Pushing snow efficiently has never been a higher priority. And with costs and environmental pressure rising, efficiency is especially important. At the same time, suppliers have taken steps to make the work as comfortable as possible for operators.

Ask, and you shall receive. So we asked the two major suppliers to tell us about the major developments, innovations, and trends for the upcoming year. Here’s what they said.

What’s new, and what are you highlighting to customers for the coming year? What do these developments mean for your clients?

PistenBully: Our focus this year has been Park-centric. Last fall we introduced the 400 Park Pro Series. It has many new features that enable the operator to build a terrain park better and more efficiently.

The highlights:

•Unmatched geometry of the ParkBully blade—carry and place snow wherever you like.

•Pro Series valve technology for ultimate tiller lift control—allows precise control of lift and lower for smoother surfaces on features.

•On-the-fly tiller flex lock for fast reaction from transition to deck—one touch of the switch does it.

•New high performance suspension — smoother ride, better climbing, longer life for cost savings.

•LED lighting package front and rear—better lighting with lower replacement cost.

•Tiller mount LED lights—“flood your pass” with superior lighting.

•Premium driver’s seat features air suspension, air lumbar support, swivel base, heated panels, anti-slip microfiber upholstery, multi-adjustments.

•Killer JL sound system with amplifier and subwoofer.

•Easy access socket for your iPod/MP3 player, smart phone or memory stick. Combination charger and USB port.

•Stream music directly from your mobile device or memory stick.

•Bluetooth technology—hands free talking.


Prinoth: Prinoth is working more closely with our customers to optimize their grooming operations and reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO). Last year we promoted our most efficient snow grooming vehicle with the Beast, and this year, we are going one step further with our Prinoth resource and snow management solutions, providing our customers a better way to manage their fleets and groom their mountains more efficiently.

Our resource management solution provides vital information to mountain managers in order to take action and improve grooming efficiency and productivity. We support our customer beyond our product and want to be in a close partnership with our customers in order to help them achieve the highest possible operational efficiency. We are also developing snow management solutions that will have a huge impact on how our customers will plan and maintain grooming and snow making operations.

The Prinoth snow groomer is now able to continuously measure snow depth while grooming. As a result, a snow depth map is generated and can be used for the planning of snowmaking and/or snow redistribution.

What are you doing regarding alternatives to diesel power? How have customers responded in the past year? Also, what is the impact of Tier IV emissions standards on diesel-powered machines? How do all the new standards affect performance, utility, prices, and environmental impact?

Prinoth: In Europe, the Prinoth Husky E-motion debuted in 2011/12, with a hybrid diesel electric power train, providing 20 percent fuel reduction with a 30 percent power increase and 15 percent torque increase at the sprocket. Now we are gradually introducing models with the new Tier 4 technology, the first being the new Leitwolf. This achieves a 50-percent reduction of nitrogen emissions and a 90-percent reduction of particulate matter. All of our models will be gradually upgraded to meet the EPA Tier 4 emissions rules.

We are working hard to insure that the new Tier 4 engine will meet the performance level and reliability that are expected by our customers. We have been testing for the past couple of years and we are confident that the Tier 4 system will meet or exceed our expectations. In the meantime, we will continue to offer Tier 3 engines in 2013, giving us the time we need to complete our Tier 4 development and phase-in. It is too early to establish the final cost impact on this new technology, but we expect to be able supply such information in the coming months.

Energy efficiency and protection of resources are some of Prinoth’s primary concerns. As part of our “clean motion” strategy, we aim to make the slope preparation process as clean as possible and to minimize environmental impact, in particular the emissions of our snow groomers, in order to actively contribute to sustainable environmental protection.

PistenBully: Last Spring, Kässbohrer introduced its sustainability program for groomer technologies called Green IQ–“green intelligence” for PistenBully. The goal of this program is to conserve resources by burning less fuel, using alternative fuels and reducing emissions.

An example is the PistenBully 600 E+, the first snow groomer with diesel electric drive. This engine technology consumes up to 20 percent less fuel and emits less NOx and CO?. The 600 E+ uses the same engine and has the same horsepower rating as a standard PistenBully 600. However, because the electric drive is more efficient than the hydrostatic drive, the 600 E+ can push more snow.

The first PistenBully 600 E+ was sold to Engadin St. Moritz Mountains ski area in Switzerland. It began grooming Dec. 6, 2012. Following soon after was the second customer, Imbergbahn in Steibis, a ski area located in the Allgäu region of southern Germany. The St. Moritz cat already has 500 hours of use without any problems.

The PistenBully 600 TwinPower runs on CNG (compressed natural gas) as well as diesel fuel. In keeping with two primary concepts of Kässbohrer’s Green IQ sustainability, the TwinPower is cost effective by replacing a portion of diesel fuel with inexpensive and very abundant compressed natural gas. Correspondingly, exhaust emissions are reduced especially in regards to NOx and particulate matter, but also carbon dioxide CO?.

The PistenBully 600 TwinPower can replace up to 35 percent diesel use with CNG. This equates to a reduction of approximately 2.5 gallons diesel fuel per hour. The dollar savings are substantial, because CNG is much less expensive than diesel fuel. The 600 TwinPower uses the same size engine as the standard PistenBully 600, and is comparable in hp and torque. We currently have a demo unit running this winter at selected ski areas.

Both models will cost more on the upfront purchase, but will pay this back in fuel savings about midway into the vehicles’ life cycle. The 600 TwinPower is available now; the PistenBully 600 E+ will take longer to introduce due to the new technology.

What are the latest innovations in technology? Is there anything new in controls, both in the physical controls as well as computer controls? Is there anything new and/or different in tracking vehicle performance or mechanical operations, or diagnostics? How have operators received recent innovations in these areas?

PistenBully: Kässbohrer is always looking at ways to implement new technologies into the PistenBully grooming lineup. We continue to improve and expand on the CANBus technology in the PistenBully 600 and the SnowSat GPS fleet management and snowdepth technology.

The latest software enables independent tiller settings for different snow conditions. We can set for fresh snow (M1), wet snow (M2) and hard conditions (M3). Tiller cutter bar speed, depth of cut, tiller flap and up/down pressure can be preprogrammed for each condition. This is done via the in-cab touchscreen with a few simple steps. When grooming, the operator simply taps the symbol on the touchscreen that corresponds to the current snow conditions and the tiller automatically adjusts to the settings that have been preset. This is a very useful tool for all drivers, but especially for those who are new or inexperienced.

When Kässbohrer first introduced its CANbus technology in the PistenBully 600 we said it would be possible to update it. This is proving out. The automatic tiller adjustment settings mentioned above have been recently downloaded to PistenBully 600s delivered back in 2006. Some of these PistenBullys now have well over 9,000 hours of use, and yet are running the very latest version CANbus software.


Prinoth: Prinoth is continuously improving performance and capabilities of its models. We will be introducing new features to our Posiflex Tiller, such as a more precise speed control, that will increase efficiency and fuel economy.

The ergonomics of the Prinoth snow groomers’ joysticks offer the operators the capabilities of controlling the blade and tiller without removing their hands from the stick.

Beyond vehicle controls, we are giving customers the opportunity to better manage their fleet and grooming operation through the Prinoth resource and snow management solution (as mentioned earlier). Fleet managers can now better understand what is happening on their mountain, and operators are able to groom more efficiently. We realize that there is an expense to operating snow groomers, and our main concern is to limit this burden on our customers while still providing the best surface for their skiers.

Looking to the future, what’s coming in the way of increasing capabilities and making machines’ performance more flexible? What areas are you researching for future improvements?

Prinoth: Prinoth is working in many directions to improve the vehicles in terms of innovations for performance, reliability and eco-friendliness. We are also using synergies of our different business units to provide the best track vehicles for other applications that are needed at mountain resorts, such as utility and vegetation management vehicles, to offer a complete solution to our customers.
We will be introducing new options for our 2013 Bison X vehicles that will offer additional benefits to park builders. We are the chosen supplier for the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.


PistenBully: The future will hold advancements in controls for both front blade and rear tiller. Stay tuned.



Any changes, improvements, or innovations in customer service?

PistenBully: A year ago, we introduced Telemetry. Combining the technologies of the Internet, GPS and cell phone, it is possible to perform remote diagnostics on PistenBullys in real time. Technicians can validate input from operator feedback to identify and correct problems when they are not actually in the vehicle themselves. This is proving to be a very popular tool. Kässbohrer continues to advance and refine this diagnostic tool for this winter season.

A major advantage of Telemetry is that it can identify intermittent problems that may appear only once or twice during a grooming shift. We can look at the time lapse of an entire grooming shift and analyze all critical electrical functions. Case in point: at a ski area last spring, the operator complained that he was unable to lift his tiller several times during the shift. Analysis revealed that the input signal from the Hall effect sensor to the control module for tiller lift/lower was intermittently failing. The Hall effect sensor was replaced and the problem solved with the real time information provided by Telemetry.

Telemetry has been improved this year; the online interface is more user-friendly for the service technician.

Our online spare parts webshop continues to become more popular with our customers. It allows them to search and order spare parts using the online spare parts book. Parts illustrations, part numbers and descriptions are right on screen for all PistenBully models.


Prinoth: Prinoth is broadening its services to make sure we support our customers at all levels. Through our experienced service staff, we will continue to offer service training, operator training, and safety training. Our goal is to ensure that our groomers are functioning at their optimal levels and that the operators can achieve the best results.

By being proactive with our service team, such as providing specific maintenance tips, we are contributing to the TCO of our customers. A good example is our service outline for the rear lift frame and Posiflex tiller and cutting bar, which we released last November. It describes the regular maintenance and inspection items to maintain top performance, along with advice on maximizing the efficiency of the tiller.

We continue to offer the highest OEM parts availability in the industry as we know how important it is to keep our clients’ vehicles running. Our first priority is to keep the vehicle running without any downtime.

Dream On: What Groomers Want
All too often, people reveal their inner desires on Facebook. Knowing this, we asked groomers who visit SAM’s Facebook page, “What would be in your dream cat?”

Here’s a sampling of what we heard, with comments from suppliers. Dreams can be pretty weird, remember...

• a massage chair and BBQ
Prinoth: Known fact that a relaxed and stuffed operator does a better job!

• 1,000 HP and 1,200 Ft/lb torque
PistenBully: Thought you were going GREEN?
Prinoth: Beware of what you ask our engineers, you could get it!

• GPS weather system, GoPro camera, loud ass sound system, lights that are brighter than the sun, giant fatty combs, a blade you could push a ton of snow to the top of a mountain with, and stick ass tracks that get you to the top!
PistenBully: You might already have all that, except——what kind of tracks?

• a snowmaking machine attached to the back
PistenBully: Have to leave that up to our snowmaking bros! They know best.

• a 5-point racing harness seat belt. All xenon lights. A secure place to put my backpack and lunch! An in-cab quick release blade.
PistenBully: All sounds good up to the quick release blade; not sure why you want to quick release anything!

• no rattles
Prinoth: Rattles suck.

• a silent cab
Prinoth: Yes... with a loud sound system :-D

• dancing girls
Prinoth: You mean like a Hawaiian bobble hula girl?! We can arrange that for you. Mounted on the dash or on the blade?

• the ability to laterally side-shift the blade-frame, similar to rear-stinger articulation, to allow capturing off-axis snow deposits.
Prinoth: Thanks for the idea.

• chilled cup holders
PistenBully: Where are you grooming? Is this from Dubai by chance?

• knobby tires

• refrigerators under the passenger seat for cold drinks and food.
Prinoth: Can it be located on the rear platform?
PistenBully: We recommend self-cleaning, too.

• auto pilot
PistenBully: Been in practice for years.

• a .50 cal for the “lip rollers” and a howitzer for AV control.
PistenBully: Only after you take the psychological test.

• Red Bull dispenser

• a level on the blade, and an auto-leveling posi-flex button.
Prinoth: Yes.

• memory foam operator's seat, better sound system

• seat setting button, magnetic blades, board racks, and a Keurig

• a measurement gauge for how much curl you are using

• snow depth
PistenBully: Talk it over with your salesman——you might be pleasantly
surprised.

PistenBully: If we incorporate the “nice to haves” here——like BBQ, refrigerator and dancing girls——we’re not sure much work will get done. But without a doubt it would be the most fun PistenBully we’ve ever built!

Prinoth: We can’t reveal everything we are working on to enhance the operator snow grooming experience, but for sure we are always open to new ideas! Visit our Facebook page and let your imagination go wild! www.facebook.com/prinoth.official