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Snowcat skiing 2017-2018 season

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday. The skiing was really awesome and a big surprise. We were thinking it might not be great and judging by the empty parking lot lots of people thought the same. We mostly stuck to north facing slopes and it was very soft and deep. The area we were skiing was so quiet by the time we left the road was all BR100 tracks,no snowmobile tracks.

Had to get the BR100 off trail and in the powder.
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This is forum8fox hitting a triple drop of pillows on cupcakes. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2X9e6yYAMSE

Here is Brad hitting a pillow just off the road.
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The Colorado Cat Crew got out for a day of cat skiing at Vail pass. The weather was interesting, it was sunny and warm in the morning. A front came thru and it got cloudy, cold and snowy. So a little bit of everything. We got in a lot of ski laps on the north side of Ptarmigan hill. We were skiing a little to the east of avalanche bowl. The snow and terrain were awesome all day. We hit some pillows rocks, steep lines in the trees and a little tree jibbing as well. Thanks to Aaron for using his cat to get the ski laps. He has that trooper set up to be a great for cat skiing. I was able to operate the trooper and that was neat. I haven't operated a hydrostatic cat with a yoke before and that took a bit to get used to. Most everything else is the same as a 350 or bisonX.

Meeting in the morning on top of shrine pass to form a plan.
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Taking a break.
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Unloading for a run.
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This is pretty representative of what we were skiing.
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As always we were out skiing until the sun said "no more"
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Colorado Cat Crew got out yesterday for a day of cat skiing, apres ski and fun. We did a lot of skiing on machine gun ridge. The snow was amazing for April. It was super soft and deep. The apres ski was great, thanks to those who made food. The groomer stopped by to say hello, it was there last day.

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This is what we were skiing all day.
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This is the bison X that they groom with. I like the bison X, the high up center seat is awesome. They are more nimble than the Pistenbully 400.b
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Colorado Cat Crew adventure continues. We went from Yoeman park to Fulford. Fulford is a little mining town only accessible by snowcat or snowmobile. It didn't seem like their were any full year residents. Mostly just vacation homes, some new and nice. Some original buildings that were fairly rundown. Looked like a lot of people visit their cabins in the winter for some backcountry skiing and fun. We are thinking about building the Colorado Cat Crew world headquarters up there. Catting, four-wheeling, hiking, skiing for days.

After Fulford we drove up the mountain towards some 10th mtn huts and some private huts. All are rentable. We area thinking about getting a night and snowcating to the hut. Should be funIMG_20190414_140421.jpg

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There's a cave near Fulford too! Pretty short hike, beginner friendly and a decent amount to explore. Drove a car up there in March one year on frozen snow to explore it for the first time.
 
PJL said:
That's it, I'm moving to Colorado when I retire.
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That makes two that we have converted to the colorado cat crew. You and Track Addict are welcome whenever you can make the switch.

Another adventure for the Colorado Cat Crew yesterday. We have made friends with a group of timber sled enthusiasts. They requested that we take some gear and their wives up to celebrate a birthday. They haven't been able to get their wives out to see what they do. So we loaded up and took them up to shrine pass, the top of Ptarmigan and to the cupcakes pickup. The cat crew spent the rest of the day cat skiing Ptarmigan and apres ski. It was our first (spring skiing conditions) day, it was warm and sunny all day. I think we noticed one cloud. We mostly stuck to north facing terrain because it is the least effected by the sun. It was so warm that the north facing stuff got a little heavy and sticky. Regardless it was super fun. It was so good that we couldn't wait for the trooper to get back to pick us up so we just loaded up the 1643 for our last lap before the sun dipped behind the mountains. I don't think this is our last trip. We are planning on next weekend and hopefully some trips in early May.

Happy Easter weekend everyone, get your cats out before it's all over. IMG_20190419_111938.jpg

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You can see holycross in the background
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Sweet drone shot, just kidding I was standing on top of the trooper. Oh and the young lady is drinking a soda (izzy soda I think) I know it looks like a beer, I did a double take.
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A weird haze moved into the Vail valley, figured it was moisture but some thought wildfire smoke.
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Believe it or not the trooper isn't stuck.
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Turns out there was a prescribed burn yesterday so I actually was haze from smoke. Thought the trooper was stuck real good there for a minute. Fortunately the blade had some movement even though it could not lift up which allowed us to wiggle it free. Burrying the blade going down hill can create a real problem, good leaning opportunity. This season is never gonna end out here...
 
Here are some more pictures from the last few trips.
And yes, I hate to break it to everybody, but yes it is all about Colorado !! :boxing: :yum:
 

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Still snowcating in Colorado. Colorado cat crew got another tip in today and we're getting out again tomorrow. Did some boondocking, cat skiing and apres ski. The weather was like a buffet. I got rained on, burnt by the sun, snowed on, hailed on and a little bit of lighting. We skied Ptarmigan. The forest service gives up on Vail pass when they run out of money so now it's ours. Maybe a couple more weeks of snowcating this season.
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We went from this (sunny and nice)
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To this (full on blizzard)
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Looks like another dream to me!

Our last mountain just closed. Oct to April this year.

Keep the pics coming
 
Take note Jim Vermont: You can place more lovely ladies on a Tucker than a Snot Trac!
 

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Mr Drifter; while no one has my respect re: Snow machines more than you, I would point out that the manual says a Snow-Trac will seat 6 plus a driver for the full cab style. And I'm quite certain that I'm willing to be a bit squeezed by "lovely ladies" so more might fit.


CT
 
Wrong, it has nothing to do with how many ladies fit inside, it is the ones hanging on the OUTSIDE.


Good grief, will the next big thing be telephone booths and VW beetles on the sno?


You really don't want to start a competition about ladies and sno-cats.
 

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Mr Drifter, you are so correct. I apologize, many more ladies will fit on the outside of an immobile, statuesque, Sno-Cat than inside a fast moving Snow Trac.


CT
 
Day two of our adventure went really well. So well that we didn't get back to civilization until midnight. The sun was out almost all day. We skied the north side of Ptarmigan again. The snow was really soft, we got a couple inches of fresh overnight.
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Guess what we did today? That's right we went snowcat skiing on Vail. It was just the yellow ducky. The rest of the Colorado Cat Crew were busy. We did some skiing on machine-gun ridge and some on Ptarmigan. It was actually tough to get around. The snow was really soft. Most of the roads have disappeared because of some new snow.

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I wish we would have been there today! Maybe next weekend, it seems seasons have changed.
 

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Thought it would be fun to do a dual sport day. We went backcountry skiing by my house in the morning. Then four-wheeling in the afternoon. The snow was really good for skiing. The weather was mixed clouds and sun. So it was very consistent snow conditions from top to bottom. The snow was fun for four-wheeling. We only got stuck a couple of times. IMG_20190505_141243.jpg

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Oops
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Pontoon Princess said:
G Sean, beginning to believe winter will never end for you and the crew, enjoy
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Looks like we are entering a new Ice Age here in Colorado. The Cat Crew had three cats out yesterday on Vail pass. Aaron brought the trooper, the new owner of the Jersey tucker came up and of course the yellow ducky was there. It snowed the night before and all day while we were there. My group and I left but the other two cats spent the night. We did some skiing on the front side of Ptarmigan and some on the North side. It was so amazing to be skiing January snow in May. The term Mayuary was coined to describe the day. The snow was really soft and consistent, probably over a foot of fresh. We did some winter logging and had a really big bonfire. The tree we cut down was about a full chord of wood and it's gone today. Planning on getting out in the backcountry this weekend in the mayflower gulch area. IMG_20190509_082619.jpg

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Global warming? Colorado didn't get the memo.

86 degrees here on the western side of the Cascades. Spent the whole week in a vintage helicopter going around and around. .
 
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IMG_54271_0.jpgWell as promised we went up May Gulch. We explored the left side of the bowl. The weather was a little bit of everything, hot and sunny, full on winter and some zero visibility for a little extra fun. I went off of a couple of cornice that I did see. We got one really long lap in. It was an absolute beautiful day and a great adventure.
 
glacier glacier glacier Sean,

amazing mountains you live and play in, love to see what Colorado cooling would look like...

so how do you think you will be cat skiing?

and thank you for sharing the photos from your grand adventures
 
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