• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Snow Cat annual meeting poll

would you come to a snowcat convention/event


  • Total voters
    5

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
If we put together a Annual FF Snow Cat convention , would you come ???
To do this right we need to really organize . Questions to ponder:
Would you come?
Where At ??? North ,East or West USA?
What month works best for you ?
How many days long should it last ?
Other Family outings or side trips for the non snow catters that you want to see ?
Camping or cabins,B&B, and motels??
Should we make a club within FF with our own newsletter and events schedule ?
Cash awards or trophy's ???
Limited number of entrys ?
I think these are some questions we really need to answer before making any final decisions .

For example . I have a small ranch in Elk City Idaho and I am willing to donate it as a home base .It has 3 bedrooms and it is first come first serve .It has a full covered porch with firepit that we can sit at ,watch the Elk and lie to each other . It is 54 miles into the backcountry .There are 3 wilderness areas around me . Paved road right to my drive .Plenty of room for camping on the ranch but temperatures can get down into the low Degrees . Great fishing and hunting ,B&B is 1/2 mile away . Motel is 2 miles away .

Red River Hot Springs with 4-6 cabins are 26 miles away . Road is plowed daily to the springs . They can also sleep 15- 20 people upstairs in the lodge . No dining services there ( dining room burnt down) so we would need to bring in our food .We could probably rent the whole place for 3 or 4 days and do a pig roast right there . Take a step backwards 100 years as this is a old style lodge .

Elk are everywhere ,and moose,bear, wolves,goats, deer and other creatures can usually be spotted .

I would be willing to buy a cow or pig and do a open pit barbeque at my place along with other events to make this fun . We have a local guy that is an incredible barbeque champion who I can get to cook .

So if we are going to do this ,lets do it right . Put your suggestions in here and lets make this fun for the whole family .

Some of you more experienced snow catters need to come up with a events schedule.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
We even have a great little international airport in Lewiston(125 miles away) that could be used for all of you to extend your vacation to Hawaii ,Seattle or anywhere else your hearts desire after the meet . Your snow cats can be stored at my place while your gone and you can work on that summer tan that Bob S, so desperately needs on his hairy body .
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
I guess I will be first to open up the discussion even though I have put very little thought into this. I do reserve the right to change my mind on all accounts.

If we put together a Annual FF Snow Cat convention , would you come ??? Yes, sounds like a good time for all
To do this right we need to really organize . ???? Questions to ponder:
Would you come? Yes, sounds like a good time for all
Where At ??? North ,East or West USA? A central location as possible to all to promote attendance but must be in a place that is not flatland cornfields....or high desert
What month works best for you ? Summer or Fall
How many days long should it last ? 2 to 3
Other Family outings or side trips for the non snow catters that you want to see ? Yes, It would encourage more attendance
Camping or cabins,B&B, and motels?? Lodging that would accommodate all attending in a central resort environment location
Should we make a club within FF with our own newsletter and events schedule ? Don't we already have an informal group of nitwits already????
Cash awards or trophy's ??? Not really necessary to have fun. Just need alcohol:yum: :yum: and BigAl for shits and giggles...:pat:
Limited number of entrys ? The more the merrier
I think these are some questions we really need to answer before making any final decisions .

Too exclusive and we eliminate participation..

Okay everyone pick my suggestions apart....:2gunsfiri I am ready.

Bill
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
Nope ! I ain't pickin nothin apart . If we do this ,I think it should be fun for everyone . The Red River hot Springs ,too me would be the perfect place . It has a big pool , big hot tub,cute little cabins, and private baths for people like ole "Hairy Bob" that may be nervous about being shot as a "Bigfoot. It is privately owned and I know we could ask and get about anything special we wanted .I am sure they would let us do open pit barbques or anything else we want . A lot of people have family reunions up there and just take over the whole place . Very laid back !!! Up the road a short ways is the Macgruer Cross road that goes 100 miles into Darby Montana . This takes you right through the Selway Bitteroot wilderness area . That is over 2 million acres .
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
I feel it should be snowcat orientated. I also say we change the location year to year to give others a chance to participate. OR have two seperate events. Idaho and Nevada have great places here to go to (West side of the country. I have no idea about the East side). Ely and Elk city. Here we can all have hotels or B&B and can snowcat up to the lodge. The city would be very happy to have us here as well. Maybe break up the event on the West side of the country and have it at diffrent locations each year. I do feel trophies are a great idea. They are cheap but have a long lasting effect on the memory! Cash I would say no to. BUT have awards given out would be cool. On jeep jamborees they have tons of free gear given out on a drawing type basis. WE got T shirts while others got full sets of tires, winches, oil, CBs ect ect. Everyone won something. Local sponsors are also pretty good around here for small free awards. BUT I feel other companies would donate as well. Alcohal is cool but designated cat drivers should be enforced. OR just have the drinking aspect at night when we are all back at the lodge telling how we yet again pulled BigAl out of the parking lot snow drift. You know we would have a complete blast! Maybe even do a Yellowstone run?
 
Last edited:

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
Its a long ways for fella's like Bogus Bob to come but if we had it at different locations in the country every few years it might work well . It would be great to think that we could do this every year ,but that may not be possible . Small localize events might do better .Yellowstone may be just the ticket !!! Reno would be good as there is lots of other events(skiing, casino's, shows etc,) . That is only 90 miles from my place and I know lots of areas we could go to . My home in Grass Valley is avalible for that too . Some of the best skiing in the world also is found here . So lets try to get a handle on how many are really serious about this and go from there . I am "in" for the West Coast area . That could change depending on my father's' health . Who's next ????

And please try to remember that if you do not show up ,you will be talked about in a very bad way !!!! :moon:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Yes, I would come if I can.

Reality says I would be far more likely to fly in and sit in the passenger's seat of someone else's snowcat than to trailer my Snow Trac for 2.5 days each way for a 2 or 3 day get together.
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Ok for you we can make it a 7 day adventure. The official Snowbaree can be 2 to 3 days long. Would that be better? Or Maybe we can do Yellowstone for those of you heading back that way. That would be few more days. I would do it.
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Buy the first outing BigAl will be trying to give away his Snow Boat and will want to ride with one of us anyway. Not to mention the other Kristi Cat owners. There will be a huge (all of three) Kristi Club Card Membership burn at BigAls place. They can do whatever they do in private and then we can head to Yellowstone!
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Big Al's place would be great, Mike C's place would be great, Mt. toppper's place sounds good too. There's Plina Lake Lodge in Oregon, just outside Bend. It's similar to Crater Lake National Monument and has cabins and a restraunt that is only accessable by snow machine. there's usually a pretty long backlog of reservations. Brad in Winatchee has a bed and breakfast and volunteered his place a couple years back. Yellowstone is a blast too. Generally the logistics and cost of trooping to some such distant location have wiped out all of my previous attemps at getting a bunch of Snow Catters together for such a meet. Perhaps several smaller, regional meets sponsered by the folks in each area might eliminate alot of the transportation hassels. the most machines I've ever gotten together for a meet was 5, and that was a major endeavor. Of the attendies of the first annual ST4 Owners Club Meet, in 96, only 3 members actually brought machines, one of them bringing 2 machines and the fifth owned the cabin where the meet was held. In situatuions like this you can pack alot of folks into that many machines. I think we had around 25 people. More Meets, less 'Truckin', just an idea.
 

mkntrakes

Active member
where in yellowstone tryed to take a cat in park and i was told that only commerical cats could run in the park
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Re: Have snow cat will travel:

I took my old original engine 63 Snow Track and an 81 Bombi with a 5 man cab to Yellowstone, they didn't give us any trouble. Well that's not totally true, they didn't give us any hassel getting into the park and driving all the way to Old Faithfull, but we did get stopped by an attractive red headed lady forest ranger who wanted to "See" the ST4, as she hadn't ever seen one. when we entered the park from west yellowstone I was on skiis, with a video cam in one hand, hanging on a water ski tow line and some other Park ranger threw a fit about me skiing behind the snow cat. We did witness lots of Kids getting turned away as they have a strictly enforced policy that requires all operators to be a licensed driver(Car drivers license). there were lots of families that had traveled a long way only to find out that their kids could only ride as a passenger.Also there were park rangers with radar guns almost in sight of each other the whole way. They have a max speed of 35 MPH which must drive the owners of high powered snowmobiles nuts. It's prutty bumpy in spots even though they constantly groom it. they do sell gas at Old Faithful at the lodge, which is some 37 miles from the West Yellowstone entrance.
 
Top