This year I can’t ski with Ramona for I was just liberated from a cast. Now while she skis, I sit in the Saddle Peak Lodge with my unactivated season pass and my PowerBook. I read and write. Occasionally I run across a great proposal. Here’s a winner being developed by Prof. Richard Wolff of Montana State University and Mr. Doug Roberts of Mid-Tech Inc. in Bozeman.

Building on global positioning techniques developed in precision agriculture and the military, it employs the latest in information technology and wireless communication networks to improve the efficiency, safety, and quality of skiing.

While many of us love to ski powder, we all need groomed runs. This requires grooming machines or “snowcats.” These tractors are expensive, about $175,000 each. They operate at night, often in whiteout conditions on treacherous terrain.

The operators face previously insurmountable problems. There is limited communication among the machines and with the base. They have sketchy information about the precise location of each machine and inaccurate knowledge of what has and has not been groomed. From the operators’ perspective, in a whiteout they can’t know where in the hell they are. I’ve rolled a crawler and a skidder in the woods and I promise going over isn’t fun. Imagine the prospect of tumbling down Bridger’s North Bowl in an eight-ton machine.

Here’s the solution. It has safety, conservation, and skiing quality dimensions. I’ll skip the technical details but offer an analogy.

Several years ago we wanted to improve forage production on our ranch. This required the application of fertilizer and seed on some severe slopes. I rode with the application truck to observe how they were applied. Using a GPS system, a centerline appeared on a dash-mounted screen. It told the driver if he was on course or to the left or right -- by inches! Even on steep side hills, he could correct a drift to either side.

Imagine upgrading and transferring this system to a ski hill and coordinating multiple machines. That’s what SNOWCATNET does. Light or dark, clear skies or blizzards, no difference. Amazing!

Here are some advantages. First, because the machines are employed more efficiently, fewer are needed to achieve the same grooming quality. Second, the grooming can be quite thorough. Knowing the precise location of each machine’s work cycle can ensure the entire ski area is covered without gaps or duplication. Third, since operators know their exact position on the mountain, e.g., on a black-diamond bowl, they minimize rollover risk. Fourth, diesel fuel consumption is reduced through lack of duplication. Fifth, all runs may be groomed more safely.

Once the wireless communications system is in place, each skier could be given a radio frequency ID tag. This has huge advantages. “Where’s my kid?” Here’s a true story of a friend, Jerry Johnson.

“When I was about 10 I was skiing by myself on the boundary at Lookout Pass. I twisted my knee and couldn’t ski out. My mother was worried when I didn’t show up after the lifts shut down. To make a long story short, they restarted the lifts and swept the hill and found me lying in the powder scared and cold. This, I suspect, happens more often than you might think.”

During the final sweep of the day, the ski patrol could account for everyone -- and find those astray and perhaps in danger. This capacity could reduce insurance liability costs and the worries of others. Once the system is developed and proven in one area, implementation elsewhere would be easy.

Technology often takes a bad rap. SNOWCATNET offers possibilities that seem unambiguously beneficial in terms of safety, conservation, and pleasure. I’m especially pleased that it emanates from MSU, which really is the University of the Yellowstone.

This idea is being tested locally with measurement equipment installed on some of Bridger Bowl’s groomers. Under Richard and Doug’s supervision, several MSU undergraduates just completed a careful study of radio networking in ski area terrain. They demonstrated the productive integration of GPS and radio technologies.

An entirely new high-tech business with global market opportunities could be launched from this embryonic work. Sometimes good things come together. I expect this to be one great case.