Far from wilderness, skating most often occurs at the base of resorts or on frozen golf courses, where snowcats belch clouds of diesel as they groom.
We laughed so hard in the snowcat — the machine that grooms trails at ski resorts — that our stomachs hurt, and then charged hard through the untracked backcountry snow behind our guides.
The Can-Am Defender, when equipped with Can-Am’s Apache Backcountry LT Track System, morphs into your own personal snowcat.
We went up the mountain by SUV, helicopter, snowcat, and snowmobile.