87
WINTER
2016
ESCARPMENTMAGAZINE
.
CA
|
In both
Europe and
North
America,
the process of
rolling snow to
achieve a
smooth surface
long predates
the development
of ski lifts
and trails.
Fortunately, people like Joseph-ArmandBombardier begandevelopingmachines that could travel
over snowwithout sinkingdown to theground.Bombardier’searly ‘snowmobile’ lookedmore likea
small bus, but insteadofwheels it hada set of tracks in thebackand skisup front.Avariationof this
was the Tucker Sno-Cat, which usually had tracks both foreandaft. Thesemachines opened upa
wholenewworldofmovingabout on snow. Thenext stepwas toattach the roller or bedspringap-
paratus to thebackof thesnowmobileorSno-CatandVOILA!Wenotonlyhadagroomingmachine
thatcouldgoupaskihillaswellasdown,butalsoone thatdidn’t rollover theoperator in theprocess.
The rollerswereusuallymade from things thatwereeasilyavailable… suchas largemetal culverts.
Theywere filledwithgravel or sand toaddweight and theendswerewelded shut.Becauseculverts
were ribbed toadd strength, thepattern left in the snowwas thenow familiar corduroy.
Concreteblockswereadded toweighdown thebedspringsor insomecases largechains tohelp the
draggers flattenmoguls.Thisstill left the infamouseasternboilerplatesnow thatweoftenexperienced
aftera freeze/thaw/freezeweatherpattern.One solutionwas tomakea rollerout ofmetal blades
that stuckoutoruseother foundobjects likechickenwireor snow fencing. Thisnastysoundingappa-
ratusdid indeedcut up someof thehard-pack snow,but insteadof soft snow it usuallycreated large
chunksof ice that skiers refer toas ‘deathcookies’.
Thesemachineswerecertainlyan improvementover theprimitive rollerstrapped to theskiermethod,
but theydidhave safety issuesof theirown. Theywere finegoing straight upordowna ski run,but if
theoperator tried tocut diagonallydowna sidehill oracross the fall-line, chancesare the rollerbe-
hindwouldcontinuestraightdown therunorswingaroundnext to thegroomingmachine.Obviously,
thismade for some harrowingmaneuvers by theoperator as heattempted to correct the situation
and saveboth themachineandhis life. Theeraof “GroomingCowboy”wasborn. Thesewere leg-
endaryguyswhosometimespossessedmoreguts thenbrains,but somehowgot the jobdonewithout
destroying themachineor themselves.
The inventionof thepowersnow tiller in the lateseventiesandearlyeightieswasoneof thoseeureka
momentswhen theprocess of ski hill grooming finallyhit its stride. Thepower tiller coulddigdown
below thehardpack surfaceandgrind it into snow-like crystals. Long timeBlueMountaingrooming
machineoperator,EricReekie, said that the first timehe tookout the resort’snewBombardierBR400
withpower tillerandheadeddownAppleBowl, he looked in the rearviewmirror to seea throngof
skiers followinghimdown thegroomedpath likea flockof seagulls. Thiswasback in the1980sand
even then itdidn’t take long for theword togetoutabout the joyof skiingoncorduroy. The tillercou-
pledwithnewandbetter technology insnowmakingallowed resorts likeBlueMountain tostayopen
even in those lean snowyearsof themid-eighties.
Grooming today has become a fine art.
Photo courtesy Blue Mountain Resort
Giant snow-rollers were used in the early 1900s to pack country roads making travel
easier for sleighs and wagons. The concept was then adapted for grooming ski runs.
