Bought a Snowcat today

[ferniesnow]

Yea, Im pretty pleased with myself...it has logged 23 chargeable days so far, and my goal was 30 so I think its gonna work. Sad part is now we are getting calls for a second one (that I cant afford) but I did find a heck of a deal on one...

If we stay busy, this one will be coming to Canada too...

Sure hope that one has wings on the blade?

Next step might be a buying or making a ski hill to keep the family busy.....

 

[Longhorn]

Sure hope that one has wings on the blade?

Next step might be a buying or making a ski hill to keep the family busy.....

Wings? Yes, hard to see, but they are strapped on near the back for transport.

Ski hill? No...geez when the heck would I have time to play on that LOL

 

[Grizzly4323]

Longarm, this video is a little long 8:47 minutes but it is interesting! At least to a groomer operator doing trails in the mountains. Some of the curls where up to 5' high and just rolling.....just what an operator wants to see.....friggin' awesome

The video was out of Elkford going down to the Bull River. We will start grooming the Coal Creek trail in Fernie on Friday; Different club, different groomer, and much different conditions.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNHBblnmJkw[/media]

WoW!! I never realized how much snow those units can move. Very impressive!!

 

[btcowboy]

Would be fun to operate,

 

[Longhorn]

Would be fun to operate,

More fun than you can imagine...the power is just so impressive! I love equipment but usually it gets boring after a while, but so far not this thing.

 

[btcowboy]

More fun than you can imagine...the power is just so impressive! I love equipment but usually it gets boring after a while, but so far not this thing.

Your enjoying and making some coin on it, thats what counts

 

[Longhorn]

Your enjoying and making some coin on it, thats what counts

Yea, but as expected there has been some repairs, but like I said I did expect this...

Today stupidest thing ever...parkbrake locked and we could not get it to unlock no matter what. There are safety features so you dont run yourself over like if the door is open, etc. Finally after a few hours of diagnosing we find a small wire under the armrest broken. This prevents it from moving if the armrest is up (drive controls are on this armrest). Repaired the wire and good to go again, but lost 2 hours trying to figure out what it was...

But its nice to see it working. Our industry is so behind in some aspects, still plowing snow with farm tractors and Degelman blades. This works great on the roads but when the snow gets deep all they do is pull each other out and make a mess. This thing moves some major amounts of snow in a hurry.

 

[btcowboy]

So you plow for the oil patch or something else

 

[Longhorn]

So you plow for the oil patch or something else

Yes, we are plowing leases, and pipeline trails right now. We try to stay away from any roads as they are too hard on the tracks.

These guys need access to the wells year round and spend tons of money on plowing. The more you plow, the more you need to plow because the windrows catch all the blowing snow, so its ongoing once you start...

Good for us, but sucks for them...They wont let us plow a wider path due to enviro rules...

 

[sledderdoc]

Longarm, this video is a little long 8:47 minutes but it is interesting! At least to a groomer operator doing trails in the mountains. Some of the curls where up to 5' high and just rolling.....just what an operator wants to see.....friggin' awesome

The video was out of Elkford going down to the Bull River. We will start grooming the Coal Creek trail in Fernie on Friday; Different club, different groomer, and much different conditions.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNHBblnmJkw[/media]

Cool vid!! Sometimes tough to tell where the trail is lol. :d

 

[btcowboy]

Well good luck with your venture....you will do great in that industry

 

[ferniesnow]

Cool vid!! Sometimes tough to tell where the trail is lol. :d

What doo you mean....tough to tell where the trail is sometimes? We know those trails like the back of our hands!

Damn, I have a lot of grooming vid's floating around.....

 

[tranquillicer]

4years of grooming in the mountains was the best job I ever had. Didn't pay that great but I never had a day at work that I didn't enjoy and learned so much about grooming and the ski industry. Ran BR 400 plus back in the mid 90's and they were awsome but......they were something else to repair if you didn't have a tech trained on them. They can easily move enough snow in a couple of pushes to completely bury a pick-up.

 

[ferniesnow]

4years of grooming in the mountains was the best job I ever had. Didn't pay that great but I never had a day at work that I didn't enjoy and learned so much about grooming and the ski industry. Ran BR 400 plus back in the mid 90's and they were awsome but......they were something else to repair if you didn't have a tech trained on them. They can easily move enough snow in a couple of pushes to completely bury a pick-up.

I don't think I could be a "mountain farmer" up and down the same slope day in and day out so to speak!

When we come back at night, we see the Cats on the ski hill and are very thankful for our diversity that is required on the trails. But, to each their own!

Lots of guys can't handle the boredom and are in too much of a hurry. It is nice to see the trees, the hoar, the ditch stucks, all the animal tracks and sometimes the kills, gather the lost gear, and go around the summits in white-outs!

 

[polarice]

Yes, we are plowing leases, and pipeline trails right now. We try to stay away from any roads as they are too hard on the tracks.

These guys need access to the wells year round and spend tons of money on plowing. The more you plow, the more you need to plow because the windrows catch all the blowing snow, so its ongoing once you start...

Good for us, but sucks for them...They wont let us plow a wider path due to enviro rules...

what about doing what the farmers do and make a path further out to catch the blowing snow

 

[TheLonelyIsland]

Cool vid!! Sometimes tough to tell where the trail is lol. :d

is that actually longhorn driving or what?

 

[ferniesnow]

is that actually longhorn driving or what?

he only wished he was running his SnowCat in the mountains!

That's my buddy and I'm in the jump seat with the camera.....that was a great one that day!

 

[Longhorn]

he only wished he was running his SnowCat in the mountains!

That's my buddy and I'm in the jump seat with the camera.....that was a great one that day!

You can say that again...Good old flatland...the best for drifting snow. 2690 square kms and about 6 trees

Seeing 6 ft drifts today, wind predicted for the next 3 days, gonna be busy. Tore a wing off the blade today, huge rock. It takes a lot of force to tear 1 1/4" steel plate...

 

[ferniesnow]

You can say that again...Good old flatland...the best for drifting snow. 2690 square kms and about 6 trees

Seeing 6 ft drifts today, wind predicted for the next 3 days, gonna be busy. Tore a wing off the blade today, huge rock. It takes a lot of force to tear 1 1/4" steel plate...

get out the tool box buddy! and the welder.....those rocks are a real bit*h because there is just no stretch in them suckers.....

and they just come up out of the ground from nowhere.....

 

[old mountain man]

Had the same problem last winter. It is hard to find. You can jump the solenoid in
an emergency but you then have no brake or open door/armrest shut downs. Fairly
safe if working flat ground.