Mamba rears its head - Tokai

[(Deon)]

Glad you gave it a go Mark.. Ben yet?

[marko35s]

Glad you gave it a go Mark.. Ben yet?

About ten foot behind me urging me to speed up.

He loved it (and constantly rattled on about the changes).

[Beattbox]

Rode the new and improved berm at the top of Mamba for the first time yesterday!

Yoh! is all i can say

Well done PoS for insisting that we make it longer and wider.

The rest of Mamba is looking really good and bedding down nicely.

Kudo's to all involved with the rebuild.

[JohnnyReggae]

I would like to give a *HUGE* thanks to all the guys working on the Snake trails. Rode Cobra, Mamba, and what I could on Boomslang on Saturday. I haven't had that much fun on the trails in Tokai in a while.

 

Cobra was awesome, and so happy to be able to ride it again. Mamba flows a lot more than it used to and is longer. Boomslang left me confused I was so lost riding it. It's been a little while since I ventured that side with all the tree felling going on it looks so alien to me.

 

The best trail for the day though will have to go to the Downhill track, from below Vasbyt to the quarry. There are so many awesome little drops to take on the Uni that it makes it very exciting and so much fun, and I even managed a jump gap ... albeit the smallest one, which the downhill guys won't even see, but hey it was a massive gap for me

[marko35s]

Mamba is looking really tired at the moment, overgrown and badly eroded. The first rock drop/roll is looking likely to end somebody badly very soon.It looks like lack of maintainance is taking its toll on what was a lovely piece of track.

Is there any work or maintainance planned for it in the near future?

[jimmy hardtail]

someone needs to trim the bush, so to speak. One can hardly get the round some of the corners without sticking a handlebar into some or other alien shrubbery. If it gets left like it is by spring the whole trail will have dissapeard

[porqui]

someone needs to trim the bush, so to speak. One can hardly get the round some of the corners without sticking a handlebar into some or other alien shrubbery. If it gets left like it is by spring the whole trail will have dissapeard

 

 

1st Saturday of the month is build day - I'm sure we can arrange for you to take some clippers and do some trimming.(I will assist)

[Capricorn]

Why isn't simple but important things like the hedge trimming being done outside of volunteer days? the old crew did quite a bit of out of band maintenance/ touch up jobs IIRC. that's all stopped now, which is a huge pity tbh.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Capricorn

[Flowta]

Why isn't simple but important things like the hedge trimming being done outside of volunteer days? the old crew did quite a bit of out of band maintenance/ touch up jobs IIRC. that's all stopped now, which is a huge pity tbh.

 

Which old crew?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Which old crew?

 

Deon and his 4 merry men. The guys that were maintaining the trail rather well until the embargo hit them and forced them to find alternative employment.

[Headshot]

The problem with Mamba and the other snakes is that TMNP have failed woefully to manage the area properly. They have not done the required high heat burns to stimulate the fynbos seed bed and the aliens and weeds are building into a lovely thicket that will become a massive fire risk in due course, not to mention bar catchers. SA Pine also left large quantities of branches and even entire trunks instead of clearing the area as they are doing lower down. Some doubt exists that SANParks have the necessary skills to do the burns. This makes rerouting and maintaining the trails even harder...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

The problem with Mamba and the other snakes is that TMNP have failed woefully to manage the area properly. They have not done the required high heat burns to stimulate the fynbos seed bed and the aliens and weeds are building into a lovely thicket that will become a massive fire risk in due course, not to mention bar catchers. SA Pine also left large quantities of branches and even entire trunks instead of clearing the area as they are doing lower down. Some doubt exists that SANParks have the necessary skills to do the burns. This makes rerouting and maintaining the trails even harder...

 

To a degree, Tim, you're right. But the fact is that for a period of 3 months there has been ZERO maintenance, through no fault of Parks (a divert on Vasbyt isn't maintenance - it's a divert due to safety reasons) and that has an effect on the trail - especially when the trail in question hadn't yet been lined with clay.

 

If there were maintenance before this - there wouldn't have been the problem of encroaching growth or dangerous obstacles. Trails would have been lined with something, and the growth would have been cut back...

[marko35s]

 

Which old crew?

Deon had some guys that were up there s few times a week and it seemed to help.

A couple of times I pointed out stuff that needed looking at or attending to and it was fixed the next day (and yes I do spend an unhealthy amount of time up there )

[(Deon)]

The problem with Mamba and the other snakes is that TMNP have failed woefully to manage the area properly. They have not done the required high heat burns to stimulate the fynbos seed bed and the aliens and weeds are building into a lovely thicket that will become a massive fire risk in due course, not to mention bar catchers. SA Pine also left large quantities of branches and even entire trunks instead of clearing the area as they are doing lower down. Some doubt exists that SANParks have the necessary skills to do the burns. This makes rerouting and maintaining the trails even harder...

To say they have failed in the first year after pine removal is a bit premature don't you think?

 

"Some doubt exists that SANParks have the necessary skills to do the burns." You do know they plan to burn the lower slopes tomorrow. Should I keep the hose handy? Care to elaborate on who?

[Flowta]

To say they have failed in the first year after pine removal is a bit premature don't you think?

 

"Some doubt exists that SANParks have the necessary skills to do the burns." You do know they plan to burn the lower slopes tomorrow. Should I keep the hose handy? Care to elaborate on who?

 

They failed for the following reasons

• They have been provided with a plan from Cape Pine with the expected harvesting schedule (up till 2024) (info from Cape Pine)
  
• The burn is supposed to happen in the FIRST year of removal. (info from renowned botanist)
  
• It has not even been discussed with the TMNP fire manager (info from fire manager)
  

Have an email I'm not at liberty to share stating the writers reservations to the competency if TMNP to control a burn on the side of the mountain (sloped land, exposed as opposed to the flat area that is being burned)

 

Certain TMNP employees were included on this email.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

They failed for the following reasons

• They have been provided with a plan from Cape Pine with the expected harvesting schedule (up till 2024) (info from Cape Pine)
  
• The burn is supposed to happen in the FIRST year of removal. (info from renowned botanist)
  
• It has not even been discussed with the TMNP fire manager (info from fire manager)
  

Have an email I'm not at liberty to share stating the writers reservations to the competency if TMNP to control a burn on the side of the mountain (sloped land, exposed as opposed to the flat area that is being burned)

 

Certain TMNP employees were included on this email.

 

 

Dave, they may have failed in the terms of the burn, but to link the delay of the burn to the lack of maintenance is laughable. Yes - final trail features were left off and not put in (as well as final trail direction) until the burn was completed, but that is linked to the creation of trails. Not maintenance of trails.

 

I repeat - the burn has fokkol to do with maintenance. It does, however, have everything to do with the fact that we were waiting for the burn to happen before putting final features in.