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Musical Snowcat? Band on the snow at Alpine Meadows

Melensdad

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Band on the snow: Tahoe's Alpine Meadows unveils movin', groovin' musical snowcat
Alpine Meadows' vehicle maintenance crew creates snow-grooming music machine
By Sylas Wright
Sierra Sun

ALPINE MEADOWS, Calif. — Call it a giant boombox on tracks — or something like that.

“More or less that's what it is, but with a few more bells and whistles here and there,” said Mike Fallon, the co-designer and builder of Alpine Meadows' newest, most groovin' creation.
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Fallon, clutching a celebratory 40-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbon after its official christening Thursday, spoke proudly over the live music blasting from the rear end of the “band wagon.”

“This was definitely out of the norm for us. But now we hope to expand it, make it bigger and louder,” Fallon said as people mingled toward the sound of local band Truckee Tribe. “You're not going to see a 250-square-foot stage on the back of a snowcat anywhere else.”

That's right: A 250-square-foot stage, attached to the back of an eight-ton Bombardier BR 275 snow grooming machine. It was Alpine owner Todd Chapman's idea, Fallon said, explaining how he and his vehicle maintenance crew converted the cat into a crawl-anywhere concert.

To make it happen, the crew removed the original articulated lift frame and replaced it with an aluminum channel platform, added a steel sub frame, installed piano hinges, and removed the grooming tiller to accommodate stage panels — among other modifications. Then they installed two, 200-watt amplifiers inside the cab, and four, 100-watt speakers to the roof.

It's a potential party wherever it goes. And it can go anywhere.

“The way I feel right now is that it's not fully completed,” Fallon said. “I want people to look at it and their jaws drop.”​
 
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