I'm with WyoBoy.
Many of you that do not understand or disagree about the narrowness of the sled simply do not sidehill on the degree of slope that some of us do.
I'm on an M7 now but will be buying my first new sled next year. I love Arctic Cat. I'm buying a Pro. The Proclimb simply cannot cut sidehills and maintain control through the trees on super steep slopes.
The body panels wash out, you can't counter steer enough to maintain your line, the bars are too high(plus I HATE the adjustable post. I cannot stand the slop.) Tunnel width goes hand in hand with panel width. On the steep stuff, it doesnt allow the track to sink into the hill, it just washes it out. Skis are too narrow too but that's fixable.
I did like the sled for its front suspension when I rode it in CO this year. I do not know if the spindles have much to do with technical riding though, didn't have time to really try and notice. They definitely do plow through the snow a lot of the time, but so do all sleds. The Pro spindles are a little wider with close a-arms so snow might actually be restricted more through that area than on the M with it skinnier spindle and wider a-arms.
Polaris uses the same bulkhead all around too. Cat SHOULD have copied Pol and used different foot stirrups for the mtn and flatland sleds. Then design a panel that sucks up to the frame as much as possible. With a narrower foot stirrup on the mtn segment, they could match that with a reg tunnel and narrower boards. And yeah a tapered tunnel is great for those that boondock and play in the meadows all day. I'm on one running board dang near all the time when I'm actually "riding" and not just messing around at the bottom.
Let me add that I have found that the majority of people do not ride like this. My whole riding group does. We were in CO for 5 days of riding and not once did we line up any sleds and race them up a hill or on the flats. We also drove right past all the meadows open stuff. Once Cat gets the belt issues solved, this sled will be great for the majority of riders. Just not this guy.