Strategies for Logging In Deep Snow

George, I don’t have a good suggestion, I am getting ready to go out today and I am sure just moving around will be a good piece of work. I think an arch on skies like Mark and Donn have would be nice in these conditions, and a scoot would get the logs up a foot or so. I am sure it is harder for the animals to work in as well. I suspect I will just cut and buck and let them lay. It looks cold through the next week but this is February, a good thaw can’t be too far away.

Bullin’…..

Part of my strategy is to clear as many of my trails as possible ahead of the game, and then travel them even if I’m not cutting there yet. I have been doing that for the last few weeks, and this week opened up two different areas. Regardless, this snow hasn’t packed well, so the going was really tough.

Had a load on the bobsled that was pushing a good wave of snow almost hip deep around the hind legs of the horses. Had to stop and shovel it out several times until we got to a good downhill. I just keep going doing what needs to be done. Sometimes it’s futile, but most f the time I eventually get a trail with less snow that is packed and frozen.

Tomorrow and Monday sound like thaws, so it would be good to skid then to pack and freeze the trails.

I am using the bobsled on a very long downhill skid, and the cart on a short uphill skid. Both have their shortcomings.

As George said the cart is more difficult to maneuver than without 2 feet of snow, but still handy, and when the main trail freezes will work well.

Twitching with the team is a lot easier, but then I’m on the ground floundering in the snow…. 6 of 1, 1/2 doz of the other.

Either way, in deep snow I usually work in reverse to my usual method. I start by cutting close trees, and felling them toward the area where I intend to work next. This way the fall will pack some snow, and skidding the trunk out will rough out a trough I can use for a trail. Sometimes I have to end up moving more brush, but 6 of 1…..

I also am not opposed to shoveling. I keep a good snow shovel with me anyway, and have to shovel a lot around stumps, so sometimes it’s just as easy to shovel some of the area where I am working. This is especially true where I am rolling logs on sleds.

There is a lot of work to working animals. No matter how you cut it, there will be certain aspects to the work that just seem like too much for reason. Like I said, bulling. Not mindless, but just plain working hard. Me, and the horses. Often it is hard to justify by the return in income, but it gets the work done. These are the challenging situations that build character in ourselves, our animals, and our relationship to them.

When the sled was bogging down the other day, my horses were done. Or at least they wanted not to try. I just kept shoveling snow and giving them as much advantage as I could. Then I’d ask, and they would try. Once they got success, they would go for it. Then we got a rhythm. Pull for 50 feet, find a good place to stop, they resting while I shoveled, then pull again. You wouldn’t have thought they were the same horses of a few minutes before. By the time we have gone several hundred feet they knew what to expect and just fell into it. This is from the back of my lot… 1/2 mile, so I felt this was the best way…. it was going to take a lot of work either way. Luckily there is a good portion that is very steep downhill which gave them great advantage.

Good luck, and have fun, Carl

I have done like Carl does , run trails a head of time . That is the first thing I do on a job in the winter time is make my trails. I also run the cart every were it will go so I have walking trails and something hard to run on even if it snows. The more trails in the snow the better . And I also fall my trees in a fashion that once those are gone I can fall more were I skidded last , and like Carl said you might have to throw a little more brush but it is better to work on than the deep unpacked snow.
You can make a pull plow out of logs or steal I beams but it is hard to move that sugar snow … I hate it to tell ya the truth. I hope you all get a thaw soon so you don’t have to fight it so bad, sounds like you guys got it worse than me this year. I was on the road today sorting wood with my forwarder so the boys got a rest. I knew I would not be in the bush so last night I drug all of my trails , today it was warm and melting so Monday I will have good going . I was starting to get the whole sugar snow thing going this week but like I said not as bad as you guys got it. Taylor Johnson

Wet is good, you’ll be able to pack out some great trail. Might be worth giving it a day or two to let the wet pack settle the dry stuff you got prior. Will save you some work.

Out here when we get a good wet dump on top of a dry layer the mountains start moving and boneheads get buried…

George,
I got some rugged gaiters from Labonville a few years ago. They are made like chaps. Unfortunately they no longer list them in their catalog. Maybe some where else, same material?
Also, skiis on that rig would make it back easier and still turn (spin) OK if not great. Pioneer makes a 5 bolt ski, I wonder if that would fit your rig? Or, you could upgrade to a PBFWA:D.
I’ll bet packing this wet will help.
Mark

@Does’ Leap 24575 wrote:

Scott, what do you average for annual snowfall where you are? I imagine considerably more than we get here.

George

George,

Where I live we can get 200″ a season in a good year. Down in the southern part of the State (San Juans – Wolf Creek Pass) where I grew up in the 70’s they can get in excess of 500″ a year. Needless to say our logging season in the high country is summer/fall. The lower elevation where I live (8000′) we can keep at it most of the year unless we get a huge dump. In 2003 we got 8′ on the level in March. 3-5′ dumps are pretty common.

As a matter of fact my partner and I are blown out of our cut today; 40 mph winds and bad drifting. Plow in only to get drifted in…