Grooming question - Minimum compaction pressure?

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Grooming question - Minimum compaction pressure?
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flag Surestick
Posted: Feb 13, 2020 at 12:36 Quote
We've started grooming a few kilometers of trail for fat biking using a homemade ladder-style groomer pulled behind snowshoes.

The first run produced a very good looking trail but when we tried to ride it the next day we were still digging into the trail in spots. It appeared that areas that got some sun over the course of the day were just hard enough to ride on but if we were trying to climb or the trail was out of the sun the surface was too soft to hold up.

We had ~40 lbs of sandbags on the compaction plate and are going out for another try with and extra sandbag but it got me thinking. Is there a certain minimum psi to aim for when packing snow for fat biking?

Right now the groomer is 24" wide and the weighted compaction part in the back is 24" long so 576 square inches. With 40 lbs on it, we're only packing the snow down with 0.069444444 psi... The math on this is depressing giving the effort to pull the groomer with only two sandbags on it up steeper hills!

I'm wondering if I need to shorten the weighted part of the groomer to cut back on the area as well as add weight.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8Pmilml...on_share_sheet
flag mamo5
O+
Posted: Feb 20, 2020 at 13:44 Quote
What was the weather like when you went out grooming? Even with a motorized groomer if it's too cold out the snow won't pack down and will be soft when you try and ride the next day.
flag Surestick
Posted: Feb 21, 2020 at 9:22 Quote
It was -10C.
The trail has since set up nicely after a couple more passes and some temp swings.
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