Since the rope had already arrived, we were eager to get the rope up on the hill. We used the tractor to load the rope into the truck. Kricket and Galen drove the truck over to the backside near the VAST trail. I drove the tractor down and met up with them and Jay to load the rope onto the tractor forks again.
I slowly backed my way down the steep VAST trail with the rope. It went smoothly.
We tried to uncoil the rope using a 6" pvc pipe on the tractor forks.
It was difficult to work with since the rope didn't come with a spool. It was clear that spooling the rope out (without a spool) wasn't going to work. We didn't have a choice but to put it on the ground and feed it out the end. Luckily it seemed to feed out easily.
We started pulling the rope up the hill. It was fairly easy to pull at first. After 100 ft or so it started to get a lot harder. We quickly realized that it would be easier to hang it up on the return wheels as we climbed up the hill. This made a big difference as it eliminated a lot of ground friction. Bill arrived just as the going was starting to get really hard. He started guiding the rope out of the coil as well as pulling the rope along at the bottom. I ended up pulling the rope hand over hand below each return wheel as Jay hiked up the hill. It was hard work.
Here is Jay and Bill taking a break.
Once we got to the top it was really easy to pull the rope down the hill. We tied the end of the rope around a stick for us to lean into. With Jay and I on each side of the rope we litterally walked the rope straight down the hill. When we were about 100' from the bottom Bill yelled up at us to stop. Turned out we ended up with a bit of a kink in the rope coil..
It didnt take too long (about 5 minutes) to get the knots out.
Here it is - rope in place!
A good friend and neighbor, David Wiezalis, stopped over to lend a hand.
Jay fetched another 4x4 while David and I went and got more chains to finish securing the top bull wheel.
I was impressed that David seemed to know what tools he needed to bring today to help get the job done. He brought spare pieces of climbing rope and a come-along. We were able to tension the rope by tying one end off and wrapping the other end around the drive wheel. Jay started the truck up and the wheel slowly tensioned the rope. It worked out amazingly well as the rope was too heavy for us to pull tension by hand. We used the climbing rope David brought to keep the rope tensioned up to a point until we had the rope fully spliced together. I couldn't find my come-along so we borrowed David's to hold the tensioner wheel in place. Here is David and Bill working on feeding the rope through the tensioner wheel.
Here is David, Jay and Bill. We were pretty much done for the day as it was getting dark.
We were able to get the tensioner wheel in place (minus the legs) and Bill brought a short piece of the rope home with him to practice splicing the rope together.
The next day I hiked up the hill and installed hooks on the tree towers to hold the rope up off the ground when it's not in use (so it doesn't get buried under snow/ice). I checked to see what it would be like to hold onto the rope. It seemed to be the perfect diameter.
Looking down the tow line (rope is hooked up on trees here)
The bull wheel at the top fully secured.
Looking at the tow line near the top.
When Jay arrived he brought a sled full of stuff including a chainsaw, tools and gas for the truck. He decided it would be easiest to slide down with it.
We started cutting down the high stumps on the tow line to help make it less bumpy.
Jay came up with a great idea to put logs under the rope at the high points so the rope didn't work its way into any dirt or rocks.
We also tried a few different techniques for holding the rope. This was Jay's.
When Bill arrived he got right to splicing.
It took awhile as it was a bit complicated.
Once the rope was ready I brought Galen out with me (mom was off at a friend's baby shower) to see if our first test would be successful. Jay's wife, Donna, also stopped by to help get the final adjustments done.
When we were ready Jay fired the truck up and nothing was moving - we quickly realized the rope was wrapped around the drive and tensioner wheel incorrectly.
Here is Jay, Bill and Donna flipping the rope around on the tensioner wheel.
Take 2...
Success!!!!!
We ended up tensioning the wheel back using the come-along quite a bit as the tow spun. This made a big difference and got rid most of the slack that occured when Jay or Bill grabbed on the tow mimicking a skier's resistance.
Here is Bill looking up the tow line while it was spinning.
Galen and I watching the tow. It was so cool to see it actually work!
Jay testing out the tow (holding on while running).
Here is a short video of the rope in action.
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