With more wacky weather forecast (EC is currently suggesting +11°C for Friday) there is sure to be suffering among those who care about ski trail conditions. Over just a few hours I saw/heard three variations on how Gatineau Park is doing:
- Thoughtful comments from Lynda Hall: “a tough crowd to satisfy…useful… a community of people who have a vested/emotional interest in the well-being of the park”
- Praise from Devashish Paul via TriRudy “Amazing grooming in the Gats”
- Plus this news item on CBC Radio, saying “…trails are no longer in world class condition,” “…that care or passion for the quality of grooming is gone,” and conversely “both the NCC and an number of skiers say the biggest problem is simply a lack of snow.”
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The cards that GuideGatineau has begun distributing to promote the website are considered to be highly environmentally responsible due to the fact that the paper used is 100% recycled and is produced using energy from biofuels plus the ink is vegetable based.
In the recent article in the Citizen on the grooming situation, Steve Deschenes (Demsis CEO) stated that the vast majority of skiers are satisfied and that all the complaints derive from 1% of the ski population – a hyper-critical group of elite skiers. Ever since Demsis took over park maintenance the Visitor’s Centre has been almost immobilized dealing with the high level of complaints – this is the reason for the round-table dialogue group. He is correct, however, when he says that “grooming is an art.”
Interestingly there is nothing, now, to prevent the level of grooming art that we knew when under Lafleur – other the Demsis management. The same people are doing the grooming with Demsis as with Lafleur. When the contract changed everyone on the grooming and trail maintenance teams moved over to Demsis; these employees have now worked for three contractors and are quite conscientious about providing top-level trail grooming. Robert Lafleur was intelligent enough to realize what a great asset he had in André Fleury et l’équipe de traçage – he realized that he had a top-level crew and that there was no reason to micro-manage them; he also backed them up financially with top-line equipment and by paying overtime when it was required to do the job. During the Lafleur years there was a synergy between the contractor, the NCC, and the grooming & maintenance crews that lead to a trail quality that was known throughout the cross-country community world-wide.
The deterioration in the trail quality is traceable directly to the current contractor Demsis. What has changed is the style of management and the equipment used by the contractor.
The quote proposed by Demsis was inadequate to cover the work required – it was an unreasonable figure to get the work. Now that Demsis has the contract the only way that they can make a profit, therefore, is to ignore the requirements and to low-ball the work required: this, they definitely .have done over the past four years. However there is also an ineptitude that suggests that they do not understand what is required..
Where in the Lafleur days there was a consistent level of high quality, with Demsis, skiers do not know what they will face. Yes there has been excellent grooming; however, too often skiers face unacceptably bad conditions. It would appear that the excellent work was done by the former crew who are capable of managing themselves (when allowed). The reasons for the inferior work is attributable to new hires for whom Demsis is reluctant to invest in the expense of training and management or to Demsis saving money by using equipment that is insufficient for the work to be performed. The reporting is inconsistent with bad conditions being reported as “excellent” and, paradoxically, excellent conditions being reported as “not-recommended”. Demsis has engaged in cosmetic grooming by meeting the contract on the parkways which are more visible while in the more remote north end of the park they have done slap-dash work in the hope that no-one will notice,
There is now a high level of distrust and dislike of the Demsis operation amongst the skiing community. The skiers have the view that Demsis management will get away with anything they can – for the past four years there has been sufficient evidence of that. What is needed is a contractor who is less concerned with the bottom-line, who cares about the park, and who will let the grooming and maintenance crews practice their art – again.
Speculation and a few real issues to do with grooming.
In tossing out a speculative1% as being the dissatisfied segment of the skiing community, and using the word “elite” to describe them, Steve Deschenes of Demsis has unfortunately fanned the flames of acrimony. Or perhaps it was the Citizen, exploiting the provocative slant to the piece; I see Craig Storey of XC Ottawa quoted liberally while I know for a fact that XC Ottawa has participated patiently and constructively in the ongoing roundtable meetings (in the person of Karl Saidla).
I do not know of a statistically valid study having been done on skier satisfaction but 58% of respondents to my Winter Trails Issues survey picked “improved maintenance and grooming of ski trails” as their first priority for the roundtable to discuss. This percentage is no more valid than the quoted one percent. My gut tells me that most skiers aren’t too worried about grooming quality but that it is enough of a concern for enough people that it has become a real issue.
Government bodies are required to contract with the lowest bidder who shows evidence in the bidding process that they can comply with contract requirements. This is only responsible to taxpayers. There are plenty of examples of lowball bids that won even though the government body might have been edgy as to whether the contractor could do the work. Thus the pressure is on bidders to bring in low bids. Contractors who don’t pay attention to their bottom line don’t stay contractors for too many seasons.
In the case of the NCC and Demsis I don’t see that sense of “we shouldn’t have hired them.” It seems to me that in large measure Gatineau Park managers are happy with Demsis’ performance. It is the background to this satisfaction that is more deeply at issue in the trail grooming.
The NCC is like all bureaucracies in that it is governed not by profit motive but by policy documents. It is the hierarchy of paperwork that gives Gatineau Park its legitimacy and at the moment that documentation defines the Gatineau Park primarily as a Conservation Park. Whereas once, several decades ago, NCC management had a dream that Gatineau Park might become a world destination for cross country skiing, both NCC management and the world have moved on. Cross country skiing (for all that we love it) is not a global draw for most people; compare parking capacity with the malls in town, most people would rather go shopping. Plus Gatineau Park isn’t unique in the world in having miles of groomed trails.
Skiers have “moved on” too in how they like to ski. Once a place where people dedicated an entire weekend to the ski trails—often including sleeping in dorms or lodges or hotels in and around Gatineau Park—now people routinely get their skiing done in a couple of hours and then get on with their day. Combining their “wilderness experience” with their “fitness program” goes hand in hand with the rise in recreational skate skiing and a greater dependence on grooming.
Nowhere it the governing documents does the NCC have marching orders to maintain a high level sport training facility. The Gatineau Park Master Plan does mention recreation but does so in a context of compatibility with ecosystem conservation. Bill C-20 now before Parliament reinforces this priority saying both:
but also that
So the point here is that the governing documents tell the managers of Gatineau Park that it is not their job to groom ski trails to the approval of world class skiers.
But expectations have been set.
In years gone by it was better.
Whether that’s because Demsis is bad or Lefleur was good or because snow cover is thin or because memory is nostalgic doesn’t matter. There is a local public demand for better grooming.
And yet the NCC mandate is a national one not a local one; that’s what the governing documents tell NCC managers their job is.
So what’s a civil servant to do?
What’s a park user to do?
Talk. Talk about it in patient, measured tones. I’ve seen both sides doing this. That’s what the roundtable is supposed to be about.
As grooming has improved I was getting hopeful but when I learn of what the CEO of Demsis said I don’t look optimistically toward the future of grooming in GP.
I agree with Ron. As for the next comment its close but still misses what I think is the critical point. Notwithstanding the Master Plan there is in place a contract today to provide optimal skiing conditions in the context of a premier North American skiing destination. Demsis is not doing it. Adding to the frustration is the blind eye the NCC has and this recent comment from Demsis.
As for only elite skiers complaining; I am not an elite skier and I am complaining. Like a good golf course, when it is well maintained, its easier for the beginner. I need a level skate surface, Petter Northug does not.