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Will an LMC 1500 WT climb this?

F

Fritzhaus

New member
I know this is impossible to answer based on the information I have available, but here goes.

1. Elevations 8,000-10,400ft in Northern Utah
2. Average annual snowfall 300-400", typically fairly light.
3. Some of it has existing "roads", some does not.
4. There will be no other use, or other cats in the area.

Thanks for any insight.

There is a road to the tree line in this photo. I assume the 1500 would do this easily.
Picture1-11.png


Road exists to treeline.
Picture2-5.png


Ridgetop driving mostly. Mostly flat on the ridge.
Picture3-1.png


Another view.
Picture4-1.png


I'm guessing the final climb here would probably not happen.
Picture5-1.png
 
my guess is it should be doable i'm going to think you will blade to cut through the sidehill areas but i don't see anything too impossable from altitude might be a different story on the ground
 
You asked for opinions?
Extreme.
I'd plan on it taking all day and probably night too, the first time at least. Side hills? blade.
Ridgetop drifts can be enormous, unseen vertical drops between them, best done at night, except for falling off the cornice in a windstorm, day or night you'll need a scout.
Treed roadless routes may not go, not much room to move side-hilling in trees and around tree wells/holes. Need daytime for that.
How much road building to get a level road? how often?
Windblown bare patches are hard to build a snow road on.
How many miles el. gain and loss?

Take spare parts, take shovels, take video.

Fun! lets go!

-Pat

10 minutes of blading can save you 2 hours of shoveling.
 
good advice Pat normaly when i venture into new country i normaly lay down a track with a snowmachine so that when in flat light i can see the drops also alows me to check for any overflow on water crossings.you are also right it will take time lots if you have to use the blade i have a snow trac about 150 miles from here overland my plan if i have to get it in the winter would be to plan on a good week of running time to go up and tow it home
 
I've snowmobiled quite a bit in northern Utah, though have precious little Sno-Cat experience. I don't immediately recognize that area from the photos.

We typically ride within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. There are some areas that are characterized by dense, large evergreen trees, others are pretty dense stands of Aspen trees and still other areas feature scrub Oaks. There are also vast areas that are open. It's an awesome place to ride and perhaps that's why Polaris does their photo shoots here.

From the pictures it looks like you plan to traverse some areas that appear to me to be covered with Aspen and/or scrub oak trees. On a snowmobile you can often pick a line through those trees, but a snowmobile is less than 48" wide and substantially more maneuverable than a 'cat.

Also (and I have a lot of experience here) if you do get stuck, or the trees in front of you deny a path through (too close together), you and a buddy or two can get the machine unstuck and turned around without too much difficulty. A Sno-Cat on the other hand would be a significant undertaking.

I don't recall the name of the thread on the forum but there was a fellow with a Thiokol Spryte who got off the snow covered road and too close to a large evergreen tree in central Utah. He had to leave the machine there and come back with a winch and other equipment to get it out without damaging it.

Some of the ridgeline areas that you plan to run along look like they are heavily wind-loaded cornices. Having been buried once in an avalanche I would strongly advise staying as far away from the edge as you can.

From what I see I'm not optimistic that you could do this with any Sno-Cat, unless you basically cut a road through the trees with a chainsaw.

Another form member, MattinIdaho? could offer better advice than I as he has lots of experience servicing remote towers/antennas.
 
Blackfoot and others,

Thanks. I have 20+ years experience backcountry skiing, so I'm fully aware of cornice and avy hazard. I have some, but minimal, experience with older snowcats (Imps, etc). I've been all over the mountains on sleds and tracked ATV's.

Most of this route is on an existing "road", at least to tree line. From there, it's open ridgeline with fairly broad, forgiving ridges. The first route is five miles to it's end.

The 1200C in Utah that got stuck was on Mona Pole road below Mt. Nebo. Cool place.
 
Snow conditions will dictate where you can go and what the machine will do. Steep grades and /or sidehill too. Soft deep powder in the trees may cause you to wallow in or windblown pack on the ridges might let you clip right along, if it covers the rocks. A hill or sidehill you can climb today may be impassable tomorrow if the wind drifts it over. You say there will not be any other machine activity in the area. Why is that? Generally more traffic keeps the trail packed down and allows easier passage. What's this all about? Nice looking ski terrain for skier drops.
 
Finally what happened in this part of the story?.
The climb of the LMC 1500 , according to the drawings, was carried on mountain -trails, or postponed?
 
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