Snow winching at Timberline today

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

Mt. winching at Timberline today. Shooting to be in Timberline parking lot around 1pm. Lemme know if interested or just meet us there.

Kataku2k3 · Since 14 Aug 2005 3753 Posts Los Angeles, CA Videographer

Hope you have internet on your phone. Be sure to take pics! Looks nice up there today! Cool

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

Winched near the Annex parking lot at Meadows. It was sick. Got almost a day's worth of riding in like 1.5 hours. A run every 2 minutes or so when you're riding. Screw resorts, we're building our own little park with the winch. It's gonna be sick! Forrest has some pics from today he'll probably post up later.

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Dec 10, 08 6:50 am

Sounds cool!! You should take Jake's "sticky box" up there.

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

The spot we hit only had room for 1 feature, but we can easily find a better spot. We just sessioned a 10-12ft box with hard plastic on top so I bet Jake's sticky box and benches and picnic table could all work. If we can set up multiple features in a straight line it would be make for some sweet riding.

We need to hook it up for this weekend. Saturday should have some snow for us to play with.

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

.Your on the snow! Why not use gravity instead of gas!!!
If your just gonna have one thing set up you might as well put it by a hill and hike it.
The winch is still doooope tho

forrest · Wed Dec 10, 08 9:15 am

Even with just one feature, the grinch makes sessioning it so much faster. We weren't pulling into the feature, just using the grinch as a ski-lift. But it would be the shit with two or three features, the problem is finding a hill that long that isn't monopolized by the ski resort, and isn't miles into the backcountry.

We ended up hauling the grinch into the woods about 100 yards. Wasn't that hard at all for four guys.

Kataku2k3 · Since 14 Aug 2005 3753 Posts Los Angeles, CA Videographer

That first pic is awesome! Thumb's Up

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Dec 10, 08 9:38 am

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

forrest · Wed Dec 10, 08 10:34 am

Yea, the Unicorn, sorry. It was the first time I had seen it. It feels more powerful than the Grinch.

The handle was pretty hard to pull down hill. The engine was actually trying to wind the handle back up if you dropped it. If you manually pushed the throttle back, that would fix it, but then the engine would die. Sad

A double or triple handle in parallel would help a lot as well, that way people don't have to be right next to each other when being pulled uphill.

A brake would help alot for snow winching as well. A lot of times when at the bottom of the hill, the people setting up need something to hold on too. The break helps with that so they don't slide back down the hill.

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Dec 10, 08 10:50 am

yeah, the linkage is a little loose because the linkage holes are slightly larger than the linkage wires. That is why you have to push it all the way back to idle and not engage the belt.

While the engine is off, there is a slight resistance. If you pull the belt off the TAV (which is easily done) then you can spool out the rope with no resistance at all. (You actually have to be careful when you stop as the spool will keep spinning and cause a little bit of backlash.

For whatever reason, there seems to be many schools of thought on how to start the winch. If you idle it and get it nice and warm before you start turning it off and on with each pull. One good HARD pull the full distance of the cord usually starts it. No choke needed. (it seems easier to start since I rejetted it).

how did you like the custom muffler? LOL

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

We just kept it running without turning it off since the run was so short and we kept shuttling ppl non-stop. We can also adjust the screw to make the idle run with a tad more juice so the engine doesn't shut off. With a slightly steeper slope (it was really flat) we wouldn't have trouble pulling the rope back down so I'm not too worried.

forrest · Wed Dec 10, 08 11:36 am

When we used the grinch at the timberline hill, we didn't have any problems with the resistance. We were on slightly more incline, so I think you're right Gene. Also, the resistance might help keep the rope tight but on the Grinch, you can accomplish the same task with the brake.

Hopefully we can get even more snow winching in this weekend? We should head up to Timberline or one of the snowparks and do some tail-gating like the hicks we all are. Maybe I could scout some places Saturday morning if we get some snow.