Snow Trac in Sweden

[Perski]

Was just looking through some old Swedish brochures for a ski resort in Sweden and saw some pics of a ST4(?) raised roof towing XC ready to tow skiers up the mountain. The brochure is from back in the 80's when I was a younger lad growing up in the Swedish mountains. We had a cabin in that area and I remember those cats very vividly even though I wasn't a snowcatter then. Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would have had my own cat. I am glad I did get one though. My old man was very much against any type of motorized snow travel and swore every time a snowmobile would pass by. Noisy and stinky he would say (probably 2 strokers) while we would push up the mountain on our cross country skis sweating up a storm.
I have done a ton of cross country skiing while having to see people getting towed up the mountain with red Snow Tracs. Sounds like I am harboring ill feelings towards my Dad but I am not, I am proud of him being a hardcore man doing the cross country ski thing and teaching me and my brothers how to do it. I am worried he is turning in his grave though now that I have broken the golden family rule, no motorized snow travel. I get it, if you are out on cross country skis in the backcountry enjoying the quiet and nature and here comes a snowcat or snowmobile blasting away it kind of puts a damper on that experience. Sometimes I feel a little bit bad blasting away in the snow making noise and making tracks in the virgin snow but man is it great. I will probably have to rot in hell now...

Picture was taken of the pic in the brochure so its not the best quality and I don't know how to rotate it. Just rotate the laptop. Notice the license plate. Same type of plate as used for cars etc. Don't know the specifics on that though.

 

[Melensdad]

That photo looks like a wide track version, with a raised roof.

There were standard and wide track.

Each was available without a cab, with the standard cabin, and with a tall cabin.

In addition, there were some that had Porsche engines and a windshield that was slanted forward (examples of that variant were used in Antartica) and I understand a few of those may exist in Australia.

 

[sheep_mtn]

Interesting story @Perski. Similarly, I was raised in a family that shunned motorized recreation, even when all my friends had 3-wheelers, motorcycles, etc. I grew up XC skiing in the woods near our house, then later took up downhill skiing. These days, I still prefer backcountry and XC skiing over lift-served skiing. It is much more rewarding, and I am teaching my young girls the same. But I also love the motorized fun of snowcats, snowmobiles, and adventure motorcycles. Too many passions! Live and let live, I say.

 

[Perski]

Thats cool Sheep_mtn. Now that you started talking more about growing up I remember how my dad would take me and my oldest brother to the ski slopes to learn how to downhill. I remember we had to climb up the hill on our old wood skis (tared for better glide) with cable bindings (around the heel style) and then go down with the other skiers which were wondering who these two freak boys were. To make things a little better he screwed one screw into each side of the ski about halfway back of the ski boot so we could run the cables under the screws which would hold the heel of the boot down to the ski. That was what they did before the plastic ski boots came. It worked ok, since we didn't know anything else but there was no bite in those wood skis trying to turn.

After a few years of doing this Dad finally gave in and bought us some older rental downhill ski equipment. We were in cloud 9. I remember that so vividly. He even bought us ski lift passes, 10 punch. You had to really suck every vertical foot out of each run and make it last because a 10 pass for two boys could get used up fast.

Anyways, when I think about all that I actually smile. Today, everything is so easy and you don't even think about the older days and how things were then. No goretex and wet clothes etc. etc. uncomfortable T-bar lifts etc. What was really cool in Sweden and this is still that way, is that most cities and and even down to smaller villages all have their own local lighted XC ski trail system with groomed tracks that are lit up until usually 10 or 11 pm at night. Some places with big community wallets will have multiple trails with different lengths. I skied lit systems where the longest track is up to 6.2 miles. In Sweden the days get really short because of the location close to the arctic circle and there is a lot of lighting for a lot of community installations. Anyways, it can be a little rough when you are pushing to get a last lap in before the lights shut off and you don't make it back in time. I have had the lights go out while booking down some steep hill. Thats what you call exhilarating!

 

[nikos]

PERSKI ......Was just looking through some old Swedish brochures for a ski resort in Sweden and saw some pics of a ST4(?) raised roof towing XC ready to tow skiers up the mountain.......

Nikos