Old Groomers

[dmc]

Came across these the other day at Hunter. Near the top of the NASTAR course...

I guess this is how they used to make corduroy...

All the PIX

 

[thetrailboss]

Thanks for the cool pix...maybe I can attach one to my new computer generated machine :wink:

 

[bvibert]

Cool, I wonder how effective they were?

 

[thetrailboss]

Cool, I wonder how effective they were?

Looks like they've got some old tillers there and some old culvert-like rollers...the Lyndon Outing Club in my town still uses the old rollers...kind of cool.

 

[tree_skier]

The bottom two pics show "powder makers", used on boilerplate to scratch the surface.

 

[dmc]

This one has some nasty blades - I guess an attempt to deal with the famous Hunter ice...

I couldnt get any closer to take pix... The snow was deep and i was afraid of what kinda nasty bladed things might be under it...

 

[tree_skier]

I haven't seen anything like that before. Could it be the first tiller???????????????????????

 

[Skimaine4ever]

Hermon mountain still uses some stuff like that from time to time, but not as much in the last couple years now that the yhave a Bombardiar groomer (plus Mp) whatever that means?

 

[chuck]

I saw this post so i joined.

I know this is a bump on an old thread but its a good thread.

That is called a Sno-Tiller. They were sold out of Glen Falls, New York in the late 60's. They were the precursor of the powered tiller you see today.
The were basically a knockoff from the farm type tiller where weight and the angle of the blades forced the cutters into the snow/ice and churned it.

They would then go over with the powder makers to level the bumps out.

and as far as how effective they were well... There wasnt any other game in town. But it was also early in the grooming game for ski areas. Alot of areas had cats for moving things around the mountain but, not everyone had bought into the advantages of grooming.

The MP on the Bombardier stands for Micro Processor.
That was the first line of groomers from Bombardier to use electronic controls. Good cat.

 

[noski]

Favorite Groomers

Well, of course, we can't forget our favorite groomer, "Groomsit". Also, some of you may not know that at Blueberry Lake XC in Warren VT, Lenord uses a manure spreader to spread snow (when coverage gets thin) that he has stockpiled with a loader earlier in the winter.

 

[bvibert]

Cool, thanks for the info Chuck! Welcome to the forums too! :beer:

 

[BeanoNYC]

I wonder how much those would yield at a scrapyard?!?

 

[thetrailboss]

Yeah, welcome to the forums, Chuck! Hope to hear more about grooming.

Now using a manure spreader...that's a good idea :idea: Interesting!

 

[JimG.]

Now using a manure spreader...that's a good idea :idea: Interesting!

Sounds like a useful tool for some marketing departments :roll: .

 

[BeanoNYC]

Sorry, I just read your post Chuck, but didn't look and see it was a new name. (I thought it was Rivercoil's post to be quite honest) Welcome to the forum.

 

[chuck]

Nice welcome thank you all.

LOL... Manure spreaders are very effective at nearly every application they are tried on.