Grapple skidder in the mountain?

[Satamax]

Hi everybody.

Well, a question came to my mind. A friend sawyer's brother, bought a huge grapple skidder.

To remind you, my area looks like this all over.



Well, he's got a crane on the back, and the clam bunk on the chassis.

Here is a pic of his machine.



He's got no winch skidder anymore.  And May be a winch on this one, but doubt it. I can't see how in life this can work doing mountain logging. Ok, when he gets clearing up on steep terrain, he sometimes get the horses out. But no winch her is beyond my comprehension.

[starmac]

We log some pretty steep stuff, and though there are winches on the skidders, no one knows if they still work or not. If it is too steep sometimes they shovel log or use a track skidder, but it is grapple only, no winch on it.

[mike_belben]

Im sure itll drag a log DOWN the hill  ;D

[teakwood]

I am surprised that you being from France are not familiar with these "euro style" skidders.  In Switzerland that's all we use, also in Germany, Austria. They do have a winch (or even dual drum) on them, normally remote controlled which is a big plus.

[PA_Walnut]

What an AMAZING view!! Wow.

Are you in an area that's known for the spruce and maple in instrument making?

[Riwaka]

Treuil (winch) mounted under the crane?
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/836099_36ecb26a3adc41aca3dc808d61ea133d.pdf

[Grizzly]

A fellow was using something like that (8 wheel no tracks) south of Grande Prairie. He got on a bit of a tough slope and I was watching pretty close to see how he made out. I realized we were all watching (3 buttntops and 12 trucks) and no production was happening. Soon as he stabilized everyone realized what we were doing and everybody went back to work. He was sliding but stopping by grabbing logs as he went by. Got a full grab and brought it on down! So, yeah I expect you see them on other slopes too.

[mike_belben]

Sounds like a pretty skilled operator.  Id bet that was a sight.

[Satamax]

Thanks a lot guys. For all your replies.

Teakwood, it's the first like this locally. The way the small guys cut. Not feeling the whole patch, but few trees. So, you can't get up to the trees. 

What an AMAZING view!! Wow.

Are you in an area that's known for the spruce and maple in instrument making?

shame, but not at all. Larch, larch and larch. Some swiss stone pine, pinus cembra. Scott's pine. Ash and birch.

[Spartan]

Grapples are great for downhill or flat skidding.
Get an uphill skid and thats a different story.
Also, winches work better around smz areas where no machine entry is permitted.
We have a d6 with a grapple that almost never gets used compared to our cable rubber tired cable skidders. 
But our terrain is not cat or grapple friendly and that is probably the biggest factor.  Steep rocky and large amounts of deadfall.

[Satamax]

Spartan, thanks. It's definitely the type of terrain we have here.