Snow grooming

A snow groomer for alpine slopes with plow, a surface finishing attachment for ski slopes, and a cable winch for grooming steep slopes
A snow groomer for cross-country trails with snow plow and attachments for the skate and classical lanes.
A groomed alpine skiing piste or trail
A groomed cross-country trail, showing corduroy for skate-skiing and classic tracks (left)

Snow grooming is the process of manipulating snow for recreational uses with a tractor, snowmobile, piste caterpillar, truck or snowcat towing specialized equipment. The process is used to maintain ski hills, cross-country ski trails and snowmobile trails by grooming (moving, flattening, rototilling, or compacting) the snow on them.[1] A variation of the technique is used to construct snow runways in Antarctica.

A snow groomer is usually employed to pack snow and improve skiing and snowboarding and snowmobile trail conditions. The resulting pattern on the snow is known as corduroy,[2] and is widely regarded as a good surface on which to ski or ride. Snow groomers can also move accumulated snow made by snow machines as part of a process, called "snow farming".

  1. ^ USSA Cross-Country Technical Handbook (PDF). U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. 2004. pp. 2–337.
  2. ^ Lockwood, Auguste, Corduroy for Groomed Trails, retrieved 2020-10-04