Google Street View Snowmobile Braves The Slopes For Google Maps Fans

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Think you can hide from Google Street View by camping in icy mountains, Abominable Snowman?  You may have to rethink that strategy with the Google Street View Snowmobile, which plows through slush terrains hoping to catch a glimpse of your snowy white hide.

Yep, that’s a snowmobile with a Street View rig duct taped to it, capturing the world of treacherous icy hills one unique snowflake at a time.  You can feel a little better, though, in knowing that they aren’t really using it to turn up evidence of your existence.  Instead, they outfitted the vehicle to get a top-to-bottom shot of the slopes at Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb, where the world’s best skiers and snowboarders will show off their wares at the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics.

The results, which are now available from Google Maps, are quite a sight, allowing ordinary mortals to experience the same view that streaking athletes will see during their runs.  You can stand 7,000 feet aboveground at the peak of the Whistler, watching right where the skiers will be jumping off.  From there, you can perform a virtual run downhill, viewing all the high-res images the Street View team managed to capture.

Video of the crew showing off their Google Street View Snowmobile below, right before the Abominable Snowman ate them.

[Google Street View Blog]