Snowcat

For the four-tracked snow travel vehicle, see Sno-Cat.

The wide tracks of this 1991 Logan snowcat reduce the ground pressure and improve grip but render it vulnerable to bumps

A snowcat (a portmanteau of snow and caterpillar) is an enclosed-cab, truck-sized, fully tracked vehicle designed to move on snow. Major manufacturers are PistenBully (Germany), Prinoth (Italy), and Tucker (United States).

Snow groomers

Main article: Snow grooming

A PistenBully 600 working in 2006

A snowcat dedicated to snow maintenance rather than transport is known as a snow groomer. Other terms are "piste machines", "trail groomers" (in North American English) or "piste bashers" (in British English) because of their use in preparing ski trails ("pistes") or snowmobile trails.

Other functions

In addition to grooming snow they are used for polar expeditions, logging in marsh areas, leveling sugar beet piles, medical evacuations, and seismic studies in the wild.

Construction

A Tucker Sno-Cat at the Rothera Research Station, Antarctica

Most snowcats, such as the ones produced by Bombardier or Aktiv in the past, have two sets of tracks, fitted with a Christie suspension or a Horstmann suspension. Others, like the Tucker Sno-Cat and Hägglunds Bandvagn 206 vehicles, have a complex arrangement of four or more tracks.

The tracks are usually made of rubber, aluminum or steel and driven by a single sprocket on each side, and ride over rubber wheels with a solid foam interior. Their design is optimized for a snow surface, or soft grounds such as that of a peat bog.

The cabs are optimized for use in sub-zero weather or cold conditions worsened by wind chill, with strong forced heating and a windshield designed to be kept clear of internal and external ice or condensation through a variety of means such as advanced coatings, external scrapers (windshield wipers of a modified type), and internal ducts blowing hot air on the surface.

History

The forerunners of the snowcat were the tracked "motors" designed by Captain Scott and his engineer Reginald Skelton for the Antarctic Terra Nova Expedition of 1910–1913. These tracked motors were built by the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company in Birmingham.

Theodore P. Flynn and the United States Forestry Service in Oregon developed a snow tractor in 1937.

The name "snowcat" originates from the 1946 trademark by Tucker Sno-Cat Corporation of Medford, Oregon. This specialized over-snow vehicle dominated the snow transportation market until the 1960s when other manufacturers entered the business. By then "snowcat" was such a common description that it was used to describe all over-snow vehicles (see generic trademark). Tucker is also well known for its use of four tracks on its vehicles. Tucker Sno-Cat is arguably the best known of the early manufacturers and remains in business today. Tucker Sno-Cats have been used by numerous military, governmental agencies and utilities.

In the 1955–1958 Fuchs and Hillary Transantarctic Expedition, four modern snowcats were used, produced by the Tucker Sno-Cat Corporation. These vehicles were highly modified for the purposes of the expedition.

Between 1956 and 1968, Kristi Company had a limited production of two-track snowcats in Colorado; it never became popular and ceased production with fewer than 200 total units produced.

Another early model was the Swedish made Aktiv Snow Trac of which 2265 were manufactured in Sweden between 1957 and 1981. NATO forces used the Snow Trac successfully during the Cold War between NATO and the USSR. Numerous accounts from Antarctica related successful use of the Snow Trac by research organizations such as A.N.A.R.E. in Antarctica. In 1982, Aktiv Snow Trac ceased assembly when its engine supplier (Volkswagen) ceased production of its air-cooled engines in Europe. Over 1000 Snow Tracs were imported to Canada and the United States, mostly by Canadian utilities and U.S. governmental agencies; the Snow Trac is still in common use in private ownership and to a lesser degree in commerce having produced over 2200 total machines which saw popular use all over the globe.

Around 1959 Bruce Nodwell Ltd. of Canada produced the Nodwell 110, which in 1965 became a new company, Foremost Industries.

Thiokol was another American maker of small snowcats, notably the Imp, Super Imp and Spryte dual-track models. Thiokol manufactured an amphibious version of the Spryte, called the Swamp Spryte. Thiokol sold its ski-lift and snowcat operation in 1978 to John DeLorean, and changed its name to DeLorean Motor Company (DMC). DMC was later bought out by its management team and renamed Logan Machine Company (LMC). LMC ceased production in 2000. The Spryte, sold later as 1200 and 1500 series machines, are still popular in commercial and industrial use, nearly 20 years after the end of their production runs. Many of these models are still in use in the commercial market and are popular as privately owned snowcats.

Russia as one of the snowiest countries in the world has a wide range of snowcat producers, from the 30-ton load capacity two linked-track Vityaz vehicles to 0.4-2 ton load capacity ZZGT vehicles.

Bombardier has been in the snowcat business from 1961 but has radically altered its business model and product selection. Bombardier sold over 3,000 of its popular snow bus models which are still in use today and in popular demand by dedicated collectors. Bombardier sold its snow groomer business to Camoplast in 2004 who in turn sold to it to Leitner Group/Prinoth in 2005.

By 1964, Prinoth was mass-producing the P15 snow groomer.

Kässbohrer began producing the widely-used PistenBully starting in the early 1970s, with 2,000 sold between 1979 and 1989. They launched the first 100% electric snow groomer in 2019.

From 1995 VMC Right Track and then UTV International have manufactured tracked vehicles.

Current market

From a market size of $372 million in 2021, the global snow groomer production may exceed $468 million by 2030.

Gallery

• 
  Bombardier BR180 snowcat pulling snowmobile trail groomer attachment
• 
  1972 Snow Trac ST4, powered by a 54 hp VW flat-4 air-cooled engine
• 
  Restored Tucker Sno-Cat
• 
  Restored 1989 LMC 1200 snowcat manufactured by Logan Machine Company
• 
  USAF 1963 Thiokol 601 Trackmaster
• 
  Bombardier B12
• 
  Bombardier BR100+ Snow Groomer
• 
  Kässbohrer PistenBully 600 Polar in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

See also

• Antarctic snow cruiser
• Bandvagn 202
• Bandvagn 206
• BvS 10
• Continuous track (the method of propulsion of a snowcat)
• Snow coach
• Snowcat skiing

Notes and references

Books

• Preston, Diana (1999). A First Rate Tragedy: Captain Scott's Antarctic Expeditions (paperback ed.). London: Constable. ISBN 978-0-09-479530-3. OCLC 59395617.

External links

• Agricultural Tractors and Machinery at Curlie
• Video of a snowcat at work
• Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug - manufacturer of PistenBully
• ZZGT - Russian snowcat producer
• Ohara Corporation: Snow Vehicles - Japanese manufacturer
• Snowcat Sculpting Video produced by Oregon Field Guide