What is the best way to go about becoming a snow cat operator? Anybody have experience? I love to operate heavy machines and I would love to work in a park or groom trails own a cat.
Jan 18 2016 10:15PM
If you have the dough and the ambition, go to CMC in Leadville for ski area operations and you can get a good amount of time and experience in a cat and other heavy machinery, in addition to learning a lot about them. that's probably the most efficient way if you're starting from the very bottom but if you have heavy equipment experience you could probably just pick a handful of smaller mountains you're interested in and ask around about grooming departments hiring... In my opinion working in smaller mountains is better but bigger resorts and massive conglomerates like Vail hire a ton of rookie cat operators, so if you wanna get your foot in the door that's another way to go about it.
Jan 19 2016 2:34AM
if you have heavy equipment experience showing interest to those into grooming is your first step... get a job working at a ski resort in an operations department (snowmaking, parks, etc.) and make some connections with groomers. If you do well with the aforementioned one might be willing to let you tag along for a ride then eventually give you some lessons
Jan 19 2016 12:32PM
Jan 19 2016 12:55PM
Jan 19 2016 3:42PM
DBack1321I used to drive a tractor trailer by myself and it is sooooo boring if you don't have someone else to talk to.
I'm sure it would eventually, but it would be cool at first especially if you get to be the first one to ski the fresh groomed corduroy in the morning. There are some great behind the scenes cat operator videos on YouTube