If you saw what looked sort of like a small road grader packing the trail along Manitoba Hydro’s right-of-way south of Leaf Rapids over the winter — and it made you look twice — then what you saw was the Tri-Track Snow Grader.

Manitoba Hydro was so impressed with the results of this demonstration, says the Tri-Track’s developer, John L’Abbé of Leaf Rapids, that it hired him for a contract to pack a trail two lanes wide along its right-of-way south from Thompson to Paint Lake. “It’s performing well beyond my expectations,” he notes.

There’s nothing else like this made-in-Northern-Manitoba invention, says L’Abbé.

As its name indicates, the Tri-Track Snow Grader has three tracks. Two are on the back, and the third extends from the machine’s gooseneck in front. This design offers several advantages over snow grooming equipment currently on the market.

“The third track spreads out the weight of the machine quite a bit,” he explains. “No other machine can compact snow in the centre of the trail. It can pack the trail the full width of the machine. On soft ground you’ve got three tracks pulling instead of two, and there’s no snow left in the machine to hang it up,” L’Abbé adds.

L’Abbé has spent the last 10 years taking the Tri-Track Snow Grader from concept through to working prototype. He is the sole proprietor of Tri-Track International, but acknowledges the hard work he’s received from a couple of friends through the developmental phases.

Support received from Community Futures Northwest has also been instrumental in getting the venture off the ground. In addition to providing assistance to draft Tri-Track’s initial business plan, Community Futures Northwest purchased shares in Tri-Track International, providing equity in the company, L’Abbé explains.

Story by Avery Ascher