Vail Cat Crew

[95zIV]

Can you tell us what the boom on Cat #1206 does?

Steve,

I'm gonna guess that that gives the winch height and mobility to work around the blades on those machines and the winch cats are for grades too steep to work with one machine.

 

[Dig-UP]

Can you tell us what the boom on Cat #1206 does?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMCIvWjwnOY

This vid is not mine, but it shows how the winch cat works... It allows the machine to turn around, and stay hooked up to its anchor point.

edit: This vid is pretty good too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz_e1SIJ3Tg

 

[Steve Frazier]

Thanks guys. I never realized how sophisticated that operation was!

 

[95zIV]

Just gotta wonder, how many THOUSANDS of feet of cable are on that drum.

 

[CascadeScaper]

Just gotta wonder, how many THOUSANDS of feet of cable are on that drum.

It really depends, some are setup differently. Our winch cat has 1,500 feet of cable I believe.

Great pics, wish I would have had more time this last season to get some photos of our operation. With the budget issues, we ran 1 less cat than normal, so most nights I was strapped just to get my runs done in time. Little different operation than Vail, you guys have a wad of cats! We have 9 all together and run 7 every night. We had 2 new Bisons this year and next season it sounds like we'll be replacing our PB Edge with a 400 that's setup as a ParkBully. Possibility we'll get a new version of the Bison as well, the guys that demo'd the new center drive really liked it.

It's awesome to see that the BR500 really does exist, we keep hearing about it out here but have never seen one. Our runs aren't wide enough to justify that beast, most of our runs are only 7-10 passes wide.

I like the Bisons, they'll definately out push a 350. I also like the track tension adjust buttons under the console, definately a nice feature. Looks like you got a 350 with the Recaro seat, definately nice! All of our 350's have the crappy air ride seats, I hate them. Can't feel the cat very well and they are just garbage. I prefer the 350 blades over the Bison blades unless it's completley bulletproof. Plus, the 350's sound so much better than the Bisons, that's the best part!

Grooming is wild, it's interesting to see how it's done at other resorts. You guys do a lot of fleet grooming down there at Vail? We're such a small operation in comparison it's rare that we had more than 2 cats grooming together.

 

[Jeffksf]

Awesome pics! Thanks for posting.
What I wouldn't gie to be in that 1/2 pipe for a day.

 

[Tacodriver]

Here is a pretty interesting video from Solden Austria, its a winter play on a glacier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7tYP-LMdKg

 

[Muffler Bearing]

Great Pics! Brings back memories of my years in Crested Butte! Actually everything from those years is a little fuzzy. Wow, a driver quitting over a whizz quiz? What, he couldn't find the one guy with clean pee?
Got any stories about ski patrol stepping over the winch cat cable?
"Track tension buttons"? Not fair! I had to pump them up with grease! and I busted out a front tooth doing it!
Nice cabin Cats I ran BR400's with fiberglass cabins at Irwin Lodge. Yup, you don't know adrenaline 'til you are running through foot deep snow with an extinguisher to put out a cabin engulfed in flames.

I could go all day with snowcat stories,rumors and lies. Hard to believe I once ate, slept and bled on those beasts. I'd still be doing it if I could handle poverty with a view, and I wanted to kill my liver. I'll dig up some pics

 

[DuraMaxMan66]

It really depends, some are setup differently. Our winch cat has 1,500 feet of cable I believe.

Great pics, wish I would have had more time this last season to get some photos of our operation. With the budget issues, we ran 1 less cat than normal, so most nights I was strapped just to get my runs done in time. Little different operation than Vail, you guys have a wad of cats! We have 9 all together and run 7 every night. We had 2 new Bisons this year and next season it sounds like we'll be replacing our PB Edge with a 400 that's setup as a ParkBully. Possibility we'll get a new version of the Bison as well, the guys that demo'd the new center drive really liked it.

It's awesome to see that the BR500 really does exist, we keep hearing about it out here but have never seen one. Our runs aren't wide enough to justify that beast, most of our runs are only 7-10 passes wide.

I like the Bisons, they'll definately out push a 350. I also like the track tension adjust buttons under the console, definately a nice feature. Looks like you got a 350 with the Recaro seat, definately nice! All of our 350's have the crappy air ride seats, I hate them. Can't feel the cat very well and they are just garbage. I prefer the 350 blades over the Bison blades unless it's completley bulletproof. Plus, the 350's sound so much better than the Bisons, that's the best part!

Grooming is wild, it's interesting to see how it's done at other resorts. You guys do a lot of fleet grooming down there at Vail? We're such a small operation in comparison it's rare that we had more than 2 cats grooming together.

Yeah Cascade, We have 30 some snowcats at Vail....but that includes all the coach cats we have and winch cats. We had 6 winch cats and 1 was for the super pipe with the pipe zaugg. Yeah the BR500 was a fenominal machine, the power was so smooth. But it was a little big and it couldnt get to some parts of the resort due to width on cat walks. And as far as fleet grooming, We almost always did it on night crew due to having to get so much done. We would divide up into pods and there would be 4-6 cats to a pack and usually 2 or 3 packs but there was a few guys that were off on there own doing dozing projects or grooming base areas. Mourning crew solo groomed until about 7am then they have to start packing due to people on the mtn.
I wish we did more solo grooming, it really showed you what your work looked like all together instead of 4 other passes too. But I totally agree about 350s/Bisons. I love the way my cat sounded....they are a bit loud but very wicked

 

[DuraMaxMan66]

Great Pics! Brings back memories of my years in Crested Butte! Actually everything from those years is a little fuzzy. Wow, a driver quitting over a whizz quiz? What, he couldn't find the one guy with clean pee?
Got any stories about ski patrol stepping over the winch cat cable?

Haha it didnt matter anyway...there was only about a week left in the season, so Vail got the $1,800 bill for the new windshild and he got off scott clean,....well except for being black listed with Vail. And haha no ski patrol didnt do anything too stupid....just pulling there snowmobiles out of ditches and holes for them a few times.

 

[Muffler Bearing]

Crappy pictures of pictures

Here is the work cat in the shop, a view with a cabin cat, and a MATTRAX in it's natural habitat. Damn, Irwin Lodge was in such a beautiful place I wish I had taken more photos. Cats truly are amazing machines, I always thought of them as high performance heavy equipment. Very light weight and agile.

 

[CascadeScaper]

Yeah Cascade, We have 30 some snowcats at Vail....but that includes all the coach cats we have and winch cats. We had 6 winch cats and 1 was for the super pipe with the pipe zaugg. Yeah the BR500 was a fenominal machine, the power was so smooth. But it was a little big and it couldnt get to some parts of the resort due to width on cat walks. And as far as fleet grooming, We almost always did it on night crew due to having to get so much done. We would divide up into pods and there would be 4-6 cats to a pack and usually 2 or 3 packs but there was a few guys that were off on there own doing dozing projects or grooming base areas. Mourning crew solo groomed until about 7am then they have to start packing due to people on the mtn.
I wish we did more solo grooming, it really showed you what your work looked like all together instead of 4 other passes too. But I totally agree about 350s/Bisons. I love the way my cat sounded....they are a bit loud but very wicked

Solo grooming is the best! I loved the nights I could go out by myself. Not that I'm not a team player, but it's easier to pick up mistakes when you're by yourself. I could do my ramps better by myself, not get in a big hurry just because I'd have to keep another cat busy while I was doing ramps. Just a less stressful situation unless I got hammered on with a bunch of snow, then that changed things. On clean nights with not much new snow, the chances for windrows were low and 2 cats could knock out everything in my section of the hill with few mistakes. Those nights were good too, but I almost prefer to be strapped to get done every night, keeps me from falling asleep.

 

[DuraMaxMan66]

Here are 2 videos of Vail Grooming Day time crew that I found that were filmed this year by people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdoz34EM4uA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLm1VoheDt8

And heres 2 videos from last year that my friend made on night crew in a Pisten Bully 300.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0pi1vmZEw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Hv6rC1KW4

 

[CascadeScaper]

I've been done for a month now and watching those videos makes me miss my cat! Ready for next season already. :drinkup

 

[DuraMaxMan66]

Me too! Only thing is I wont make it out to Vail next winter and there is no resort in the northeast that compares to grooming at Vail.

 

[CascadeScaper]

That's a bummer. Well, running a cat is running a cat. Some places are better than others, but if you need to fuel the addiction, go wherever you can to do so :drinkup.

Found out a couple days ago that we had another demo PB 400 come up after the season ended. Rage Productions and Teton Gravity Research were doing some filming at the area I work at a copule weeks ago, we had 3-4 cat operators build some serious kickers for the film crews and maintain them as the shoots progressed. I guess the boss wanted to demo the 400 again, but this one was set up as a ParkBully whereas the 400 we tried earlier in the season was a straight up freegrooming 400. Pretty sure we'll be getting at least one 400 and I don't know what they'll buy to replace the other cat we're getting rid of, I know we're replacing two cats. Maybe another Bison, maybe a Bison centerdrive, who knows, maybe a 400 set up as a freegroomer.

 

[Wrench_one]

Nice photo spread there in the mountains of colorado duramaxman! Most people do not
realize the amount of heavy iron it takes to keep the slopes open !! Thanks.