t know where to go skiing, or mid season when you have two different options of places near you, you can easily and conveniently see what conditions will be like.”

    Nordic Pulse founder Julien Locke trains on the Haig Glacier. (Photo: Russell Kennedy)

    In particular, a need Locke identified and aimed to solve was creating efficiency for the grooming team.

    “Oftentimes, they start grooming at midnight, and are grooming until the early, early hours in the morning. They finish their shift, and you know, they’ve been up all night, they’re tired, and the last thing that they want to do is go fiddle around with the website or call somebody to tell them an elaborate description of where they went.”

    Locke looked to automate the reporting process and make it seamless. 

    “Our solution is using GPS, so the groomers click ‘start’ when they start recording and they click ‘stop’ and when they’re done, and then, in that time, all the grooming reports are done automatically. So it really saves them quite a bit of time every day at the end of their shift not having to report or go through the trails list and try to remember what was groomed at what time.” 

    Acknowledging that it is common for a groomer to only hit part of a particular trail within a route, the traditional system of listing off what was completed can fall short. With Nordic Pulse, a color-coded map shows specifically what was groomed each day, including options to differentiate between skate and classic if track has not been reset on all trails that day. If needed, groomers can also select from a materials list to indicate what machinery was used, from snowmobile to PistonBully, depending on what the ski area has available. Additional notes can be added as needed. 

    “Being able to get the grooming information onto a map so that the skiers have a really quick visual of what’s been done, I think, was a real need from the people I had talked to. I know from the feedback we’ve gotten, people really appreciate being able to see visually what’s been done.”

    When a new ski area comes on board, Nordic Pulse handles the mapping to create a pre-set base on which the system will run. While the app is running in the groomer’s pocket, GPS data points are collected every 20 to 30 meters, keeping precision high even for trails with frequent intersections or overlapping segments. This data is synced to the Nordic Pulse server and processed by its algorithm to determine which trails on the predetermined map were completed, with time stamps.

    No cell service at your local trails, or perhaps your groomers don’t want to burn cell data? No problem. 

    A simple app allows groomers to track their work with GPS, which is pushed to a map so skiers can see what and when grooming took place. (Photo: nordic-pulse.com)

    Groomers can run the app without having cell reception or consuming data. The GPS information will be stored locally on the device until the phone enters WiFi, then the groomer would only need to click sync to push the data to the NordicPulse server. Time stamps will be preserved to accurately reflect the work that was done, should there be delays.

    Locke added that some of the earliest users of the system were ski areas based in the Kananaskis Provincial Park near Canmore, Alberta, well outside the reach of cell reception.

    In terms of the cost of adopting Nordic Pulse, pricing is adjusted on a sliding scale system depending on the number of kilometers groomed by the ski area, the number of skiers, and the amount of GPS data that needs to be processed with daily grooming. Clubs are billed annually and prices currently range between $600 and $2000 per year. 

    Having grown up in the small town of Nelson, BC, it was important to Locke to keep the costs reasonable. 

    “When I started developing Nordic Pulse, I was looking at options. One strategy I could have taken was creating an enterprise level product for just large ski areas who have the budget to afford that. But I grew up in a really small club, and I really wanted Nordic Pulse to be accessible to everybody. So we’ve done our best to really keep the cost as affordable as we can by having a sliding scale.” 

    For ski areas with limited budgets, Nordic Pulse offers a “community edition” with no yearly fee. 

    A color-coded trail list and map with time stamps indicates which trails have been groomed, with room for additional notes as necessary. (Photo: nordic-pulse.com)

    Rather than using GPS to track grooming and automatically update the live-grooming maps and trail reports, the community edition uses the in-app trail editor to manually update the maps or trail lists instead. While Nordic Pulse “would love to be able to offer the community edition completely free”, there is a small one-time setup fee to cover their costs in getting the  but there’s no yearly costs after that.

    Year one has gone “incredibly well”, surpassing Lockes original goals and expectations. 

    “I started developing this year and a half ago and I was optimistic we’d get maybe a dozen clubs on board in the first year. I really thought we’d start small and grow. And then, we started doing a beta testing phase, and all of the sudden, clubs were reaching out every day, it seemed. And by the time we officially launched, I think we had over almost 20 areas on board, and then by the end of the year, we had 35, and now we have around 80 ski areas total after year one. So it’s growing really fast, which has really been exciting for us. And also, I think, really great for skiers because the more ski areas that are on board, the more useful the information is for skiers, as in, skiers can go to any area and be able to check the reports on the same platform.”

    The goal for next year: “Just keep growing.”

    “We’re always looking are excited to have new ski areas come on, and are looking to grow more in the States and more in Canada, and potentially elsewhere in the world as well.”

    Currently, the app is only designed for us by groomers, while skiers check either the Nordic Pulse site or an embedded applet on their local trail system’s website directly. The website is mobile optimized, but Locke said that a skier specific app is in the works to improve the user’s experience, and should be on line by next season. 

    “I’m really motivated to make the system as interesting as possible for everybody, and as useful as possible, and just continually roll out new features for both skiers and also groomers.”

    So far, the feedback Nordic Pulse has received from clubs who have integrated the system this year has been “incredibly positive,” improving the experience for a growing population across all abilities within the cross country ski community. 

    “I think in the last few years, especially with the numbers of skiers increasing from COVID, a lot of ski areas have been feeling the need to have better ways to report their grooming and show that information. And a lot of ski areas come to us saying, ‘Hey, we’ve been thinking of doing something like this, but on our own, we can’t afford it because it’s expensive to build a system like this.’ And  they really appreciate being able to use our service and tap into all those features. Already this year, we’ve had over 160,000 skiers using our platform and almost a million views, so it’s growing really fast and it’s meant a lot to me. It’s been very rewarding, and humbling to be able to make a difference in the ski world.”

    What are users saying about Nordic Pulse?

    According to Nordic Pulse, Ethan Meginnes of the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC, the system is a “game changer” for its members. 

    “As a groomer and avid skier, I am relieved to be able to relay and receive reliable information. Nordic Pulse is easy to use with multiple platforms,” Meginees said. “I would love to see every cross country ski center ultimately utilize this app.”

    Methow Valley resident and regular trail user Alex Hall called the system “exceptionally good.” 

    “I love the live grooming report,” he wrote to FasterSkier. “Though I find that I question its accuracy at times… There do seem to be occasional misalignments, but the thing I love about the live timing is it will show you instantly, completely and comprehensively where the cats are and what they’ve done, and it’s all on a picture, so it’s really handy. It’s definitely my favored system because it’s really quick and gives that overview. It updates automatically, it’s live, it’s got color graphics. Every now and then, there is something goofy about the live map. It’s definitely [an improvement from the last system].” 

    The Methow Valley Trails receive a fresh groom in January, mapped with Nordic Pulse. (Photo: nordic-pulse.com)
  • Grooming the Plateau (Exclusive Video)

    Grooming the Plateau (Exclusive Video)

    WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — Doug Edgerton is the man, literally, in West Yellowstone. A resident since 1971, he’s been the town’s primary nordic groomer for nearly as long, getting his starts as grooming snowmobile trails in the ’70s then towing bed springs and a track setter up on South Plateau for then-U.S. Ski Team coach Marty Hall and his crew for the first time in 1978.

    Doug Edgerton, Yellowstone Ski Festival chief of grooming, founder/owner of Yellowstone Track Systems, Inc.

    Thirty-four years later, Edgerton, 62, has worked several Olympics and is widely considered a go-to guy when it comes to grooming. Technology has changed and the number of people seeking early cross-country skiing in November has grown significantly from the first fall training camp in West Yellowstone. In 1984, Edgerton started his own grooming-equipment business, Yellowstone Track Systems, and remains the man in charge to this day.

    He’s the head and only groomer at Rendezvous Ski Trails, which occupies most of his nights in the winter, and works around the clock for nearly three weeks leading up to the annual Yellowstone Ski Festival (YSF) each November. This year, low snow forced organizers to move the SuperTour opening races from Rendezvous to South Plateau, exactly where skiing got going in West Yellowstone.

    While the trails and roads up on the plateau, at elevations between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, are mostly used by snowmobiles after December, they’re also a dependable backup for skiers in November. Has West Yellowstone changed much then?

    “Oh yeah,” Edgerton said. “The whole world has changed.”

    This year’s lack of snow is nothing anyone can control, and it’s similar to what YSF organizers experienced in 2008 when they had to move the SuperTour races to South Plateau for the first time.

    West Yellowstone chief groomer Doug Edgerton sits in his PistenBully with summer tracks while talking to Steve Hoovler, assistant director of the Yellowstone Ski Festival, after grooming South Plateau early Nov. 22.

    The difference this year is the amount of snow up on there, about 1,000 feet higher than town. With about a 3-inch base on Wednesday morning, it wasn’t much and about the least Edgerton had ever seen. Then again, Thanksgiving fell earlier this year, moving the festival up to mid-November.

    At 3:45 a.m. Edgerton waited in his illuminated PistenBully Edge, one he recently bought used from Mount Baker in Washington, as a FasterSkier reporter hopped in. From there, he drove the 14-foot-wide snowcat several miles up an access road to the plateau and proceeded to groom the 14-foot-wide snowmobile routes: first the Whiskey Trail, then South Plateau.

    Check out FasterSkier’s firsthand experience of the nearly four-hour trip as Edgerton prepped the trails for hundreds of skiers to use throughout the rest of the week (see video above). For an idea of where they went, and where people are skiing, refer to the map below.

    (click to enlarge)

    Map of South Plateau trails, including 5-mile Whiskey Trail (where Friday’s point-to-point SuperTour distance race will be held) and the South Plateau road/trail to Black Bear Cutoff near the Idaho border.
  • Rolling Out Hayward’s Main Street (Video)

    Rolling Out Hayward’s Main Street (Video)

    All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Concept2, makers of the SkiErg.

    HAYWARD, Wis. — Ever wonder how they get all that snow, about half a kilometer’s worth and 6 inches to a foot deep, all across Main Street and out toward Hayward Lake for the finish of the American Birkebeiner?

    FasterSkier’s Alex Matthews tagged along for a four-hour grooming session in downtown Hayward with two of the Birkie’s main men, Chief of Course Bill Pierce and PistenBully sales rep Greg Toomire.

    With more than 40 years of combined experience, Pierce and Toomire worked together to spread about 120 truck loads of natural snow. About seven town and state highway trucks carried the piles down from a soccer field two or three miles away. An industrial snowblower churned up the white stuff, and a skiff prevented grass and dirt from mixing into the pristine white snow.

    According to Pierce, the head coach of Hayward’s F.A.S.T. high-performance ski club, this winter was  drier and warmer than usual, but there was plenty of snow in the area to lay down on Main Street for the Birkebeiner and preceding elite sprints. Three inches of fresh snow Tuesday night and a couple on Monday evening helped.

    Grooming Main Street in downtown Hayward, Wis., on Wednesday night before the 39th American Birkebeiner on Saturday, Feb. 25.

    “There’s snow out there, it’s just having the power to make it happen,” Pierce said. “That’s the thing the Birkie has, resources to make it happen.”

    This year’s 39th American Birkebeiner, which includes 50 k skate, 54 k classic and 23 k Korteloppet races, attracted a record number of participants at just over 9,000.

    Pierce said he and his crew had been working for the last three weeks since Feb. 1 to make sure the event goes off without a hitch on Saturday, Feb. 25. They patched the trails with snow from the woods when needed, unloading 500 totes of snow — each weighing 300 pounds — on the course. He said they shoveled 75 totes by hand.

    A Birkie staple for about 32 years, Toomire typically brings one PistenBully to events for demo purposes, but goes the extra mile at the Birkie, grooming Wednesday through Saturday. At 65, he’s considering retiring.

    “They don’t even tell me what to do anymore, I know what to do,” Toomire said. “I used to know all the mail boxes in town; I used to hit them all.”

  • Paying for groomed trails?

    In Mora, Sweden, trail users now have to pay 50 Swedish kroner per day for skiing on the local groomed trail system (ed. roughly $6). In Norway, there is growing concern that it’s only a matter of time before the trend will jump the border.

    Last season, the Swedes introduced trail fees for access to groomed trail systems in Mora, the legendary town of the Vasaloppet finish. Skiers now have to pay 50 Swedish kroners per day for using the trail system, or 400 Swedish kroners for a season pass that allows unlimited use of the groomed trails. The fees were not well received among users, and the whole concept ended up in court. The courts decided that the county does have the right to charge a user fee.

    Frode Linnerud, the CFO of Lillehammer’s Olympic park (Olympiaparken AS) that maintains the trail system starting at the Birkebeiner Skistadion in Lillehammer. Linnerud believes that it’s only a matter of time before trail fees for XC trails will be introduced in Norway as well.

    “At some point it will be necessary to charge trail fees to maintain the quality and frequency of grooming that skiers have come to expect. However, the laws have to be changed in order to allow charging trail fees for XC skiing. So far, it’s all based on donations. The current laws granting everyone reasonable access to non-developed, non-crop bearing properties bars land owners from charging the way they do in Mora,” Linnerud explains to www.langrenn.com.

    “People enjoy and value nicely groomed trails, but they don’t fall out of the sky that way. It’s actually not that long ago that groomed trails were quite a novelty. Over the years, the grooming has improved significantly, in many places with both classic tracks and skate lanes. At some point it will become impossible to maintain the standard without user contributions, but currently there is only snow parking fees that can be charged,” Linnerud says, adding that he does experience more understanding and appreciation for the grooming efforts.

    No trail fees in Olso

    “Skiforeningen (ed. note: the Oslo area trail association) will not introduce a trail fee for grooming,” Mette Habberstad of Skiforeningen says to www.langrenn.com. “For starters, there is no room in the current laws that allows for charging a grooming fee, and most importantly, we think introducing user fees is the wrong place to go after funding for grooming.”

    The season pass in Mora, currently about $50, grants access to a little more than 20 kilometers. Yearly membership in Skiforeningen runs about the same amount but the association maintains more than 2,600 kilometers of trails. And the membership is optional and not a requirement to access the trail system. “It takes a lot of resources to maintain and groom a trail system, so I understand the reasoning behind charging a grooming fee for using the trail system. But I think I would encourage the Swedes to look into different avenues to finance the grooming and trail maintenance rather than charge the skiers for using the trails,” Habberstad says.

    From www.langrenn.com, July 16, 2010 By Ola Jordheim Halvorsen. Translation by Inge Scheve