Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

It is that time of year when I clear our the brush along my favorite backwoods trails. In our area, that mostly means using longhandled loppers to cut out the beech whips. I try to cut down to the ground surface and not leave “pungie” sticks that would trip me up later. Also, I trim back branches as high as I can reach, which is usually enough unless there is more than 3-feet snow. Due to a beech-bark disease, older beeches are dying, and the young whip slpings spring up everywhere.

Telerock wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 02, 2023 8:23 pm

It is that time of year when I clear our the brush along my favorite backwoods trails. In our area, that mostly means using longhandled loppers to cut out the beech whips. I try to cut down to the ground surface and not leave “pungie” sticks that would trip me up later. Also, I trim back branches as high as I can reach, which is usually enough unless there is more than 3-feet snow. Due to a beech-bark disease, older beeches are dying, and the young whip slpings spring up everywhere.

Lots of beech here (UP of Mi) dying back as well and tons of beech whips. Blowdowns are a big issue this season from a very intense May storm. Fall will be a challenge between trimming slopes, gathering firewood and evicting/cleaning up after mice at ski camp. Noticed a bit of color in the hills here and it got me thinking skiing.

Hey Rock. Up on Teleknob on the Northwest side have kinda finished clipping and it is good. Short but very sweet. Couple of old long standing dead trees have come down but me thinks with some decent snow a real nice air ride for an oldie. North of the gap there is a really decent open hardwood zone. Short drops and always a runout makes for some easy fun and some decent mono tracks. Long distance up there on the ridges around the high wet zone where the animals keep watch. Still wild and remote. Some new people have discovered the area and Telewheels is taking a Big Mountain skier out there and she loves it. Just skiing and it is good! TM

connyro wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 02, 2023 8:41 pm

[Noticed a bit of color in the hills here and it got me thinking skiing.

Really? I once visited Mqt at the beginning of Nov and there were still leaves and color whereas by me they were all fallen at that point, which made me think that being on the big lake your leaves die later.

On a related grooming note, there's what was once an old single track trail where some logging was done 15 years ago and now very overgrown. When there's heavy wet snow the young hemlock trees all hang down into the path. Best course to just chainsaw all the branches I can reach which extend into my path?

Telerock wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 02, 2023 8:23 pm

It is that time of year when I clear our the brush along my favorite backwoods trails. In our area, that mostly means using longhandled loppers to cut out the beech whips. I try to cut down to the ground surface and not leave “pungie” sticks that would trip me up later. Also, I trim back branches as high as I can reach, which is usually enough unless there is more than 3-feet snow. Due to a beech-bark disease, older beeches are dying, and the young whip slpings spring up everywhere.

Last year we had 10+ feet of snow. There's just no way to prepare a trail for that. My head was often in branches a few feet above the bottom branches. It was awesome!

Trim them high and let them lie is my advice.
Hope to ski you all this winter

A few summers now I’ve been working on a hillside in my area that burned in ‘20. Mostly used a folding trimming saw. It limited what I could cut. NOT Anymore!