End Of Snow Cat Season

[mtntopper]

Snow cat season is about over for another year although they show a major storm for later this week. I started opening our road to our home yesterday. I took the top layers off with the trusty old Bombardier SV200. She is a real working snow cat that grooms during the winter and plows to open our road as its last job of the season.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNImQaZZVOE"]YouTube- P4180099.AVI[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhaBfFL9yig"]YouTube- P4180101.AVI[/ame]

Pics taken as I worked last evening:

 

[thcri]

great watching them vids. but have a question, will that rig out do Bobcat's bathtubs on tracks??

 

[mtntopper]

At 6:45 am today this what our road looked like. The water running off the hillside had frozen into a sheet of solid ice where I had plowed which is the norm. This is usually the worse section of my road except for another that I bypass for several more weeks to allow it to melt down as I have no place to put the snow in the narrow road thru the timber when I open it in the spring. This is a side hill on a north facing slope so the snow stays and then the snow on the hillside as it melts floods the road for several days. I mark the edge of the road with lathe so I know where it ends and the drop off begins. Our culverts are not carrying all of the flow of the small creek even in the early am so we are fording it as needed and hoping it does not wash out totally. The last pic is the end of our 1.5 mile drive to the county road which is still technically closed but we can get down it in our 4X4 with some luck. We are actually going over the frozen snow pack in some areas and hoping the bottom does not fall out and leave us high centered.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

great video makes me want a cat with a blade i'm expecting a early break up this year up here too but i think we will be snow catting inland into next month still last time i was up the road there was still lot's of snow and today looked a lot like your weather we still have more cold weather yet.

 

[fr73ed]

After you open up your access, do you have problems with people tryin out your newly opened road and tearing it up ?

 

[mtntopper]

After you open up your access, do you have problems with people tryin out your newly opened road and tearing it up ?

I am leaving the end close to the public road closed until it dries out more. We are using the tracked Rhino or rubber tracked Jimmy/truck until it dries up more. Just too muddy and messy to sink a tire into as of even today one week later. Two of our culverts were frozen solid with ice from the lack of snow when the weather dropped to -30F so we have some washouts and deep ruts that are going to require fill. No need to make it worse at this time. If it warms up and the runoff subsides maybe we can start driving in with regular vehicles soon. Snowing today again with a couple inches on the ground now......

I can leave the main road off the public road closed and use private property access around the section that is still closed if necessary for my personal use which keeps the tracks and rutting contained.....

 

[mtncrawler]

Still have some winter around here if you know where to look

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

i love this time of year in western ak it was 27 degrees today at 1700 hrs and i was laying on a open patch of tunda taking in a few uv rays while the 4 year old and doggs ran around rediscovering summer time and if i go back inland still plenty of snow to go riding on best of all the long days make it feel warmer than it is. by the way as i'm posting this its quarter to 9 in the evening and the sun is still up in the sky and its day light out.

 

[Lia]

Great thread. Amazing pics; a sheer delight to find.

 

[Alaska Snow Cat]

I still have 2' on the snow stake in the yard but for the most part winter is coming to an end here at the base of Mt. McKinley. you can still find good snow above tree line but last saturday was my last ride.