it doesnt scare me a whole lot until there are no trees for a long ways to catch you,there was i guy i met that flipped a timberjack similiar to mine'he said seventeen times?'i do not know what i do know is on my way to work the next morning i checked out where he lost it,####ing insane to have a skidder up there,i have been cat skinnin on d6c for several years and this was definately cat ground,the guy rolled over two traverse roads on probably a 800'tall ridge broke the thing completely in two and lived to tell the tale! to top the day off the boss fired him what an ahole!
I got myself into one hell of a situation a while back. well a butt puckerer by my standards any way. So i am backed up to the end of a cut to get at some timber up the hill which i know was every bit of a 55 degree grade, you know the kind where if you drop your saw, its gonna go for a RIDE. any way i hopped in after pulling my brains out and choking 3 good reds (bucked). Went to reel em in and cause i didnt have my blade down hard it pointed the skidder down the hill just a bit. I am thinking "#### im still ok, she will just dip down and crawl back onto the road, well doing this is a scary menuver to begin with but you get used to it after a while. When i had gotten the front end back pointing up i really thought i had it, just had to let the ass follow, well the bank sunk under the back tire about a foot and a half and all the sudden im looking out my left grate and it looks like im sitting on the edge of a 5 story building with No skidder stopping trees for a good 400 yards down. I was scared to even open my door to see where my tire wa about to go.
I ended up getting my boss to come with the 5 and shove me a platform that i could drive onto.(he was thrilled) When i did let her go foward w swear the thing should have gone over. Thoes timberjacks will hold their own in the hills.
But like i said this was a scary thing to
me.
my boss is INSANE with it, PURE INSANITY! and he tells me that he has lost most of his nerve...
About your story, there was an old fellow that sent a skidder down a hill 17 times in Montvail VA last summer. Sadly it killed him.
Once the wheels get busted off you can pretty much kiss your ass goodbuy!