Vance's Tucker snocat adventures in Soda Springs, CA

Well, after lots of TLC and improvements, the Tucker is back on the snow. This is actually the second trip as on the maiden voyage I forgot the camera.

These pics are the day after xmas here in Soda Springs, CA near Donner Summit. We had 3-4 feet of recent snow over the couple feet that was there and it all settled out to around 2-5 feet in most places. This was a family snow-play day so we brought out all the toys.

Great day and the Tucker performed flawlessly. It cut through untracked powder with ease. It will be staying up in snow country for the winter so I should be adding lots of pics to this thread.

Sit back and enjoy the ride....

Vance

In these pics you can see how the tracks really climb up on top of the powder. Remember this snow is a 41" dump from a couple days previous. When you tried to walk out in fresh you just sank up to past your knees. The snowmobiles could get around (but did get stuck a couple times). You HAD to have snowshoes to walk around out of the packed tracks.

V

Okay, we made two trips in but wanted to get everyone out in just one so we packed everyone on.

If you count closely, there are 8 in the Tucker counting me and the dog!!

It was quite a gang but we had a great time.

That's all for now,

Vance

Looks like a blast! How did she do with all the people stacked on?

Snowcat Operations said:

Looks like a blast! How did she do with all the people stacked on?

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She did fine with all the people but wasn't really tested. Only a couple short blasts through untracked stuff on the way out as we had to make our way home. I had it in deeper stuff on the maiden trip but no camera. I was plowing with the blade and it was all the way up... still kept chugging along.

Vance

Okay, here are a couple videos. Hope this works.

Vance

Tucker 1342 tracks running video

Tucker 1342 in cab video

Looking good Vance !

LOVE the videos! I need to do that.

Thanks for the great pictures.

That's a great looking Tucker

YOUR TUCKER LOOKS GREAT VANCE . NICE PHOTOS
It could only be a tucker to, performing like that. I hope to have mine out soon.

Okay, the next installment for the Soda Springs adventure doesn't actually involve a snocat except in pictures... but you might enjoy this anyway...

With a storm coming in I just had to go and spend a night up on the mountain on Donner Summit. Not a big storm or anything - just snow flurries for the next day or so. With typical obligations, I didn't get up on the mountain 'til almost dark...

I was heading up alone and spending the night in the already established cabin (tipi)...

Vance

First pic shows getting the gear ready for the trip up the hill (about 2 miles). The fuel cans will be dropped at the cat just off the parking lot.

Second pic shows that a barrel with t-posts is not a very good sleigh... but it did not suffer any rollovers!

Third pic shows why it is useful to haul a barrel up the hill!!!

Here is what I found when I got up the mountian... about a few inches of fresh on top of the base from before. Now snowing med to heavy... not much wind though. Very nice night - got settled, made a fire, cooked up some Thai soup and french bread and went for a snowshoe run ... made for quite a nice night...

more to come,

V

OK, a few details...

What was the temp? I'm guessing ~20F.
What is the material around the teepee and how thick is it? Is it wrapped around more than once?
What source of heat was in the teepee, if any?
Flooring in the teepee?

And, pic 1 is what a barrel bbq/firepit looks like after a short campfire.

Then, my "cabin" in the morning.

Then, just some local spectacular scenery

Then, this is where I plopped down in my snowshoes and enjoyed my morning coffee admiring the creek - btw, same spot where the mt lion crawled into the creek last week...

Ahhh, do I really have to leave?

V

Okay, I really did have to leave for a couple days but will be back to the snow for NY eve/day.

Time to load up the snomobile and gas up the cat on the way out.

I had to get the snowcat pics into this thread to justify... hehe

Vance

P.S. The WX report tonight on the local news says 5-10 feet (yes, FEET) of snow in the coming Thurs-Sun!!! I also heard this being called a 50-year storm. Yahooo!!! time to test the Tucker...

Vance,

Indeed, we've got a huge storm coming our way! All reports I'm seeing indicate 5-10' starting on Thursday morning. Do you subscribe to Tahoe Weather Geeks? Here's their take:

"Well the forecasters sure nailed this one. It started snowing Thursday afternoon and was still snowing this morning, but altogether, we got maybe six or eight inches of snow here at geek HQ at 7000 feet. Never have so many clouds yielded such little volume. But don't despair. History may be around the corner. What we got in inches this week we could be seeing in feet by a week from today.

After two or three days of fair weather to start the week, the storm door is set to open wide again by late Wednesday. And when it does, look out. Both the Sacramento and the Reno offices of the NWS are calling for a series of storms that could rival some of the biggest in the past 50 years. A stream of moisture stretching across the Pacific is due to pass straight over Northern California, and it appears as of now that enough cold air will be mixed in to keep snow levels at or below 7000 feet. If that happens, there is enough moisture out there to bring five to ten feet of snow to the Sierra, perhaps more.

The first wave is due to hit Thursday, and Thursday night and Friday we could see winds pushing 100 mph. A second punch hits on Friday, and the coldest system is due to approach on Sunday into Monday. But if it comes in as advertised, we may not be able to tell when one ends and the next one begins.

Bottom line: If the forecasters and their models are as accurate for next weekend as they were for this one, brace yourselves for a doozy.

The avalanche danger was low this morning, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center . Always check their forecast before entering the backcountry.

If you would like to receive the Tahoe Weather Geek's free forecast summaries with updates as needed on breaking weather news, send an email to tahoeweathergeeks@gmail.com with subscribe in the subject line. Your email address will not be shared with anyone and you will not be spammed. And please feel free to forward this summary to your friends."

bobpierce said:

OK, a few details...

What was the temp? I'm guessing ~20F.
What is the material around the teepee and how thick is it? Is it wrapped around more than once?
What source of heat was in the teepee, if any?
Flooring in the teepee?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments from ALL!!

That night the temp prolly was around 20F. I didn't have a therm with me but it did snow down to Auburn(!) that night. The tipi is heavy duck canvas with a thinner liner(extra layer) that only goes up 5 feet. It is esentially one layer with no heat. I do have a chimiea stove in the center of the tipi but didn't light it 'cause I wasn't cold and didn't want to open up the top of the tipi. On this trip I did have a heat source that I tried out that did seem to take off the chill - one of those 3000btu Coleman catalitic heaters. I think the Crown Royal prolly worked better than that but the heater did keep going all night. And, the flooring in the tipi is 1/4 crush gravel. We have a heavy tarp-like liner but the gravel works better for going in/out. Just small tarps under the beds. Next year I'll convert the tipi to use an airtight woodstove like an outfitter tent. The tipi is great in warm weather but just okay in cold. It will be taken down on Jan1 in anticipation of the big storm mentioned above.

V

P.S. kgracey: Thanks for the wx geeks info. I had not seen their posts and subscribed.

Vance............good show! It's nice to hear stories from other guys out there who use their cats more for pleasure rather than work. Keep it up!

VANCE,
Thursday looks to be the start of that Monster STORM! 5' to 10' in a couple of days should be amazing! Can you get us some video footage too? I will be in Colorado but the storm should reach me there on Friday or Saturday. Looks like the storm will be here in Ely as well! Brought the wood in for the wife to add a bit of extra heat! Keep us posted on the storm please.

Hello again folks,

Time for a teaser on the big storm and outings now and will post more later.

We ended up with about 5 feet from the storm at my elevation. We got the sleds stuck easily but the cats chugged through just about everything. Only very steep hills or rocks under the snow slowed progress.

Couple teaser pics from our "mini snowcat roundup" and me climbing a hill.

Great times!!

Vance

Vance said:

Hello again folks,

Time for a teaser on the big storm and outings now and will post more later.

We ended up with about 5 feet from the storm at my elevation. We got the sleds stuck easily but the cats chugged through just about everything. Only very steep hills or rocks under the snow slowed progress.

Couple teaser pics from our "mini snowcat roundup" and me climbing a hill.

Great times!!

Vance

Click to expand...

Vance pretty cool pics.......Thanks for the post

Oh sure! Vance has everything. Lots of snow, snow cat round up, hot girlfriend, teepee...

Bulldog1401 said:

Oh sure! Vance has everything. Lots of snow, snow cat round up, hot girlfriend, teepee...

Click to expand...

And enough money to support all of these bad habits... Great pics Vance....

Great photos Vance. I would love a small blade like that for my cat.
The Avalanche danger is very high in these parts to. We have had lots of new snow and its ready to come down.

How did the ATV with tracks do in comparison to the cats?
A friend told me they get bogged down and can't go through the deep powder but are fine on slightly heavier/packed snow.

Were they Mattracks or another make?

Mainer said:

How did the ATV with tracks do in comparison to the cats?
A friend told me they get bogged down and can't go through the deep powder but are fine on slightly heavier/packed snow.

Were they Mattracks or another make?

Click to expand...

That Polaris 700 on Mattracks kicks butt in the deep snow!! I always heard the same as you and didn't believe the owner when he said it did better than the snowmobiles in powder conditions....

The tracked quad is slower but I never saw it stuck all weekend. He used it to break trail for several guys snowmobile routes to cabins. The powder was so deep that the snomos easily got stuck if you ever got off the throttle or off of a line. On the steeper hills the quad would have to stop and back up a couple times but that's no big deal on a quad. Try that in a snowmobile...

The quad won't outdo the cats but sure proved its worth that weekend. Remember, we had 5 feet of fluffy snow. I'll have more pics of the conditions when I get a chance to be home for a few hours...

Vance

ALLEN PARSONS said:

Great photos Vance. I would love a small blade like that for my cat.
The Avalanche danger is very high in these parts to. We have had lots of new snow and its ready to come down.

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That photo looks like it was painted by Les Kouba BEAUTIFUL !!!!!

Hello Chris Roth.

Hi Vance,

I'm trying to put a blade on my 1544. Would greatly appreciate either some pictures of how yours is installed, or come to see your Cat in person.

We've met briefly in Auburn and at last years shoot out. Great Pictures of your Cat!

Jim
(Mtn-Cat)

Hi Jim,

You are welcome to either pics or a visit.

On my cat the blade is suspended by a chain hooked to ram-operated lever for lift (NO down pressure except gravity). The frame is attached to the axle at the bottom of the spring pack. There are 2 pins at the spring pack so that the blade can be easily removed. The attachement at the spring pack is unique and I'll try to get some pics, too. The attachment points are actually shallow wedges between the spring pack and axle perch. This keeps it tight in there. I don't know the reasoning for not welding mounts on the axles themselves but maybe this saved from a bent housing.

I'll get pics when I can. PM me for more info or a tour.

Vance