Half a century of technical preparation of ski pistes in the Tatras

How were ski pistes prepared in the High Tatras 50 years ago? How did the first snow groomers there look like?

Were the first Ratrac machines more expensive than Škoda 100 cars?

We have taken a look at two machines that mark the history of technical piste preparation in the Slovak high mountains. On one hand, there is a more than 50-year-old Ratrac SW, on the other hand, we have a top-class Prinoth Leitwolf of the second generation. We asked a man who had been among the first snow groomer drivers in the High Tatras to get into an aged Ratrac, which we had discovered in the yard of its rescuer in the village of Ždiar, as well as into a Prinoth machine in the Tatranská Lomnica resort.

How did he feel in the super modern machine that he had never driven before? Watch our “From Ratrac to Prinothor half a century of technical preparation of ski pistes in the High Tatras” video.