Meadows Blog

"Bully of the Pistes" Arrives at Meadows

10/25/2012 1:00:00 PM by Meadows Team in Connection, Media Center | 11 comments

A new Pisten Bully snow groomer has joined our fleet of grooming machines. The PB-400 is similar in performance standards to the BR-350 Prinoth machines which constitute the majority of our grooming fleet. We received a new Prinoth last week, just before the snow arrived.

New Pisten Bully 400 joins Mt. Hood Meadows grooming fleet
Pisten Bully 400 arrives at Mt. Hood Meadows October 25. Photo Steve Warila

These machines are powerful enough to move snow uphill (the average skier or snowboarder can displace a ton of snow in a normal ski day) and feature state-of-the-art controls so the operator can articulate and shape the blade for precision snow moving. The flex tiller is designed to lay down a smooth path of corduroy, riding over the nuances of skied up snow.

New Prinoth snow grooming machine arrives at Meadows
New Prinoth BR-350 arrives at Meadows October 17. Photo Steve Warila

Reaching speeds of up to 14 mph, these cats can lay down a pathway of tilled snow nearly 14 feet wide with every pass. The two new machines fortify our fleet which is already one of the most advanced in the Northwest.

Now all we need is snow to groom!

11 Comments

  1. Srikanth

    October 25, 2012

    wonderful.
    Also, nice to see the snow.

    Meadows: Awesome! It was fun to touch and feel the snow too!

  2. Jesse

    October 26, 2012

    Nice to see new machines, and some snow on the hill!
    How many cats do you have up there now?

    Meadows: Hi Jesse. We have 13 front line grooming machines that are used nightly. We also have five utility cats up here at Mt. Hood Meadows.
    Cooper Spur has two grooming machines. It is a really nice fleet which we continue to invest in and improve each season.

  3. Corderoy

    October 27, 2012

    Go Meadows....! I love the red cats!

  4. Steve S

    October 28, 2012

    Thanks for puttin the $ back into the equipment!

    Meadows: You're welcome!

  5. Chris A

    November 10, 2012

    Very nice! Glad to see our (the riders) seasonal expenditures being invested into new equipment to help advance and maintain the mountain we love to ride. Hopefully we can look forward to a more avid approach to building better park features, and maybe keeping them maintained and rideable throughout the day?

    Meadows: Thanks Chris. Our parks crew is stoked to build and maintain fun and innovative feature so you can advance your freestyle abilities and overall enjoyment. We'll continue to focus on improving both consistency and quality of our overall freestyle experience.

  6. J Taylor

    November 13, 2012

    Any plans for improving cell phone connections, especially on the back side, shooting star/Meadows. I try and use this to keep in contact with my kids/friends on the mountain, and the poor contact is very frustrating at times.

    Meadows: Cell tower placement is beyond our control. We encourage you to speak to your cell company about the importance of this service in hard to reach places.

  7. David

    November 15, 2012

    Hey guys, if your sponsors wanted a higher turn out at pre-season events (e.g. Widmer Big Chill 12 Fest this Friday), why not offer season pass photo taking at the event? I really don"t want to line up at the mountain on opening day, nor make a special trip up to Meadows just for photos. I would attend a down-town event of interest however. Cheers

    Meadows: Thanks for the suggestion - it's something we'll look into.

  8. Steep & Deep

    November 18, 2012

    Get the bully 400 fueled up and ready to groom the mountain for Wednesday and skiing by the end of the week; could bring another reason to be thankful on Thursday! Keep the snow dancing going folks, we are almost there.

    Meadows: We are there! Opening Thanksgiving Day 9 AM - 4 PM.

  9. RW

    November 19, 2012

    Agree with David. It would be really great to have another chance or two to take pass pictures somewhere other than the mountain. All the opportunities were past before I even purchased my passes. And with everyone needing new passes this year, I'm dreading having to do it at the mountain. Pretty please? Thanks.

    Meadows: Thanks Randy. Here's the deal. We need to prepare for a massive amount of picture taking here at the mountain beginning opening day, requiring all of our pass picture taking stations. If we were to announce "one last opportunity" event in PDX or even Hood River, we would be overwhelmed. We can't commit our stations (or staffing for that matter) to multiple locations without creating an undesirable guest experience. We are confident that we will be able to take pictures at the mountain efficiently - and if we get too many people in line we have a plan to get them on the mountain with a dedicated return time to give express service to them.
    Ideally though, in the future people will not wait until the deadline and then purchase. Our season pass crew was available through October and through the ski show - all great opportuntities to get the pass taken care of.
    By the way - we do have a pass station in our Portland sales office at 17th and Northrup NW, taking pictures Monday - Friday from 9 AM - 4 PM. The office will be closed Thanksgiving Day.

  10. Steep & Deep

    November 20, 2012

    I know by the time this comment gets posted it will have happened but as of Tuesday morning, 11/20, you still haven't posted that the mountain is closed to uphill travel; why? Get to work on that ski area and let the paying individuals start to enjoy the freedom of riding! Hopefully since you are going to have a 36"+ base by the end of today you will get Star open also to start the year off right!!!

    Meadows: Conditions page updated - "No uphill traffic." See you on first chair Mt. Hood Express tomorrow?

  11. Corduroy Skier

    November 25, 2012

    Good work on putting some red into your fleet of cats.
    Good looking cat....PB Yeah!

    Meadows: Thanks!

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