Slope View

April 18, 2010 7:43 AM

A crew from Google is capturing images of the Vail and Beaver Creek mountains for its Google Maps' Street View with its own snowmobile mounted with a special camera. Shortly before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February, Google decided to branch out to ski resorts, using a snowmobile to capture images of Whistler ski area. Vail and Beaver Creek are the first American ski resorts to be included in Street View.
posted by netbros (9 comments total)

NO GOOGLES IN THE WILDERNESS!
posted by parmanparman at 7:46 AM on April 18, 2010

But I thought Google was supposed to be green? Don't snow machines blow off much more smog than a regular car because of the two-stroke engine?
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:19 AM on April 18, 2010

Incidentally, I believe that's why Sarah Palin is so big on them.
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:21 AM on April 18, 2010

A guy I knew in undergrad had family who owned a whole stable of snowmobiles. About 3/4 of them had newer 4-stroke engines. They were Yamaha fans; I don't know about the rest of the manufacturers. This was also 5 years ago; don't know what the current situation is...
posted by Alterscape at 9:02 AM on April 18, 2010

In what sense is a ski resort wilderness?
posted by klanawa at 10:00 AM on April 18, 2010

"But I thought Google was supposed to be green? Don't snow machines blow off much more smog than a regular car because of the two-stroke engine?"

Most new snowmobiles are 4 strokes because of emissions.
posted by Mitheral at 12:30 PM on April 18, 2010

Hmmm, no Utah resorts. Snow must be too powdery for Google's snowmobile.
posted by pashdown at 5:01 PM on April 18, 2010

I live in Wisconsin. I expect soon that Google will be providing Lake Bottom View for those late-season snowmobilers.
posted by dhartung at 11:07 PM on April 18, 2010

World's Largest Beaver Dam Is Visible From Space
posted by homunculus at 12:51 AM on May 7, 2010