Our Snow-Vans...

The roadways within the interior of Yellowstone National Park are not plowed during the winter season. In order to travel to the Yellowstone Yurt Camp and to the many cross-country ski and snowshoe trail-heads around the park, Yellowstone Expeditions uses tracked 10 passenger vans.

The normal wheels and axles of a standard passenger van are removed and in their place is attached a track conversion kit. This allows for the comfort of a modern van with heater, large viewing windows, comfortable ride, and low noise level in an over-snow situation. All over-snow vehicular travel in Yellowstone Park is restricted to the unplowed roadways. No oversnow vehicles may travel off of the established snow roads. This leaves all of the Yellowstone backcountry available to the cross-country skier and snowshoer.

These van conversions place over 40 square feet of track and 20 square feet of ski surface on the ground. This results in a ground pressure of less than one pound per square inch. That is about the same pressure that a cross country skier places on the snow while skiing.

A few of our snowcoaches use four rubber tracks for traveling through the snow. These snowcoaches are best when the snow conditions are low, with occasional thin spots on the snow roads.