Yarding Down the Hill With a Madill (rhymes,eh?)

[slowp]

The boys got their yarder rigged up faster than planned so started downhilling this morning. I had to hike up the 3 ibuprofen hill and "approve" trees to cut for tailblocks. The hooktender has not tried to kill me yet, but is losing points.
Ever since he found out I worked with his mother, he has been pointing out how old I am. Anyway, it was bad lighting this morning so I had to brighten up these pictures. I'm hunkered next to the yarder and if something had gone wrong, I'd be ducking behind it or the shovel. Here's how it looks bringing a log down.

Here's what the landing looks like.

 

[slowp]

Meanwhile, up at the top

Here's what the rigging configuration is at the cornerblock. I had to walk along the lines up here --the hooktender had the yarder engineer stop but it still is creepy.

These are what are called Twisters. From what I've been told, they aren't hard to twist, but can cause quite a bit of excitement when they are being untwisted. One guy told me the secret is to saw the stump through just enough so it will bend back a bit and loosen the wire.

Twisters are necessary because of the pumice soils in this area. Pumice doesn't hold tree roots very well.

Here's a picture I took while waiting for the hooktender. He was getting this tree ready for the next setting.

I missed the opportunity to get a picture of a flying 660 and flying rootwad, but that was at a road building site.

 

[RDT]

Great pics

 

[Rookie1]

great looking pics.

 

[Cedarkerf]

Always enjoy your pics slow-p keep em coming

 

[2dogs]

Always enjoy your pics slow-p keep em coming

Yep! You do have a gift with the camera. More please.

 

[Ed*L]

Great pics! Thanks again.

Ed

 

[slowp]

It has been raining pretty good. I saw the tracks of a chained up log truck so knew it would be bad. I turned in the hubs, put it in 4 wheel drive and pushed the pedal to the floor and barely made it up to the parking space.
I chugged (on foot) to the top of the unit. It doesn't feel as hard of a hike as it used to. I took some pictures while waiting for the hooktender to finish.
Here he is feeding the haywire down to his hooktender trainee/helper or as the crew calls it, pimp. We had an "Axemen" moment. There was a small branch tangled in the line and he asked me to go pull it down and grab the branch. Right when I got hold of the line, the guy below gave a good pull and I went up in the air! No gloves so I let go fast. I'm no lightweight either so that gives you an idea of the weight of the line. The hooktender radioed down for the landing guys to yell at the pulling guy. Then it took both of us to pull the line back enough so I could reach the branch.

Then we went on choosing trees to cut for anchors. Here's what ground with good, natural lift (deflection) looks like.

Then back down the hill. The yarder engineer had a platform made. He was worried, and it was legitimate, about the yarder sliding off the pummy edge of the road.

The only bad thing, everyone had switched to the rainy season rubber boots and walking down the steep hill, socks creep up to the toes.

 

[2dogs]

Rain? That only happens in January and March. It was about 90o here today.

 

[slowp]

Rain? That only happens in January and March. It was about 90o here today.

I prefer the rain to 90's! 50s are best for work...60s to 70s for play.

 

[Cedarkerf]

Raining cats dogs elk deer bear racoons past 3 days 60's for temps. Feels like October. Stay well Patty.

 

[slowp]

Raining cats dogs elk deer bear racoons past 3 days 60's for temps. Feels like October. Stay well Patty.

You too. I am thinking that The Curse of the Hooktenders might be over. Only a couple more weeks with the deadliest for me, yet the most productive crew. They are the ones featured in this thread.

 

[Bushler]

Cool pics, as usual. A correction in your terminolgy...call it a 'bulkhead' instead of a 'platform' and you'll get some cred from your peers.

That madill on the tank carrier reminds me of one when I short termed for Menasha corp. They tipped it over the first time they raised it...and I laughed.

The Supe thought it was inappropriate of me to laugh...which made me laugh harder.

I miss those days when you could find rigging jobs at any bar.

 

[slowp]

Here are photos of the disturbance that I took for showing the 'ologists who envision trenches and doom from any cable logging.
This shows the width of the disturbance near the bottom. All the volume from this setting went over the ground here.

This is at the top where only a few logs were yarded down.

They are lucky to get 3 loads a day. Production is usually cut in half when comparing downhill to uphill. I call it an HWF--High Whine Factor.

 

[Bushler]

Clear cut and use a slack line for the downhill. Washington Interlock, with a haul back speed approx. 70 mph. We'll get 40 loads a day...send trucks.

 

[slowp]

Clear cut and use a slack line for the downhill. Washington Interlock, with a haul back speed approx. 70 mph. We'll get 40 loads a day...send trucks.

That was when I worked here before. Except high lead was used, and there were more mills in the vicinity. Million dollar payments for stumpage, each month, and the loggers made way more money than I did.

But, it'll all be ok. I think.

 

[Bushler]

I don't think its going to be 'o.k.' until people realize that timber is a crop like any other crop and needs to be managed as such.

 

[forestryworks]

I don't think its going to be 'o.k.' until people realize that timber is a crop like any other crop and needs to be managed as such.

amen

 

[slowp]

Bad lift...bad bad lift.

I hiked up the hill to check out the logging. Heard a saw running which means I had to go over to see what was being cut. On this corridor, it flattens out near the top, and there wasn't much in the form of nice trees to rig to. So, not much lift could be had. Inefficient speech was rampant. Notice how low the carriage is.

Then, a log went the wrong way, and an unoriginal word was shouted, and for good reason. The log went on one side of a leave tree and was stuck between it and another. The carriage and lines were on the other side.

After resetting choker and some more inefficient speech, the log came out of the trees, spun around uphill, and was sent down the corridor.

Bad lift=inefficient speech and more scarring of leave trees.
Tomorrow: A hike through the woods in search of 7 helicopter cutters.:greenchainsaw:
I feel like SnowWhite!

 

[forestryworks]

slowp, can i be your assistant? i'll carry your pack :greenchainsaw: