Rolling vs Grooming?

On 3/20/2013 12:48 PM, gregg wrote:

Had the pleasure of skiing the Canal trail and Jackson Hill for the first a couple of weeks ago and plan to be out there tomorrow or Friday.  I am a bit SW of your area and the snow has been very thin for many weeks, so it was a welcome find!

Can you please explain the difference between "Rolling" vs "Grooming"?  Is rolling compacting, but not laying tracks?

Thank You!

 BREIA Response:

You are correct. Rolling is the use of a cylindrical drum to compact the snow on the trail. This is a separate implement from the groomer that sets the track. Rolling is typically done early in the season  and then mainly grooming from then on. However, occasionally with thaws, heavy snows or major changes in conditions, we need to roll the trails again before grooming. Because of the time involved in doing each area, we sometimes cannot get everything done in a day.