Birch
- In service
- rebuilt 2019
- Cab
- 12 seats
The lead cat most mornings, and the one that knows the glade roads best. Birch takes the first group up while the light is still coming in.
1,620 m · 05:10 · shed lights on, engines warming
Four cats, one machine, one shop
The fleet is four snowcats and one A-Star, and every one of them has a name and a logbook. The cats do the daily work, the machine does the high work when the weather allows, and the shop keeps the whole lot running through a Kootenay winter. This is the shed wall.
the four cats
Juniper
- In service
- in service 2016
- Cab
- 12 seats
The all-rounder. Juniper runs the second group and covers whatever the day asks, from bowl laps up top to the mellow creek runout at the end.
Whisky
- In service
- rebuilt 2021
- Cab
- 12 seats
The workhorse of the fleet, happiest on refill days grinding short, fast laps in the fir while the alpine sits under cloud. Named for the glade it climbs to.
Tamarack
- In service
- in service 2014
- Cab
- 12 seats
The spare that is never really spare. Tamarack is always warmed up behind the other three, so a day never comes down to a single machine. The reason the shed keeps four.
the high work
The A-Star
We call it the machine. The A-Star opens the high alpine the cats cannot reach, on the settled days when the weather says yes. It flies the add-on days: longer lines off the Horn, bigger vertical, terrain that only comes in when the ceiling is up and the wind lies down. It does not fly to a schedule. It flies when the day earns it, and not one minute before.
Marta Eriksen flies it. She has read this basin's weather for years, and when she says the window is not there, that is the end of the conversation. If it does not fly, the day stays on the cat and the flying is not charged. That is the deal, every time.
- Pilot
- Marta Eriksen
- Role
- High alpine, settled days only
- Flies when
- The window is genuinely there
1,620 m · the shop
Nothing skis if the shop is not right
The shop is the first light on in the morning and the last one off at night. Every cat gets checked before it turns a track, and the logbooks on the wall are not decoration: they are how we know a machine is right before twelve people load into it. A cat that is not ready does not leave the shed, and there is always a spare warmed up behind it.
The culture is old-fashioned on purpose. Grease under the nails, coffee going cold on the bench, and a mechanic who would rather pull a machine for a day than send it out with a question on it. That is why the fleet is four cats and not three: so a day never comes down to a single engine.
The shed rules
- Every cat checked before it turns a track.
- A machine with a question on it stays in the shed.
- Always a spare warmed up and ready to load.
- Logbooks kept by hand, read every morning.
05:45 · the machines are warm
Come see the shed for yourself
The fleet is ready before you are awake. Take a seat on the board and ride out on one of the four.