Cat Drivers?

CKpolicy

CKpolicy

Active member
I basically drive for a living. Company sales car, forklift, lull, plow, backloader. I usually drive 4 or 5 different vehicles in a day, mostly heavy machinery. I would love to learn how to drive a cat. Anyone on here a cat driver? Howd you get into it? Whered you learn? Thanks.
 
Do you know if there is any course you can take? Or do they just teach you at the mountain where you're gonna work?
 
Do you have to be 18 to drive a cat at a small resort? It seems like it would be a liability, though I have been running heavy machinery forever.
 
I've known a couple of cat drivers. Both said driving it is incredibly easy but moving snow efficiently takes a lot of practice and skill.
 
not the best idea considering they cant even reach the pedals or anything. although i did let my cat drive one time, lets just say the crash resembled hiroshima in 1945
 
Driving and tilling is easy...using the plow takes some serious coordination and patience.

And that reference post that was deleted was by TWA who was permabanned and all his posts were nuked, it had nothing to do with how helpful it was (or even that individual post).
 
Getting into a grooming department is very competitive. A lot of people don't give up the position leading to basically a locked no hire department.
 
Driving a snow cat is easy. I've done it before. Grooming is completely different and depends on where you work. Working the blade and tiller is all dependent on the job that needs to be done, snow conditions, and how well your equipment is working.

From what I know, it would be hard to go apply and get a grooming job with out experience of working at a ski hill. When you do work at the ski hill, go ask the grooming supervisor if you can do ride alongs with the cat drivers, and get as many hours as possible.

I had a friend go and work as a cat driver in revelstoke this season for his work term in college. He got the job based on the fact that he had tons of ride along experience.
 
It's funny that people say "oh it's easy to drive the cat, but it's hard to use the blade and the till". These aren't separate things, you need to be able to do them all if you are to work at a resort. I've spent maybe 10 hours driving a cat, and my blade work is still shit, my friend who is a parkdesigner spent a good 50-60 hours riding along, and then a god 70-80 before he was able to groom and build his own park. However he still has a lot to learn, but he is getting there.
 
That is like a week in a cat....

Once he has a few years under his belt he can talk. Still doesn't mean he knows what hes doing.
 
Revy had a couple new guys this year, as did Lake Louise. I'm not saying it's a shitty job, but working nights alone sounds like something I wouldn't really be interested in.

That, and I usually get so lost in a cat at night. No idea how they find their way around the mountain - especially when it's snowing.
 
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I went to school for Ski Area Managment at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, MI

When it came time to look for jobs out west it was super easy.

I had job offers from a couple different places with out trying to hard.

Vail, Beaver Creek, Park City.

I took the Job at Vail the guy that hired me had also went to school for the same thing I did years before. I was all set to take a job at Beaver Creek then he called. As did a bunch of other guys I worked with. Every year they always hire a handful of people that have no experience which normally after a couple weeks they get the hang out of it.

Anyone could drive a cat on a flat run.

 
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