SummitPost.org

Fortmental, could you make those images a little larger?

Redwic wrote:To "Gimpilator": Apparently, everyone here is a comedian or thinks this is a joke. Perhaps it would be best to re-post this tomorrow (i.e. not on April 1).

"Very logical," exclaimed Mister Spock!

MoapaPk wrote:

Redwic wrote:
The tracks were seen crossing basically west-east in the open gully located SE of Goblin Mountain.

They are contour lines. If you follow them long enough, you will find a number indicating the elevation.

I really did LOL at that

An owl dragging its feet would eventually leave wing marks in the snow. A weather balloon dragging a payload would eventually spin. Neither possibility would leave such a consistent track. Their elvation would vary with wind speed and direction which would alter the depth of the track...

The skiing squirrel is the most plausible answer so far.

OR, it could be a radio controlled snowmobile.

There is some more detail in one of the two tracks; I have blown up the contrast in Photoshop so you can see it better:



Could still be something being dragged behind a flying object, e.g. some sort of axle with two wheels, and then the extra lines you see in the high contrast images are the wires touching down temporarily when the 'thing' is going slow.

Have you got more pictures? Maybe if I give these a similar treatment they might reveal some more..

Rick, nice job bringing out more detail. Send me you email address in a PM and I'll give you the rest of the shots.

Redwic wrote:

kakakiw wrote:First thought was a skiing squirrel, but considering I have seen tracks like this, I have to say it's more than likely a piece of vegetation that rolled downhill.

And also up steep slopes, down steep slopes, up gentle slopes, down gentle slopes, and side-traversing slopes? I don't think so!

Maybe something like an empty bear canister or similar that could roll down hill or be blown up hill, and light enough that the friction from the snow would prevent it from rolling back down hill when the wind let up. Generally moving in the direction of the wind.

Looks like backcountry ski tracks.

Cross Country skiing Marmot.

These photos have been bugging me. What the heck made these tracks?

Mark Straub wrote:Looks like backcountry ski tracks.

Case closed. Good Job Mark!

Could it be anything pushed by the wind

Jakester wrote:These photos have been bugging me. What the heck made these tracks?

Mark Straub wrote:Looks like backcountry ski tracks.

Case closed. Good Job Mark!

Though they don't look 100% like cross country ski tracks to me (e.g. no pole holes) it's still the most likely reason so far - just because the pics were taken when the snow was soft doesn't mean it's always been soft. The tracks could have been made when the snow was frozen over and hard.

No, they are much to thin, skinny, to be cross-country ski tracks. Also, they look pretty fresh to me. A mystery still. . .

Why couldn't they be done by very short and narrow skis


Carving tracks