The Grooming Gang: Making the Best of Mother Nature

It is a cool night, dark except for the Village lights behind me and the tall fir trees still adorned with their blue and purple Christmas lights.  All is quiet.  I check my watch.  It is 0022 am.

I hear a murmur coming from behind the patrol hut.  It builds to a rumble.  I turn towards the sound to see an amphibian-like vehicle turn into the parking area, chewing up the snow as it advances. Suddenly the parking area is awash with light from head lights as bright as search lights. The cat quivers to a stop, still purring like a lion, and a figure nimbly jumps out of the cab and climbs down the blade-like grousers on its tracks.

One of Silver Star's three 'free cats'

Dave Palm has arrived to pick me up.  He is the Grooming and Terrain Park Manager at Silver Star Mountain Resort.  He has started the midnight shift down at the maintenance shop, where he has met with the afternoon shift, confirming what has been groomed already and what needs to be done before his shift finishes at 9 am. He helps me into the passenger seat. I'm going along to find out how the mountain gets transformed after a day of skiing into the pristine, corduroy-lined slopes that greet skiers for their first run in the morning.

Dave is a seasoned groomer. He started this job 24 years ago, the year Putnam Creek opened.  He works all year round, and knows this mountain like no one else.  He has helped clear new runs and then reseeded them with native vegetation.   He works with the summer bike park crew to ensure trails and berms are compatible with the ski runs and then mows the runs in the fall, calling in the chainsaw gang as needed.  He has been up and down every run hundreds of times in all seasons and all weather.  You could say this is his mountain.

The cab is warm and spacious. It looks a bit like the cockpit of a plane.  I settle in to a comfortable seat, fasten a lap belt. This is a German-made Pisten Bully, an agile piece of equipment that can lumber up and down almost any snow covered incline, and is worth about $275,000.  It is one of seven cats in Silver Star’s fleet.  There are two other older “free cats” similar to this one, one all-terrain cat used for the Terrain Park, a cross-country cat to groom the Nordic trails, one winch cat for use on the steepest inclines and the Paradise Camp bus cat used to move people to and from the back side of the mountain.

German-made Pisten Bully, worth about $275,000

Dave assures me the ride is very safe as we begin rolling down Shortt Street, the cat barely fitting between the buildings. Its tracks grip the snow as we climb up to Main Street.  We see the lights of the all- terrain cat in the Rock Star Terrain Park.  Dave explains the operator of this cat works an extended afternoon shift. It takes most of the shift to groom the park and it is done every night.
Then he points our cat straight up Big Dipper.  I feel myself pressed back into the seat.  Big Dipper is one of the runs done nightly.  “It takes 15 to 16 passes do this run, between 2 to 3 hours.  It costs about $230 per hour to run one of these cats,” Dave says.  I do some quick mental calculations and realize what a bargain my season pass is.

 

The pitch steepens and the cat grumbles as it moves forward, laying a swath of corduroy behind us.  Dave keeps the blade picking up and distributing snow as we move forward, checking the huge side mirrors, the rear view mirror, and somehow also keeping his gaze forward, manually moving an inside search light to examine the surface ahead. The groomers cannot be on the mountain when skiers are on the downhill trails, for obvious safety reasons, but Dave explains another reason it’s better to groom at night is because the head lights can see all the bumps. As we roll along he talks with the other groomers on his radio all the while he keeps up an easy relaxed conversation with me

 

Dave Palm, Grooming and Terrain Park Manager in cab of newest 'free cat'

 The grooming team consists of 14, covering a 3:30pm to midnight shift and a midnight to 8:30am shift.  One of the greatest challenges for some groomers is the grind of night shift.  They are always in communication with each other but work alone inside a big, expensive piece of machinery.  They are out every night, in all conditions, snow, wind, cold. The conditions can make the work tough and disorientating.  “You are staring out into snow and fog” Dave says, “sometimes that is what keeps me alert”.

 

He turns the cat around at the top of the Comet Chair and points the machine straight down.  Through the huge front window I can see the entire width of Big Dipper as it drops down in front of us.  Surprisingly, although I feel the sensation of being pulled forward, there is no sense of precarious-ness.  There is no brake, except a hand brake. He controls our descent by steering with his left hand and manipulating the joystick with his right hand.  It controls the back tiller, front blade and there is a dial for track speed. 

At the bottom we pass under the Comet Chairlift and head up Aberdeen to the top of the Silver Woods Chairlift.  In a couple minutes the winch cat appears from below.  Dave points out the winch anchor and the cable that is helping the cat ascend the black-diamond Mine Shaft run under the chairlift.  This cat, worth over $400,000, has a cable that can extend for one km. 

Winch cat just starting descent down Mine Shaft run under the Silver Wood Chair

The winch cat turns around and descends back down to continue work on this run for several more hours.  Other than its headlights and those of the two other free cats finishing off on North Star, the vista is shrouded in darkness.  Most years the trees are snow-covered and therefore the scene is much brighter but this has been an exceptional year with warm weather and some rain.  “We’ve had March three times already this year, and it’s still February” Dave comments.  It has been a challenging year for the groomers. 

Dave explains how these machines help preserve the snow.   The cat has three essential parts, the front blade, the cab and the back tiller.  First the cat has to track down the surface and then starts manipulating the snow.  Inside the tiller is a drum with knives.  It spins anywhere from 100 to 2200rpms.  This cuts up the snow, takes the air out of it then lays it flat, making a skiable surface.  Laying the corduroy is really only window dressing, it’s like combing the snow to make it look nice.  Meanwhile the front blade continuously gathers snow, moves it and deposits it to optimize the surface

Two 'free cats' working hard climbing the steep icy incline on upper Big Dipper run

What to groom and what not to groom seems to be a somewhat negotiable question based on snow conditions, weather and activities on the mountain. All green runs and main traffic trails are done nightly, then blue runs are a next priority.  The Back Side, serviced by the Powder Gulch Chair, is groomed first, on the afternoon shift as it is terrain for stronger skiers, while the front of the mountain, geared to less adventurous skiers, is groomed later so it will be freshly groomed in the morning.  The double black runs are usually left as is, not so much because of the steepness but the narrowness of the runs and the reputation Silver Star has for its bumps on the back side. 

We see the terrain cat trundling down Main Street.  Dave explains the groomer’s 10 hour shift is over.  At 2 am the groomer for the cross country trails starts his shift. These trails are all done on a night shift that extends until after 9:00am.  This assures that the cross country runs are as freshly groomed as possible.

Calalcade of three cats laying corduroy on Big Dipper run

We head back up Lower Big Dipper and Dave begins seriously moving snow.  This is to prepare Big Dipper for a race this weekend.  Usually this race is run on Milky Way but due to the challenging conditions and traffic that has worn down this run, the race course will be set up here and he is tasked with flattening the roller coaster terrain just above Main Street.  He manoeuvers the cat up and down and sideways collecting snow in the blade then dumping it in the dips.  A lot of snow is moved and I realize there is still a lot of snow on this mountain.  We head down the run again, he radios the other two free cats to join us and the three cats make a sideway cavalcade and roll up the mountain joining their swathes of corduroy in a wide sweep



Five minute break at the top of Silver Star close to the Upper Weather Station

At the top the three cats all stop and we get out.  I meet Caleb, from New Zealand and Hana, a local gal and the only female groomer the mountain has employed in many years.   Dave has explained they are both ‘rookies’ having started this ski season.  “You can train someone to drive a cat in two weeks but it takes about 3 years for them to be really good groomers.”  This 5 minute break will be the only one until they all gather at the end of the shift.  Caleb sneaks off to the Upper Weather Station where he checks and records the current temperature and snow fall since the afternoon. This info will be posted on the 6am Snow Report.

Dave, Caleb and Hana at the top of Silver Star at 4 am

Before we take off, Dave invites me to sit in the driver’s seat.  In front of me is an adjustable driving wheel with moveable dials, to my right is the joystick and around me an array of other switches and knobs.  He takes my picture and helps me back into the passenger seat.  Then we rumble down one last time and he deposits me by my car.  Its 4:09 am, I get into my car and realize I’m tired.  Dave gets back in the cab of the cat.   He has a few more hours to manipulate the snow and make Silver Star the proud mountain it is, well known for its excellent groomed runs.