Arctic Trucks takes to the slopes in the Canadian Rockies
“Explore Without Limits”
It’s not just a snappy marketing motto, it’s our DNA and the philosophy that guides everything we build. When a customer asks the question, “How far can we take it?”, we have to explore and find out.
At Arctic Truck’s first year at the Canada West Ski Areas Association’s annual tradeshow and conference this year, we were asked the question; “Can your trucks drive up a ski hill in the Canadian Rockies?”
On May 20th, we set off to find out the answer.
Day 1
The Arctic Trucks team left Edmonton, AB at the crack of dawn in our Ford F-350 AT44, comfortably keeping up with traffic and adding to the thousands of miles on and off road that this truck had logged. Our team arrived at Marmot Basin in Jasper National Park just in time to see the rain turn into the first flakes of a spring snowfall. We met the Marmot Basin team, and our mountain guide for the day; Jake Yuill-Kirkwood. We only needed to fuel up and to adjust tire pressures before making our ascent. From the comfort of the AT44’s F350 Lariat cabin, we lowered tire pressure to 20psi on the giant 44”x19” Nokian/Arctic Trucks tires.
Departing Parking Lot 4, we ventured up the twists and turns of Old Road towards the Mid-Mountain Chalet. The Conditions were wet as it had been raining for a few days, and temperature hovered around 10 degrees Celsius. The snow and ice had mostly melted off Old Road, and we were able to easily navigate up the rocky trail.
Jake found the ride of the AT44 to be incredibly smooth when compared to the stock trucks they use during the summer months on this section of the mountain. He also noted that our tires left almost no tracks on the damp trail and did not dig in at all.
The mid-mountain chalet is at an elevation of 1,980m/6,494ft. The temperature dropped to 5 degrees Celsius and the rain was turning into wet snow. From the chalet, we drove up the Chalet Cat Track, which is normally used by snowmobiles and snow grooming equipment. The trail at this elevation was now covered with loosely packed wet and heavy snow. At this time of year, this area is only accessible via snowmobile…and our AT44!
We turned onto the Basin Run and continued our ascent up the mountain. It was now snowing and the ground was almost fully covered. This trail is very uneven and prone to damage at this time of year. Besides the snow pack, there were large ice build ups with wet and slushy patches. We crawled through this entire section with minimal effort, adjusting tire pressure lower only slightly as the snow cover increased.
From Basin Run, we made a turn onto the Marmot Run Cat Track, a maintenance trail that has never been traversed by a wheeled vehicle in snow conditions. This section of the mountain is much steeper and off-camber. From Basin Run, we drove up the S-Turns Trail, which had a mix of deep snow and rocky terrain. Finally, we followed the Basin Traverse to the upper station of the Canadian Rockies Express Quad Chairlift. No frayed nerves, no close calls, and no professional stunt driver needed, just lots of traction and stability.
We paused to take in the views and take a few pictures. Our break gave the weather just enough time to catch up to us, and the persistent drizzle turned into white-out snow conditions. Time to drive down!
Arriving back at the Marmot Basin’s main building, we used CTIS to inflate the tires back to 35PSI to prepare for the next task!
“I can now see the true application in the ski and mountain industry for Arctic Trucks. Not only for the ability to travel through difficult conditions, but for the potential year-round applications to access areas that would normally be restricted due to environmental concerns.” – Jake Yuill-Kirkwood
After our handshakes and goodbyes, we set off for the second part of our adventure. For this trip we left Jasper National Park and headed three hours south to Banff National Park.
Day 2
We arrived at Banff Sunshine Resort late in the afternoon. After a beautiful sunny drive, it looked like the weather had followed us. Shortly after arriving, the clouds rolled in, and after the 10 minute gondola ride to the Village and our hotel, the snow had started. The ski season at Sunshine Village wrapped up just a couple of days before our arrival, so conditions were still in full ski mode. Lots of snow!
After a good night’s rest, we met up with our hosts for the day; Kristian Haagaard, VP of Operations & Maintenance, and Greg Corden, Business Analyst. Kristian and Greg gave us an insightful introduction to their operations and discussed their winter mobility challenges at the resort. We provided a brief introduction to our trucks but really the action would speak louder than our words; we hopped in the AT44 and set off for the slope.
We began on the relatively flat Slush Cup trail, leading to Rock Isle Road. It was a beautiful sunny day, 8 degrees Celsius, with plenty of snow. The base elevation of the resort is approximately 2,200m/7,200ft. We stopped to have a closer look at how the truck was compacting the snow compared to the groomers and snowmobiles, and noticed very little difference. Despite the size and weight, we weren’t sinking. Yet.
We turned left and motored up Highway 1. At this point our tire pressures were lowered to 15 psi and we engaged 4WD low to prepare for the hill climb. Confidence got the best of us, and we ventured off the groomed track and sunk the AT44 to the bottom of the doors. We were stuck!
Our guides were ready to call for backup, but we had a different plan. Two small shovels and 5 minutes of digging out the front wheels and around the front axle, and we were on our way. By lowering the tire pressure to 5PSI, and providing a small clearing in front of the tires, we were able to drive back up on top of the fresh now, and continued through the area, uphill, until we were back on the trail.
This event was a great demonstration of AT44’s game changing capabilities. With the ability to adapt to a wide range of snow conditions, and ultimately the ability to self-recover, we saved ourselves time and saved the time and expense of having other staff and equipment support us. Had we known how deep the snow was, we could have preempted the shovels and simply rolled over this patch at a lower tire pressure.
From our little excursion, it was smooth sailing up the steep Green Run to the top of the Super Angel Express Luxury chairlift, at almost 2,750m/9,000ft in elevation. The Arctic Trucks AT44 is now officially the first wheeled vehicle to drive to this part of the mountain!
After a photo op with the breathtaking Canadian Rockies as a backdrop, we headed back down the hill on Green Run, turned onto Spring Hill, and ended where we started, ready for a long drive back to Edmonton. One vehicle, one set of tires, from the city streets to the top of a ski slope, and back. This was the versatility we wanted to demonstrate.
Thank you!
Arctic Trucks would like to sincerely thank the teams at Marmot Basin and Banff Sunshine Resort for welcoming us to your facilities and giving us access to your terrain! Thank you for your time and hospitality!
