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snow depth

mbsieg

awful member
GOLD Site Supporter
What depth of snow is the deepest you have drove your snow cat in, was it powder or hard pack?? I would assume you will sink the most turning? I am curious what to expect out of these machines?? I am new to this game and I think their are a few other newbies that are curious for the winter season to begin?? :pat:
 

ALLEN PARSONS

New member
I have been in about ten feet of packed snow, with about of three feet of powder on top of that. And boy was that a lot of fun.
I was about A mile and a half beyond the cabin and one thousand feet highter in the mountains of B.C.
 

mbsieg

awful member
GOLD Site Supporter
Did you have any issues with power in that much snow?? How well did your cat handle this?? Were you in your tucker??? How fast were you going??:confused: Are the pics you have posted on the site at this particular place?? Thanks for all the info everyone!!:thumb:
 

ALLEN PARSONS

New member
We were in our 323 tucker, On the steeper slopes it was hard going, But on the flats it was like been in a boat, You just flooted over everything. As for the speed. Up hill you were at a crawl and on the flats we were not able to get out of second gear, but what a lot of fun it was
Some of the photos are posted on this site,
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
The depth of snow is not normally a problem. Problems arise from the steepness of the terrain and your ability to get enough traction in the snow to climb as Allen indicated. The deeper the better as long as you do not need to climb beyond your snow cats traction ability. Here are a couple pics of deeper than normal snow conditions. The Imp has amazed me as it climbed steep and deep with few problems even with the little Ford motor. The 1200 just goes until traction is lost and will dig to the ground and go until it spins out or just slides sideways on the hill. The snow in the 1200 pic was waste deep on a short person (me).
236239234eWRMSF_ph.jpg

P3220053 B.JPG
 

mbsieg

awful member
GOLD Site Supporter
Thats a nice pic you have airbrushed on the back of that cat!! Do you have any close up pics of it??? Thanks for the info!
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
Mike, I do have some pics but, I sold that cat several years ago to a neighbor. I doubt if the new owner would like to see any copies running around as it is unique with Garfield on snowshoes headed to the cabin. That 1974 1404 Imp was really nice and had only about 460 total hours on it when I sold it. Sorry, I can not provide details on the pic as I would not feel it proper for me to provide details since I no longer own the snow cat.
Bill
 

mlang2005

Member
Two winters ago I was contracted to haul visitors to a remote resort near huntington lake. The road from the plowed pavment went up from 7000'elevation to over 10,000' in less than 2miles, over kaiser pass and then wound 14 miles down the back side. In good conditions we could make the run in about 2 hours. We had brought one group in for a 4 day stay we took them back out and we brought a large group back to the resort for a 6 night stay. There were several storms headed their way but they were well prepared, at least they thought needless to say it snowed all day and night for 12 days. The new snow accumulation was over 14' thats on top of a good 7' base of old snow.the first day we tried to go back in to the lodge to get the group out we took my thiokol, my tucker with belts and steel cleats was at the lodge along with the lodges steel track tucker. The plan was to work towards each other, the problem being 10'+ of powder and a very steep switch back road to the top of kaiser pass(10,000') then a narrow road down the back side with 1000' drop off cliffs

When we started up the hill it was very clear we were in for a very long day, the snow was so soft the cat was sinking over the top of the tracks and was pushing snow up to the windshield, after the first mile of low gear and full throttle at that rate I knew the fifty gallons of fuel we brought would not be enough to break trail all 16 miles refuel the tuckers and come back out. we would have to wait for the snow to harden and pack itself down. My attempt the next day was on snowmobiles built for deep powder, the snow was just too soft even for snowmobiles, if you stoped at all you would be stuck for an hour while you tramped the snow down by foot and build a ramp so you could get going again.I called the lodge and told them it was hopeless they were not making any progress either, we decided to call in a chopper to pick up the visitors and fly them to the nearby ski resort. once the chopper was called the crew at the lodge started packing down the snow with the tuckers to make a helipad. It was a full month before the trail was broke to the lodge and even though a month had passed it still was no easy task. It took us all day to go down that back side traversing the ledges was enough to test anyones metal. The hosts at the camp were glad to see us and I was glad to finnaly get to my tucker and get it out of there. As for how deep of snow can a snow cat go through? I really depends on the type of snow, tempreture and terrain. My rule is once you are pushing snow with the grill you are nearly at your limit. You dont want to cook an engine or break a drivetrain part far from pavement.

In deep powder like we were in you would sink to your waist in snow even walking in the snow cat tracks. I have added cross country skis and snow shoes to my list of neccesites. If any one ever wants to come this way for a snow cat run I know a lot of good trails, plenty of rental cabins as well as snowmobile rentals.
 

1jbuck

New member
I put two pic of your old tucker on this site.It is a very impressive cat.I took it up to Mt Lassen last year we had it in about 14 ft of snow with a 10 ft base and 4 ft of powder.The deepest it sank was about half way up the tracks.It seems like it floats on the powder
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
I can't really say how deep of snow my KT7 will handle .I have not had the pleasure of taking it out yet .

I can tell you that if snow is anything like the Bullsh#t that seems to fall around here ,I should be able you handle 20 feet or more !!!:yum: :yum:
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
BigAl said:
I can't really say how deep of snow my KT7 will handle .I have not had the pleasure of taking it out yet .

I can tell you that if snow is anything like the Bullsh#t that seems to fall around here ,I should be able you handle 20 feet or more !!!:yum: :yum:

BigAl,
And, if bullsh#t was snow flakes, you would be the greatest blizzard of all time.....:yum: :poke: :raz: :letitsnow: :snow2_smi: :beer:
 

mkntrakes

Active member
BigAl said:
I can't really say how deep of snow my KT7 will handle .I have not had the pleasure of taking it out yet .

I can tell you that if snow is anything like the Bullsh#t that seems to fall around here ,I should be able you handle 20 feet or more !!!:yum: :yum:

so if i under stand what you are saying your kt7 will never get within 20 feet of snow. is that with the shop door open or closed?
 

mlang2005

Member
Al,I can tell you if the whole mountain melted at once your bathtub would be the only snowcat floating. That is if you ever get it finished.:yankchain: :yum:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
mkntrakes said:
so if i under stand what you are saying your kt7 will never get within 20 feet of snow. is that with the shop door open or closed?
mlang2005 said:
Al,I can tell you if the whole mountain melted at once your bathtub would be the only snowcat floating. That is if you ever get it finished.:yankchain: :yum:
I think you guys are being too hard on Al :whistle: Afterall, his KT7 did get snowed on once, when it was on a trailer. :snow2_smi:

But since that thing probably floats, and there is the whole global warming thing, maybe he should change his name to Noah? :poke:
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
Av8r3400 said:
Is that where progress stopped or are you sitll going? I'd love to see a movie of this...

:a1:

I have had my 1200 LMC in similar uphill deep snow and that is about the limit of forward mobility. It starts slipping sideways on the hill and digs until it finds something to bite on.....or just comes around and heads back down with or without you in control.....:eek:
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
B_Skurka said:
I think you guys are being too hard on Al :whistle: Afterall, his KT7 did get snowed on once, when it was on a trailer. :snow2_smi:

But since that thing probably floats, and there is the whole global warming thing, maybe he should change his name to Noah? :poke:


You Guys just wait till all my fellow Kristi Cat Owners find out about what you all have been saying about me . There Will be hell to pay !!:horsepoop: Say..... You guys hav'nt seen my fellow Kristi Cat Brothers, have you ?:confused2:
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
BigAl said:
Say..... You guys hav'nt seen my fellow Kristi Cat Brothers, have you ?:confused2:
Grand Poobah,

I'm here as an honorary KKK member (Kristi Kat Klub) if that's any help.
 

mkntrakes

Active member
Av8r3400 said:
Is that where progress stopped or are you still going? I'd love to see a movie of this...

:a1:

that was as far as it would go filled radiator full of snow then spit water on fan belt then started to over heat so back up cleared snow cooled mtr and took a less aggressive approach and got to top turned around and came down hill it was like it was on a cushion of air way to much fun
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
You Guys just wait till all my fellow Kristi Cat Owners find out about what you all have been saying about me . There Will be hell to pay !!:horsepoop: Say..... You guys hav'nt seen my fellow Kristi Cat Brothers, have you ?:confused2:


The word on the Net is they are waiting for you to leave to Idaho and then plan on raiding your zoo I mean workshop and setting free the Yaki or yetti. Seems they are a little upset at you buying a Snow Trac.
 
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