Seems like a large scale blower would be a lot safer!!!
yup nope. Not knowing when you are off the good footing is a deal breaker.
Here's another video Glacier national park.. Using a rotary blower... Unless there's rock fall in the snow.
I've plowed snow for over 40 years...no way in hell would I do that.....those guys don't get paid enough. Ed
I can't find the pictures now, but there are some out there with two Cats hooked in tandem driving over the hard snow base pulling a V-plow equipped grader over one of them passes while opening it up after the winter closure. Looked like a avalanche waiting to happen to me. Crazy stuff!
The dozer is just to knock the top of the snow down enough for the blowers to work. I've seen this one from yellowstone.
Ropes will protect them
It's done on the road into Mt Rainier park every year plus Chinook pass. Probably the closest to those in the videos is the one to Sunrise. It's pretty common to have twenty feet of snow to push over the side before they get close to the pavement up there.
Like that sound, reminds me of the old 7G we had. Ten times the machine as the 6R that replaced it.
Looks like a good place for a purpose built blower . I’m thinking a 973 track loader with a 300 hp loader mounted direct drive blower. Gives you the ability to lift it up in the air and take the top off. Maybe even better mounted on a excavator with a telescoping boom like a delimber. I’m sure we could fab something up. Something like this but 5 times bigger and stronger.
Part of the problem with using blowers is some of these roads are used all winter by snowcats, snowmobiles, etc. The snow is packed so hard by spring it's difficult to feed it through a blower. I know that's why they pull the v plow with dozers in yellowstone.
Wonder why they don't put a v on the dozer instead of pulling the grader?
I wonder if a guy could engineer a quad 9 on rubber shoes with a wedge like that, only wider. The weight of the snow would give you traction, methinks. Maybe a progressive V that had the road section fixed and the side wings adjustable to go over guardrails. Maybe mount those side wings so they put traction on the rear unit. Signposts are gonna be toast any way you slice it.
Saw pictures before of Dozers in Newfoundland with a V and 2 wings. My old V hasn't been on the grader in 20 plus years. Old iron habit has a post of a dozer with a V and wing I think