You can use vim-addon-manager instead of pathogen. It also uses a directory similar to a node, but when you call
ActivateAddons snipMate
If snipmate has not been installed, VAM will install it and then the source so that you do not need to restart. You will have to add the vam#ActivateAddons() call with 'snipMate' to the vimrc arguments though.
source share