Not even a little bit fun this year!

[eagle lake sugar]

We started tapping this week and What a nightmare! We've had 150" of snow, heavy winds etc. Every step with snowshoes on, you sink down a couple feet, sometimes 3 or 4 feet. This morning I found a tree down on a mainline under 4' of snow, had to shovel it out to find the tree, then cut it in several places to free the line. We always have 3' of snowpack, but this year there's no bottom, you sink right down. I can usually do 250-300 a day on snowshoes, this year it's more like 100-150. I took this week off thinking I'd get all my tapping done, but it doesn't look like that's happening. I hope you guys are finding better conditions!

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Keep your head up! The flows will start and make it all worth it.

[spud]

with that amount of snow it sure does take the fun out of sugaring. Just keep plugging away at it till your done. You should be weeks before any sap comes. How many taps do you have?

Spud

[BAP]

We started tapping this week and What a nightmare! We've had 150" of snow, heavy winds etc. Every step with snowshoes on, you sink down a couple feet, sometimes 3 or 4 feet. This morning I found a tree down on a mainline under 4' of snow, had to shovel it out to find the tree, then cut it in several places to free the line. We always have 3' of snowpack, but this year there's no bottom, you sink right down. I can usually do 250-300 a day on snowshoes, this year it's more like 100-150. I took this week off thinking I'd get all my tapping done, but it doesn't look like that's happening. I hope you guys are finding better conditions!
Been There, Done That before. It is certainly some of the most discouraging times sugaring. The worst part was thinking that you were never going to get done in time. Unfortunately for us, those years ended up being a bust because by the time the snow melted enough so that the trees thawed out, it was late in the season and the weather quickly turned hot. I certainly hope that is not the case for you.

[n8hutch]

I was in Eagle Lake 3 weeks ago Riding and the snow was deep for sure. I am dealing with a lot of snow too, I. The steep areas you are almost helpless it sucks.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Hang in there eagle lake. You guys have a little more than us but we have a pile here in western Maine too. Same thing Saturday for me. I can usually do all drops and repairs on our 400 taps in one day, maybe part of a second day on snowshoes. Gonna be 3 days this year then hopefully 2 of us can tap in one day. Same as you, 7 hours in the woods and was only able to walk 130-140 taps. I too was irritated yesterday, definitely not fun when you’re up to your knees in snowshoes! The guys tapping the 5400 tap bush we do the line work for in Byron are struggling too. Ive been on snowshoes every weekend since November 8th.

[steve J]

I have had the same issue plus most of my trees are on a steep hillside. There is a lot of frozen snow half way down in the snow pack, and your snow shoes suddenly become skies! I have repaired more lines and main liness this year than all the years I have sugared put together. And now tonight we are getting hit with high winds again!

[eagle lake sugar]

with that amount of snow it sure does take the fun out of sugaring. Just keep plugging away at it till your done. You should be weeks before any sap comes. How many taps do you have?

Spud
We have 3100 taps currently, mostly on steep ground.

[GeneralStark]

If it were easy everyone would be doing it! lol This is one good reason it is critical to stay in tip top shape during the off season. If anyone wants in on my fitness program let me know.

I do all my woods work on foot, with crampons or on snowshoes. No fancy tracked four-wheelers or any of that expensive stuff for me. It wouldn't help much anyway as I have some every steep and rugged terrain to deal with.

In deep snow my strategy is this. I pack out trails with snowshoes along each mainline and then strategically so that when it is time to head to the woods and tap or do repairs I can be working on packed trails and with minimal wallowing. I do this while carrying nothing but a water bottle. I also try to do most of my work going downhill as it is much easier than trying to go up in deep snow.

[ennismaple]

Deep snow certainly sucks the fun out of tapping in a hurry! We normally try to walk the bush in November to do any repairs needed before the snow flies but we had snow so early that didn't get done. As a result we have a million little repairs to make that take 5x longer now than they would have before winter.