Some of the best flying in Alberta happens in the winter, with the chinook winds. Flying from our grass strip in the winter requires clearing the snow. The professional term for this is “Scope Creep”
3000′ long, ideally 160′ wide… This is 12 acres of snow, 5 hectares.
I started with a 72″ snowblower on the club 55hp Mahindra tractor. Drove me crazy, so slow. Time to get serious.Meet Greta. She’s an 1973 Canadian Forces Medium Wrecker, M816. Cummins 14L. I fabricated and installed this 12′ blade on when I was 19. Hasn’t run in many years, crane cable was fouled, but so so awesome.The problem with snowplowing – now you have huge piles of snow. Ok on your acreage, not okay at airports. Enter Gretchen, a 1998 Challenger 250. Armored for mulching trees in the boreal forest. The snowblower is a big Pronovost, rated for 450hp! 6000 lbs.Was quite a grunt for Greta to pick up the big blowerChanging tracks on Gretchen. The original tracks were shredded from driving over tree stumps. Got a nice worn out set from Ontario.
Casey and I attack a buried runwayMoving snow with a massive chinook arch to the west
Messing around in the field before getting to the runway. Gretchen eats a tire in the snowHandy having a crane, cleaning up the junkGreta smashed up an old travel trailer. Don’t do this, so much small debris to pick upSoaring is a crazy hobby
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 