Winter operation and grooming

TrailsIQ runs in one of two seasons, summer operation and winter operation. In winter, grooming comes out everywhere it belongs: a Grooming screen under Operations, grooming status on the field app, on TrailsIQ Go and on your website, and a printable winter map for each network. In summer all of it is put away, so a summer crew never wades through snow settings and a summer visitor never reads that a trail was "not groomed".

The Winter grooming module turns the whole feature on or off. It is on by default for trail organizations; find it under Settings → Workspace modules.

Switching seasons

Open Settings → Winter operation. The card at the top says which season you are in and since when, and one button switches to the other.

Below it you can set Winter starts and Winter ends dates. Set both and the season changes on its own every year, early on those mornings in your organization's time zone. Only the month and day are kept, so you set them once.

The dates and the button work together. Switch by hand whenever the snow comes early or melts late. A switch you make by hand stays in place until the next date comes around. If you switch back to summer on the morning of your start date because the snow has not arrived, the app does not put you back in winter an hour later.

What each trail does in winter

Every trail gets a winter role on Grooming → Winter trails:

• Groomed: on the grooming list, checked against the forecast, and drawn in its own color on the winter map. Pick what a groom sets: Classic, Skate, Classic + skate, Fat bike, Snowshoe packed or Multi-use packed.
• Open, not groomed: open in winter, never on the grooming list.
• Closed for winter: grayed and labeled Closed for winter on the field app, on TrailsIQ Go, on your website's trail map and on the winter map.

A trail you have not set reads as open. Tick Winter only for a trail that exists only in winter, like a ski loop laid across a summer field: it is hidden from the public in summer and appears when you switch to winter.

The page takes bulk changes too. Select several rows and set them all at once, which is the quick way through a large network at the start of the first winter.

Tonight: what needs grooming

Operations → Grooming opens on Tonight, a list of every groomed trail with a forecast chip beside it:

• Groom tonight: enough new snow has fallen since the last groom, or the longest gap between grooms has passed, and tonight is cold enough to set up.
• Groom after the snow: more snow is on the way and a groom now would be buried by morning, so the chip names the night to go out.
• Hold: too warm. A groom tonight would turn a soft base to slush.
• Not enough snow: there is not enough on the ground to groom at all.
• Not needed: recently groomed and nothing coming.
• No forecast: the forecast for that ground has not been fetched yet. The check says so rather than guessing.

Each row also shows when the trail was last groomed and by whom, and whether somebody has already been handed it tonight.

Handing a groom to a groomer

Tick the trails that need doing. A bar appears at the foot of the screen: pick the groomer, the night, and an optional note ("start from the north lot, the gate is locked"), then press Assign.

Each trail becomes a grooming task for that person, one for each trail each night. Assigning the same trail twice for the same night updates the task you already have rather than filing a second one. The groomer gets one notification listing their trails, not one per trail.

On the field app, a groomer sees a My grooming card on the trail status screen with tonight's trails on it. Tapping Done on a trail marks it groomed, closes the task, and records the groom in the log, exactly as setting it Groomed from the trail sheet does. Finishing a task needs a connection. Grooming a trail from the trail sheet still works offline.

Grooming tasks stay off your ordinary maintenance list, the trail health numbers and the public reports, so a busy winter does not bury the summer backlog. Remove from tonight takes a task back off the list before anybody has done it. A groom that is already done stays in the record.

The forecast, and changing what it checks

Grooming → Forecast shows the next days for each network: hourly snow, temperature and wind as a strip, and a day-by-day table under it. The forecast comes from the same weather your trail conditions already use. It needs weather turned on for your organization; see How to enable weather.

Every number the check uses is yours to change, under Settings → Winter operation → Forecast check:

• New snow that needs a groom (default 5 cm) — fresh snow since the last groom before a trail is due again.
• Snow needed to groom at all (default 10 cm) — below this on the ground, the check says there is not enough base.
• Wind that drifts snow (default 40 km/h) — gusts above this with loose snow on the ground can drift exposed sections in.
• Too warm to groom (default 2 °C) — above this overnight, the check says hold.
• Cold enough to set up (default −2 °C) — after a thaw, groom once it drops below this or the trail sets up icy.
• Longest gap between grooms (default 4 days) — a groomed trail is due after this long even with no new snow.
• How far ahead to look (default 36 hours) — how much of the forecast the check reads when it picks the best night.

Organizations in the United States see inches, °F and mph. Each field has its own Reset, and Reset all to defaults puts every one back.

The afternoon heads-up

At 4 pm your time, on a day when the forecast says at least one trail needs a groom, the people who groom or plan grooming get one notification naming those trails. Nothing is sent on a day when nothing needs doing, and it goes out at most once a day.

Turn it off for yourself under the field app's notification settings, Grooming forecast. That switch, and Trail grooming changes, only show in winter. Tasks handed to you covers a night of grooming somebody assigns you, in any season.

Winter maps

Grooming → Maps draws one winter map per network: groomed trails thick in their own color, open trails thinner, and closed trails as a gray dashed line labeled Closed for winter. Tap a trail for its grooming type and when it was last groomed. Print gives you a clean page for the trailhead kiosk or the warming hut wall.

The grooming log

Grooming → Log lists every groom this season: when, which trail, who, and whether it came from a task, the field app or the dashboard. The cards at the top count grooms per trail; tap one to see just that trail.

Who can do what

Two permissions, both under Settings → Roles & permissions:

• Mark trails groomed: set a trail Groomed, Partial or Not groomed, and finish grooming tasks. It does not let somebody open or close a trail, so a contracted groomer can have it on its own. Anyone who can change trail conditions can groom as well.
• Plan grooming: assign grooms, set each trail's winter role, and use the winter maps.

Switching seasons and changing the forecast check stay with owners and managers.

What your visitors see

In winter, your website's grooming block and trail map, and your organization's page in TrailsIQ Go, show each trail's grooming and its grooming type. A trail counts as freshly groomed for 24 hours; after that the website still shows Last groomed with the day, so a visitor can tell a trail groomed yesterday from one groomed last week. Closed trails are grayed with Closed for winter, and winter-only trails appear.

In summer the grooming block is not shown on your website at all and winter-only trails are not listed.