Shutoff gate

We noticed that the rope is streching out quite a bit as it now sags in between each return wheel.  Josh (from Northeast Slopes) had mentioned that their new rope stretched out quite a bit at first.  They even had to splice it again.  Because of how portable our top wheel is we were able to avoid splicing the rope again by sliding the bull wheel back another 4' using come-alongs.

Jay ordered a simple $5 relay for the shutoff loop.  He wired it in and it worked!

We were short about 150' of wire to complete the loop to the top of the hill.  Mike said he had old telephone wire that we could use.  We went over to his house to see what he had.  Turns out it was still partially buried.  We used Jay's truck to try to pull the wire out.

Unfortunately we couldn't get a continuous piece of wire that added up to 150' without breaking it into pieces (ground was partially frozen).  Mike had a plan B though - a partially buried coil of wire out in the woods.  After a little hunting around Mike found it and it was exactly what needed.

After we got the wire laid out (and connected temporarily) we went to test it and the truc wouldn't start.  It became obvious that the truck battery quit on us so we swapped it out with Jay's truck battery (for now).

We also finished installing the stop gate at the top.  I brought two outlet plugs - one got mounted on a tree and the other on a post.  I pounded a pressure treated 2x6 into the ground to create the post.

An old extension cord with prongs on both ends was used to connect the loop and act as the emergency stop gate.

Jay fired up the tow and I held on to the rope and let it pull me through the gate a couple times.  Each time the rope stopped immediatley.  It was pretty slick to see it work so well.

We also started to install the safety fence around the drive and idle wheels to help keep dogs and kids away from moving parts.

The safety shutoff buttons that I had previously ordered (about $8 apiece) arrived in the mail.

We also got about 12" of new super fluffy but wet snow last night.  The snow came down in a span of 4.5 hrs.

I took the snow machine out around the yard to pack down the snow for the nordic ski loop.  It was fun as it was snowing pretty hard.

The weather forecast is calling for a large snowstorm by the end of the week.  Predictions for snow totals so far range from 10 to 30 inches.  If all goes well we'll be able to use the ski tow again soon.