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Yellowstone Snow Machines
WernerG
Registered Users Posts: 534 Major grins
We recently spent a winter week in Yellowstone National Park. Getting around on the unplowed roads in Yellowstone involves the use of various types of snow machines;
Modern 4WD truck chassis with wheels replaced by treads. Comfortable, slow, and prone to getting stuck in soft snow.
One of the original Bombardier snow coaches still in use in the Old Faithful/Snow Lodge area. It is the only transport into the park from the south. Noisy (wear ear plugs), uncomfortable, fast, goes in soft snow, and is part of the Yellowstone in Winter tradition, but under fire from environmental groups because they are polluting and noisy.
If you travel from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Old Faithful area, there is no room for luggage in the above coaches so your luggage goes in this snow tractor/trailer, originally built for the Italian Army. Both the tractor and trailer treads are driven and the unit steers by articulating the tractor and trailer. The tractor cannot steer by itself.
Similar to the military tractor/trailer above, this unit has two trailers and the owner, a private contractor renovating a hotel in Yellowstone that is isolated in winter, has replaced the military cab with the cab from a pickup truck. Both trailers are powered.
A tricked-out antique Bombardier run by a tour company in West Yellowstone, Montana.
Modern 4WD truck chassis with wheels replaced by treads. Comfortable, slow, and prone to getting stuck in soft snow.
One of the original Bombardier snow coaches still in use in the Old Faithful/Snow Lodge area. It is the only transport into the park from the south. Noisy (wear ear plugs), uncomfortable, fast, goes in soft snow, and is part of the Yellowstone in Winter tradition, but under fire from environmental groups because they are polluting and noisy.
If you travel from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Old Faithful area, there is no room for luggage in the above coaches so your luggage goes in this snow tractor/trailer, originally built for the Italian Army. Both the tractor and trailer treads are driven and the unit steers by articulating the tractor and trailer. The tractor cannot steer by itself.
Similar to the military tractor/trailer above, this unit has two trailers and the owner, a private contractor renovating a hotel in Yellowstone that is isolated in winter, has replaced the military cab with the cab from a pickup truck. Both trailers are powered.
A tricked-out antique Bombardier run by a tour company in West Yellowstone, Montana.
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One of these days I'll have to figure out what my "style" is..
http://wernerg.smugmug.com/
I spent two weeks in Yellowstone this past Summer ( stayed at the Canyon Lodge ) and will go back for another two weeks this coming Summer. Down the road, I want to make a Winter trip there.
BTW....I can't imagine taking a trip from the Mammoth Springs area all the way to the Old Faithful area in one of those things.
Tom
*FORD*
Interesting/informative document shots.
Thank you for commenting, Tom. All the trips in Snow Coaches include tour stops, even those that are primarily for transportation, and they stop in different places going each way and different than those that are intended for out and return tours. We did a tour to Canyon and the Falls, and to Norris. The trip to Old Faithful and back the next day included stops along way. They are expensive though. Even the trip in to Old Faithful from the South Entrance at Flagg Ranch stops at several sites along the way.
Yellowstone in Winter is a completely different atmosphere than the summer, less crowded, the animals are close by and calmer and easier to see with snow backgrounds. It is a much more intimate experience. The boardwalk trails do get a bit crowded when a herd of bison is using them to go the other way. They have the right of way!
http://wernerg.smugmug.com/