Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Best machine for use in snow

I have a cabin pretty far off the beaten path in Montana and I went out there for the first time in winter last month. I promptly got my truck stuck when the snow got deep and the trail got steep. I now know that the way to the cabin in the winter is via snow machine or on foot (snowshoe, which is how I made it the three miles from my stuck truck).

I don't know a thing about snow machines other than I've ridden them a few times. But I definitely need to buy one for future winters, especially since I plan to go to the cabin for hunting seasons and there's snow on the ground then.

This is a pure utility purchase...I don't care about going fast or racing the thing. I want it to be reliable, efficient and capable of pulling something about the weight of a field dressed bull elk. The snow can be pretty deep and ungroomed and the trail is basically a ranch/logging road that can get steep.

Anyone have favorite brands or models or, barring that, anything to definitely avoid?

Alternatively, can a UTV/ATV be set up with the right tires/chains for snow use? I don't want to try to convert one to tracked, but if they can be made to work ok in snow that may be powdery and a few feet deep (up fairly steep trails with very little other traffic), I'd seriously consider it.

forget the atv/utv with chains, your truck will do better.....

Yup - Atvs high center too easily in snow.

Second hand snow machine opinion for what its worth. Have a cousin that that works for NYDEC on trail crews. They use Ski Doo Scandics. He really liked the pre 2017 machines for a trail work/maintenance sled in the Adirondacks. Does not like the newest version - too heavy for one person to get unstuck.

Rhino...........

Snowmachine. Air cooled. I rode trails hunting and ice fishing on a 500 Polaris and my Artic Cat 440 Bearcat. Look for a long track machine. Older machines are pretty simple to keep running and work on. I really liked my Bearcat, it was slow but reliable and pretty much unstoppable if you were doing work or trail type riding and not trying to high mark or mountain ride in 8 feet of fluffy snow.

A UTV with a set of tracks looks great but I've never read anything really good about them. That's besides the $6000 price for the kit.

Yep, wheelers suck in any decent amount of snow.



Tikka, that ain't enough snow to test a fricken bicycle!

And I like a full cab with heater.....

If you want to use a wheeler in much snow, you'd better have a winch on each end and carry a lot of extra rope.

Where you been ?? Henry Ford made the perfect machine for you in 1929 !!

I haven't seen that old video in years. That's saying 'screw the snow'.

Tucker sno-cats

If the sky's the limit, take a look at the ski slope grooming tractors. Those crazy things are just that - crazy. Take the front blade off and they'll climb about anything.

The pistenbullys are pretty expensive, but you can buy decent older grooming tractors cheaper thenyou can a new snowmobile !! Older tucker,Bombardier, thiokol, snowtrac snow groomers can be a lot of fun for the whole family.

Argos with tracks work well (18" wide tracks) that I've seen and a friend in Colorado has the older Polaris 6x6 with tracks on the rear two tires, on each side, and I can tell you that thing is about unstoppable on hard packed or fresh powder on about any grade. Used it twice to drag out high country December elk..

The atvs/utvs with tracks are for sure expensive, but they are pretty dang capable. A number of friends have them around here and they don't even blink at drifts or deep snow. Plus you could haul quite a bit with them. They are easy to put on. Again it is the cost that is a big deal.

I don't know much about snow machines, but I doubt they'd do real well dragging a bull elk around. Maybe on a groomed packed trail.

If you just needed to get in and out you could buy a real nice snow machine for less than the cost of just tracks for an atv.

How well tracks work on a UTV depends at least in part of what kind of UTV. I have a Polaris RZR. It's 4x4 but the fronts don't engage until the rears slip. With tracks, unless you get in some nasty stuff to get the slippage, you'll be pushing non-powered fronts around. That has to kill the power.

OTOH, I've never had tracks on it so maybe it works better than it sounds.

I had wondered about that. Talked with a manufacture rep (Camso) and asked about the Polaris system. I don't know exactly why, but apparently it is not an issue - especially in snow - maybe there is enough slip going on in snow pretty much all the time that it doesn't matter.

What you do loose with tracks is speed and gas mileage/range.

In normal use my RZR gets about 15 mpg for a 100 mile range on a tank. I wonder what tracks would do to that.

A snowmobile????

Ski Doo Skandic

Yamaha VK540

Arctic Cat Bearcat.

Those are utility sleds. Hauling and pulling machines.


A UTV with tracks does okay too, if the snow is harder.

If you don’t believe a utility sled will pull an elk out go up and search some of Las and Klik’s threads. They generally drag out at least a moose apiece each year as well as caribou. Waterrat has a good pic of monster bull in a sled up in the best caliber for moose thread. Quarter them up and put them in a plastic sled and get going.

The guy I bought my old Bearcat from had used it primarily for freighting firewood out.

my buddy has a polaris ranger 900 with tracks, last weekend we went through 30" of fluffy snow down a power line cut with ZERO problem, might as well have been driving on a plowed road. He bought them for ice fishing, he keeps a plow on the front, but doesnt bother using it except to move snow off the spot he wants to fish, that thing will go anywhere an climb any thing.

When I was looking at getting a cabin that would require a several mile winter approach a track was in the running. A decent used one will set you back a bit more than one new snowmobile, but less than two and you've got a heated cabin to boot.

The problem with putting tracks on atv's is they cost a fortune, the drivetrain isn't designed for the additional load, and you'll get terribly mileage. You can't beat a utility snowmobile for getting around in the snow.

I've gone through two feet of snow with my Rokon because the front wheel is as wide as the engine, it doesn't high side. That was before I put chains on my second one and with those taller 15" and chains I'm sure that it would have done even better. Now I like the 12" wheels. It doesn't go through deep snow fast, but it keeps going. Weight on the bike is better than pulling weight in deep snow. A buddy does have that track kit on his Polaris and likes them for ice fishing.

I drove one of these grooming ski slopes a few years back. They are practically unstoppable. I worked for a small resort with a tight budget and the groomers had a gazzilion hours on them and were a maintenance nightmare.
You may be able to purchase them cheap used but they will likely be worn out.