For the ones who are not bravehearts and yet have their ambitions of cavorting on snow firmly in place, snowmobiling could well be the available alternative.
For the ones who are not bravehearts and yet have their ambitions of cavorting on snow firmly in place, snowmobiling could well be the available alternative.
For the uninitiated, a snowmobile is a vehicle, which plies on snow with the help of skis and rubber tracks.
Designed specifically to glide on snow, the vehicle doesn’t need roads or rails. One just needs to mount on a snowmobile and with a little care can enjoy frolicking on snow.
It might appear astonishing, but snowmobile has been around for some time now. When it first arrived in 1916, it was not for enjoyment purposes but used for rural mail delivery through the thick snow.
Over the years it has been modelled and remodelled to suit the tastes and utilities of that age.
The many applications of snowmobiling over the years have been as ambulances, Canada post vehicles, winter “school buses”, forestry machines and even army vehicles in World War II.
Though these were the cumbersome kinds, not easy to manoeuvre and bulky vehicles and efforts were on to compress its size.
It was only in the year 1959, when the engines became lighter and smaller than ever before that snowmobiles, as we know them today, came into existence.
The initial reaction to snowmobiles was tremendous. Between the year 1971 to 1973, they sold a total of two million machines, all used for different purposes.
Though other snow sports like snowboarding and skiing also proliferated, snowmobiling was for the ones who liked their adventure but played it safe.
Despite its claim as a sport that is less prone to accident, it is not without its share of unfortunate incidents.
Mostly because, the snowmobile can achieve speeds up to 190 km per hour. As a result it depends solely on the driver to avoid any untoward incidents.
There has been, however, a certain qualm against the sport and the reason is environmental.
Environmentalists argue that most snowmobiles, powered by two stroke engines are an environmental hazard at such high altitudes where the supply of oxygen is already limited.
Following their criticism, more and more snowmobiles are switching to four stroke
engines, which are less polluting.
—Abhishek Ghosh
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