This MUST be the most unusual trailer I've ever seen!

[Gigi]

The Bombadier!

I wonder kind of gas mileage this gets? It's an amazing renovation!

[Gina D.]

I could use one of those!!!!

[Byron Kinnaman]

I could use one of those!!!!

You get snow in southern California, the land of sun, sand, and water?

[Gina D.]

I get more snow here than I ever saw in P-Land.

I am at 5k feet.

Find the Burro...

[Gina D.]

Uhm... Mom?...ah...

I am confused...

[Frederick L. Simson]

You get snow in southern California, the land of sun, sand, and water?

In a word, Elevation. December in metro San Diego can be balmy, yet drive out to Julian an hour away, and it's cold, wet, and slippery!

[Gigi]

You guys and gals crack me up! Gina, how many offers do you suppose you would get on this parked outside on the driveway????

[Gina D.]

Folks would be knocking my door down in winter!

At 5 am...

I telecommute those days!

[Roger H]

I just got back from an Alaska trip. We crossed the Denali Highway from Paxson to Cantwell (Denali Park) in a motorcoach. We stopped enroute at Milepost 42 at the MacLaren River Lodge for an incredible meal, and met Zoya Denure; a former runway model from Madison WI who now owns Crazy Dog Mushing Kennels with her husband John and is training for the Iditarod. They're planning on wintering over at their MacLaren River dog training camp.

Crazy Dog Mushing Kennels

Zoya's Kennel Journal

Bill Nance, the owner of MacLaren River Lodge, told us that (if I remember this right) in the winter, it's some forty miles by snowtrack in the winter to get to the truck, and then another hundred miles by highway to the grocery store.

Now THAT's a commute. Wanna try it mushing a dog sled?

Roger

[Gina D.]

Wanna try it mushing a dog sled?

yes. actually.

I do.

[Brian B-P]

At the risk of perpetuating a stereotype about Canada, I've seen a few of these (not on the road, of course). It looks like it's stock, but in nice condition. This believe that "half-track" style of snow vehicle was the main product of Bombardier for some time, before being replaced by the smaller current Ski-Doo snowmobile for individual use, and all-track machines like the one in Roger's post for speciality work. The glacier tours at Columbia Icefield in the Rockies used to use this type (my wife has a photo of me beside their historical display model somewhere); they currently use custom-built buses with monster tires.

The body construction does look like a classic "canned ham" trailer, and it would make a fascinating RV, for someone who really wants to get away from it all...

Just a thought: could enough sled dogs pull a small egg?

[Roger H]

Just a thought: could enough sled dogs pull a small egg?

For training, mushers are allowing their dogs to pull them on 4wheelers. They do it to control the speed and load the dogs are pulling. Mostly they hold the dogs back to make them work harder. I'd think that a small trailer would be a piece of cake for a large enough team!

Roger

[Frederick L. Simson]

We crossed the Denali Highway from Paxson to Cantwell (Denali Park) in a [b]motorcoach.

This is a term that I'm not sure I'm familiar with.

[Loren G. Hedahl]

In the 60's I took a road trip down the Canadian Athabasca range in the fall and there were quite a few of these in the tourist areas for ferrying tourists around.

Presently, I believe that's the Canadian company that produces business jets that compete favorably with the American Lear jet. I bought a few shares of their stock a couple of years ago and actually did fairly well with the investment over a couple of months. Haven't checked them out for awhile, so don't know how they're doing at this time.

[Brian B-P]

The original Bombardier company has evolved into a transportation operation, primarily in trains and aircraft. Lear is no longer a competitor to Bombardier's Canadair aircraft: Bombardier bought Lear years ago. They eventually decided to get out of the business of snowmobiles and other recreational products, and the Bombardier family bought that division to revive it as Bombardier Recreational Products, which still produces Ski-Doos, among other motorized toys.

[Time K]

Thanks Brian, great info......you saved me the trouble......

[Benny K]

These types of Bombadiers are still used for ice fishing on the larger lakes in Manitoba, mainly Lake Winnipeg......It`ll usually put a sleigh with the nets on it and have an auger mounted on the rear also to drill the holes for setting the fishing nets.....a small stove inside supplies the heat.......some of the fishermen graduated many years ago to using the Bombadier track tractors , i.e. J-2 type to pull the sleigh with the nets .....and many prior to that also used to use Ford Ferguson tractors with a half track mounted on it with an idler wheel ....there are till a lot of diehards around North of Winnipeg that still use the Bombadiers as they were/are the best for the purpose.....Benny

[CharlynnT]

Yeah, it's a snowmobile.

The modern equivalent might be those tundra trucks in Churchill, Manitoba they use to do polar bear tours.

[Jackie]

They call them snowcoaches now, and use them in Yellowstone National Park in winter for transportation within the park, between Mammoth, Old Faithful, West Yellowstone...and smaller versions for coach tours.

Yellowstone in Winter

Yellowstone is a whole different world in winter. The campground at Mammoth is open all year, has the restrooms open, but no hook-ups. You would need lots of propane for heat....but what a place to be! You can also stay in the lodges. Cars can access Mammoth Hot Springs, to stay in the lodge there, then you snow coach to the other lodges within the park. It is very interesting to stay in the outlying cabins at Old Faithful, then ski into dinner at the lodge nightly.