Snow enthusiasts gather for Cat Clowder

By BRYAN HELLIOS

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Bessemer - The amount of snow in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan is irresistible for many snowmobile and skiing enthusiasts.

Ted Olson and his son, Tyler, of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., traveled to Bessemer this past weekend in search of snow so they could ride their sleds.

"The trails are not open by us yet," Ted Olson said.

While staying in the area, they took in the Cat Clowder event at Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort Saturday.

"At first I thought someone had misspelled chowder," Olson laughed. "I read it twice just to make sure."

The annual Cat Clowder draws people who have a passion for collecting vintage snowcats. A snowcat is a cabbed vehicle equipped with tracks which allow the operator to ride on the top of snow. They are used to groom ski and snowmobile trails as well as perform search and rescue missions in deep snow.

Olson said he remembers seeing some of the now vintage snowcats while visiting the area to ski when he was a kid.

"They are kinda neat. My son and I were just discussing how fun it might be to own one of them," Olson told the Daily Globe Saturday on the sunny ski hill. "But I bet finding parts and maintaining them could be a nightmare."

Bruce Noren, managing partner of Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort, admits the older snowcats do require a bit of maintenance and it's not uncommon to run them for an hour before heading back into the shop for a couple hours.

"If you own one of these, your passion is tinkering with them," Noren said.

Noren said events like this bring together people from all walks of life who never would have met each other without sharing the unique interests in these machines. He said his passion for collecting vintage snowcat machines led him to joining with fellow admirers to establish an event for the Midwest.

"We started this five years ago when there were only two other events like this in the country," he said.

With about a dozen snowcats on display Saturday, Noren said it's not a huge event but getting this many machines in one spot is pretty special.

The event also has a positive effect on the local economy he added.

"These folks come up and bought gas, and their buying food, and bought lodging," Noren said.

Philip Snider from Red Wing, Minn., said he always liked the way they looked and got to the point where he could buy his own.

He found the group of snowcat owners through online forums and that led him to bringing his family on vacation here to ski last year and take in the clowder.

Snider said he decided to do a little more this year so he ended up trailing his 1958 Tucker 443 and made the trek back up here for his second show.

"We went on the trail ride yesterday and had a lot of fun," Snider said. "This is a really just a great group of guys to hang around with."