Jeez, put a little promise of blood in the title and our Cousins Kiwi and Down Under are in the hunt! Truth be known, the wood we use for heat up here is easily split by hand if you read the knots. If it comes down to getting a splitter, Hydraulic wins the choice. The ski resort I worked at is Kirkwood, a bit southwest of Lake Tahoe. It can snow rather vigorously there at times, and it offers some of the best skiing to be found anywhere. I dont know if they still do it, but they usually hold a ski race on the 4th of july (middle of summer here mates.) Back in 83 an avalanche took out part of the lodge and some other buildings, killing some people and buring one young woman for about a week. It is serious business and 3 feet per hour is not unheard of. They had a couple of 966 cats with blades, a Norden Blower for the front of the 966, D6 crawler, a D8 crawler and most fun of all, a OshKosh 4 wheel steer blower that I think was surplus equipment from the Byrd expedition to the south pole back in the 20's. How much fun is snow removal? I was clearing a parking lot after a 6 foot dump in preparation for the weekend crowd. It looked like 8 acres of sugar without a lump. Usually if a car was buried you could see a little bump with a tip of the radio antennae sticking up like an anemic periscope. Usually an abandoned heap belonging to a partying lift attendent, so just stay a few feet away with the blade and make a island. When push comes to shove, after 14 hours of relentless plowing and a deadline approaching, the Cat gets stuffed into second gear, the throttle stays on the floor and the white stuff gets shoved for all its worth. Then a Buick comes popping up out of the snow like a submarine clawing for air. I barely felt it hit since the car weighed considerably less than the blade, much less the Cat. I did not have time to sit around feeling sorry for it, so I left it upright in its nest of snow, headlights towards the sky. Some jobs I'd do for free, yet I never handed the paycheck back. But I digress... They did have a little Kubota, one of the first I really got a good look at, I think it was a 6100 or 7100, I can not be sure, with a loader. I was very impressed because it had the humble duty of serving whoever could figure out how to start it. Needless to say it got little maintainence, and was abused in every possible way ( not unlike the idiot with the rubber ball that screwed up the steel hammer ) I kept my eye on the kubota, it was everywhere and did not seem to have a regular home at the resort. It would get used until it broke down and then sit abandoned until maintanence came to rescue it. I was impressed and saddened that it was resurrected time after time only to be subjected to more abuse. It was not my place to chastise anyone to correct the situation, and apparently nobody else did either. At any rate it occured to me that with careful use and maintainence, a Kubota would serve long and well. So here I am some years later, waiting for my
L4610 and attendent attachments. It has been a long wait, but I know it will be worthwhile. I will send some pics with implements as soon as possible. Regards
