early 900 king cat report

 AmSnow's King Cat is stealthy. Oh, yeah, the mountains in the West are filled with numerous vitamin-C orange King Cats. But, not ours - it is black. It's totally incognito with a "I-will-tear-the-mountain-in-half-and-bust-up-your-whatever-sled attitude."

Bret Rasmussen, Mountain Magic Sports, Preston, Idaho, took delivery of AmSnow's and Arctic Cat's PR black and green grave digger-ish King Cat and gave it the attitude mentioned above.

From AmSnow's first ride, December 20, on the slopes and the deep near Preston, Idaho, the King is all that AmSnow predicted it would be when we rode the prototype in McCall, Idaho, this past March. It floats. It carves. And it climbs. The 15-inch wide, 162-inch long track with its 2.25-inch reversed curled lugs lofts the sled as if on a cloud. This is as good as it gets.

While tearing down the mountains on this Saturday, I rolled up to Rasmussen, as he sat drinking a Cherry Pepsi on a 900 1M, and announced, "Bret, I need more mountain."

"We all do this year with this sled and with that track."

I shot back, "Shouldn't Cat design and build mountains to match the King's ability?"

Said Rasmussen with a grin and chuckle, "Yes, yes they should."

Throughout the day, Rasmussen and this author made adjustments to the carbs' air and fuel mixture settings for crisp throttle response at varying altitudes - and crisp it was.

Prior to this ride, Rasmussen adjusted the King's rear suspension with some Holz Racing Products- and Mountain Magic Sports-designed rear suspension riser blocks and scissor extensions, all to give the rear skid an inch more travel and increased front end pressure with the limiter strap fully extended. The King Cat is tame through the corners with minimal ski lift, and more assertive when breaking down a steep slope.

In sum, from what AmSnow knows early in this mountain season, is that the 900 1M King Cat is the mountain sled that hunts and claws the others' down.
We expect to have more to report as the season progresses.