Chopper Pull?

jph3 · Jan 28, 2008

I saw some discussions on this, but it was all in BC.

I have a friend, and his new D8 163 got away from him on a sidehill... took a nosedive straight down about 350 yards... into an aspen grove. Not good!

Anyway, he is pretty deep into a drainage, and we assume he might not be able to make it out, even in the Spring.

Has anyone ever used a chopper to pull a sled? Any recommendations? Costs?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Snowmark · Jan 28, 2008

pull

pal of mine in Iowa had two choppers and a crane retrieve and 8 wheel drive tractor from an unbelievable mudbog......almost $250,000, which is what the tractor costs to begin with.

duke1n · Jan 28, 2008

Come-along and a few hundred feet of rope

Snowmark · Jan 28, 2008

pull it out

oops, I misread......I've done similar with a come-along, just takes some time....

BOOFIT · Jan 28, 2008

These work really good. http://www2.northerntool.com/product/809.htm

alrevedup · Jan 28, 2008

BOOFIT said:
These work really good. http://www2.northerntool.com/product/809.htm

That winch does wonders! One just like it pulled my sled out of a 120 yard deep revine with very little effort. I would have bet big money that it was not enough tool for the job. It was.

We put a thick branch through the ski loops and attached the winch rope (It required a special rope) to the branch. the winch was roped to a tree at the top and away we went. Thought it would be a good idea to help the winch with the sled. We ran the sled and hit the throttle to "help". Its did'nt help! It screws up the rope around the winch. It was best to just remove the belt and let the winch work.

Definately worth every penny.

jph3 · Jan 28, 2008

I wonder if anyone rents those? I will check around.

I figure the come-along is an easy solution as well. Have a buddy that runs cable for zip-line tours, and he has a large one rated for 5000lbs... Should be plenty of power to pull... We just have to figure out where to go with it. The grade on 3 sides looks is too steep to really even crawl out of.

We'll see... I'll make sure to take pictures to post as I am sure it will be interesting.

Kong · Jan 29, 2008

Just really go prepared. Ropes to anchor and lower yourself. Pulley/snatch blocks.

Ability to tie it off on the side of the ravine. If you have some rock climber friends rent a sled or borrow and take one or two with you. They really know how to rig up and get down there and back.

The winch really works. We had a guy in our club who had a portable and a couple of batteries and they got a sled out of a similar situation.

Good luck.

PJ-Hunter · Jan 29, 2008

PM Bushmaster. I believe that he recently pulled a sled out of a deep drainage using a 3:1 or 4:1 combination. Takes a long time but it's better than the alternative. Somebody will get down there and strip the thing. We had that happen top a poor fellow at Rabbit Ears Pass!

bushy · Jan 29, 2008

We used 300 feet of climing rope and a couple of 2 wheel pulley blocks to get 50 foot pulls using another sled to make the pulls. If you can make it work it's quick. Set up the block and tackle with as much rope as you can find (200+ foot rope or more) and anchor at the top of the hill. Attach another long tow rope to the sled and attach to the block/tackle at the top. Now use a sled to provide the pull power. Non stretchy climing rope probably better. If you can make it work it's probably the fastest way. You can probably fashion up some kind of snow anchor to bury if you need to. A 2 foot square of plywood with 2X4 frame buried several feet deep and angled right could work?

milehighassassin · Jan 29, 2008

Warn makes a snowmobile winch:
http://www.truckstuffusa.com/warnsnowmobilewinches.html

ARTIC CAT BUM · Jan 29, 2008

Flow'n Out

Yeah I had to fly one out it was $1500.00 in Idaho..It's only money you'll make more...

jph3 · Jan 30, 2008

I think we will try the come-along and rope combo... We are going up to do some recon work, and then get a team together once we have the best route.

Thanks for all the advice!

Coldfinger · Jan 30, 2008

I bought a Maasdam come-a-long a few years ago that has an endless pull, as long as your rope is, because it doesn't wind up on the spool. 1,500# rating. Was around $100 with 100' of rope but you could supply your own rope in any length you can find. Here is one site with info http://www.hooverfence.com/tools/rope_pullers.htm

jdog1 · Feb 1, 2008

We used a atv winch and a car battery once to haul a sled up about 200 yards of steep hill. Worked great!

skibreeze · Feb 1, 2008

Coldfinger said:
I bought a Maasdam come-a-long a few years ago that has an endless pull, as long as your rope is, because it doesn't wind up on the spool. 1,500# rating. Was around $100 with 100' of rope but you could supply your own rope in any length you can find. Here is one site with info http://www.hooverfence.com/tools/rope_pullers.htm

This would take a week cranking on it to get the sled out.

I'd buy the gas powered winch or use the atv winch/battery combo with jumpers from sled to help w/ current flow.

Skidor · Feb 2, 2008

Look at the links for a Z-drag. I think it's what Bushmaster was talking about- we use it in the whitewater world with great success. I've hauled a few canoes out of a river, 12 passenger van out of a ditch and have heard of a Chevy 1500 pulling a water tender out of mud using a 10k Warn Winch and a Z-drag.

http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/guille/wiki.pl?action=browse&diff=1&id=Z_Drag

http://nocpaddlingschool.blogspot.com/2007/06/mythical-z-drag.html

diamonddave · Feb 5, 2008

Bushmaster said:
We used 300 feet of climing rope and a couple of 2 wheel pulley blocks to get 50 foot pulls using another sled to make the pulls. If you can make it work it's quick. Set up the block and tackle with as much rope as you can find (200+ foot rope or more) and anchor at the top of the hill. Attach another long tow rope to the sled and attach to the block/tackle at the top. Now use a sled to provide the pull power. Non stretchy climing rope probably better. If you can make it work it's probably the fastest way. You can probably fashion up some kind of snow anchor to bury if you need to. A 2 foot square of plywood with 2X4 frame buried several feet deep and angled right could work?

We did this identical thing last year. 2 full days getting the sled out of 2000 feet of altitude with a 350 foot and 100 foot section of rope, shackles, block and tackle. But be careful, if you don't have the right tree/rope length combination and have to tie rope together, than make sure somebody watches the knot closer than we did. It makes for an abrupt stop when the knot locks at the pulley and rider almost gets his neck ripped off from bars,windshield and hood. The consensus is next time, this dude will hire the chopper. But it's a slick way of going full throttle down hill with the towing sled.

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Chopper Pull?

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