After Prinoth bought Camoplast earlier this winter, the number of brand names in the snowcat business shrank to three: Prinoth, Kässbohrer-PistenBully and Ohara.

But, curiously enough, the number of factories rose—to five. Ohara builds its machines in Japan, and Prinoth now has factories in the Italian Tirol and in Quebec. And while Kässbohrer produces most models at its German facility, it turned its Reno service shop into a factory to build the new 105 hp Scout.

With the introduction of that machine, the full-size 330 hp Ohara Deer Forte, and the high-horsepower Prinoth machines, the three vendors now each serve a broad range of size and strength categories. In the lightweight division (under 5000 lb), PistenBully offers the 95-hp Canyon and the 105 hp Scout. Ohara sells the 86 hp Caliber. In the middleweight category, Prinoth sells the Husky, and PistenBully, the 100 series. In the full-size division, Ohara has the Deer Forte, Prinoth the BR350 series, and PistenBully the Edge, 300-series and the Park Bully. The superheavyweights include the Prinoth Everest Power and Leitwolf and PistenBully’s massive Polar.

Here’s a company-by-company look at what each manufacturer is putting out on the hill.


Kässbohrer PistenBully
PistenBully’s main line is intact: No major changes are coming in the 170 hp 100 series, the 330 hp Edge and articulated Park Bully, and massive 430 hp Polar. The 300 model gets some cabin upgrades: a plush velvety liner for the driver’s pneumatically-suspended throne, with adjustable and heated armrests. According to John Glockhamer, marketing manager, this is the Mercedes Benz of the line, with better suspension, climate control, heated wipers, joystick blade control, and no fewer than six xenon headlamps. Just the thing to make a hard day’s night more pleasant. The machine is also available with winches in 350 and 430 hp flavors. For better endurance, the final drive planetary gears are now re-hardened.

The Switchblade, introduced last year, has proved a huge success. It features forklift blades that swing out of the top of the blade and can be used for lifting and setting steel park features. This blade also sports a set of fine teeth on its bottom edge that can be used to rake snow as the machine backs off a feature, eliminating the need to turn around to smooth out the work tracks. The Switchblade comes standard on the Park Bully.

Kässbohrer introduces a lightweight machine, the 105 hp Scout, built around a 4.3 liter GM Vortec gasoline V6. At 5400 pounds, it’s meant for utility use and nordic trail grooming, and is priced, at about $90,000, to replace aging Sprytes. And here’s something unique: It’s assembled in Reno, from parts made in the U.S.


Prinoth
Chris Nyberg, vp/sales and marketing for the Quebec factory that used to build big snowcats under the Bombardier label, notes that the BR350 remains their “market leader.” That machine is now available with a Caterpillar engine meeting EPA Tier 3 emission requirements, a year earlier than required. Beyond that, most of the changes are invisible: tighter tolerances and improved quality control procedures designed to make the machines more reliable in the field.

The BR350 comes with the Terrain Master blade, in Quick-Mount and standard attachment versions. It features a plastic face for lower snow resistance, and is flexible enough for use in both free grooming and park-building operations. The machine is also available with the Posiflex II tiller with a self-compensating mechanism that allows drop-and-go operation, uphill and down, without a lot of adjusting. The hydraulics can also adjust the tiller shape for flat, convex or concave surfaces. It’s a versatile piece of gear; in January, Buttermilk used six BR350s with this blade to create and maintain the massive X-Games features.

The company will introduce the Prinoth Husky, a new 170 hp cat aimed mainly at nordic trail networks and utility work. The Husky offers a variable track width, with settings of eight, nine and 10 feet, and it features a “smart” tiller that pre-conditions snow right in front of the track-setting pan. The machine can be equipped with an 11-passenger cab.

Also in the offerings are the T4S, the Leitwolf and the Everest Power. The T4S is an adaptable machine that will take rubber tracks for summer use on lawns, permafrost and peat surfaces. The central engine location means weight is evenly distributed on soft, fragile surfaces. The powerful Leitwolf is for high-speed, high-capacity grooming operations: the 18-foot tiller will cover 100,000 square meters per hour, pulled by a 13-liter 435 hp turbodiesel. The Everest Power is a lighter, simpler and more economical workhorse, with a 12-liter 430 hp turbodiesel. Both of the big machines can be equipped with a powerful drum winch.


Ohara
For the past four years, Ohara has been selling the full-size 330hp Deer Forte snowcat in Japan. Now, says importer Paul Leck, it’s coming to North America, powered by the same C9 Caterpillar diesel used in big Prinoth machines. The Caliber MM03 is Ohara’s utility vehicle. These machines use the 86 hp 3.3 liter Yanmar turbo diesel, and are equipped for year-round use, with rubber tracks, so they can mow and bulldoze as well as smooth snow.


Zaugg
Zaugg’s newest 22-foot Pipe Monster, now in use at Heavenly and Park City, gets an improved shape: the top vert has been shortened from five feet to 18 inches, giving the superpipe a longer radius for smoother transitions—and bigger amps. The Monster will be used at the US Open at Stratton this winter. “And, presumably, at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010,” says Paul Leck. The Torino folks are still using the little ol’ 18-foot
Monster.

For snow removal, Zaugg offers a new Bulldogg walk-behind snowblower. It’s a smaller brother of the 54 hp SnowBeast, with a single cutting head one meter wide and 50 cm high, driven by a 43 hp Kubota turbodiesel. Bulldoggs are already in use at Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl.

If you have to move a lot of snow, check out the awesome Monobloc. This device hangs on a front loader; the biggest version has its own 570 hp Mercedes V8 turbodiesel (the smallest is about 75 hp).


Pipe Dragon
Randy Havens, the tech guru at Pipe Dragon, has completed work on a new 17-foot prototype in cooperation with the park geniuses at Mammoth. Recreational riders get better air off the 17-foot pipe than off a bigger one, Havens said, because they don't continue to accelerate beyond that height. The new machine uses a direct drive in place of the old belt box, providing more torque for both the auger and the paddle train, and it returns to the original tire-mount mainframe—but in a more maneuverable config­uration.