Nordic Pulse

Today is a day of mourning at Crosscut. As many of you know, Arctic Cat, which manufactures our beloved Bearcat 7000XT snowmobiles, is closing its manufacturing facilities in both Thief River Falls and St. Cloud, MN. The owner has stated that these closures are likely to be permanent if they are unable to sell the business.

Over the past several years, I’ve made many fond memories with our Bearcat 7000XTs. Whether it’s watching the first light hit the Bridgers while grooming the narrow gauge, the joy of ripping around with our team to set up for a ski race, the time one of them caught on fire, or spilling oil all over the garage floor trying to drain not one, but two inconveniently located oil pans these machines inexplicably have. Sitting in a snowcat gives you a lot of time to think, but some of my most profound moments of reflection have come while trailering these machines back and forth to the dealer in Four Corners for repairs and warranty claims. A journey from Bridger Canyon that takes a good two plus hours round trip.

Now, contrary to what you might be thinking, it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows with these sleds. Are they the heaviest and most cumbersome snowmobiles ever manufactured? Probably. Do they get horribly stuck in even the slightest amount of new snow? Certainly. But are they a cornerstone of our operation here at Crosscut? Absolutely!

Almost eight years ago, a group of Nordic skiers banded together to purchase the Bohart Nordic Center and the adjacent Crosscut Ranch property, saving this land from development and starting this non-profit, year-round recreation center we all love dearly. I believe our Nordic skiing community can band together again—perhaps with other Nordic skiers across the country and the world—and save, if not Arctic Cat, the Bearcat 7000XT model specifically. The manufacturing rights to which are certainly available at a bargain rate right now. At a moment when our society couldn’t feel more divided, I believe we can come together and save the Bearcat 7000XT! If not for the sake of Nordic skiing, then at least so future generations can know the unique joy of removing the entire intake manifold to drain that confusing engine oil reservoir that is separate from the actual engine.