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Crazy... Where to buy a Rope Tow?

post #1 of 36
3/1/05 at 10:27pm
Thread Starter 
I have friends who are from non-skiing country Taiwan. They have short snow season (like 2-3 weeks) in the mountains. They want to find out where to buy a small portable Rope Tow so they can tow skiers for 100 feet or so.

Any idea?
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post #2 of 36
3/2/05 at 2:20am
Adapt a cement mixer...that's what some friends of mine did.
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post #3 of 36
3/2/05 at 3:23am
Try Harusch Lifts in Canada (haruschlifts.com). This company makes the tows used at many of the tubing parks.

For a really portable 1-person lift try MotoSport Engineering (Toronto). Less than $1000 for a short one.

Or... call around to the ski areas... learn to ski rope tows are being/have been replaced by magic carpets. Good luck.
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post #4 of 36
3/2/05 at 5:27am
Resortboneyard.com

Deals on used lifts...surface, chairs, grooming even snowmaking.
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post #5 of 36
3/2/05 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by janek
Adapt a cement mixer...that's what some friends of mine did.
Thanks,

Of the several answers so far, I think the most likely methods they could adapt is using a cement mixer to start. Others, like to buy a 1 man rope tow for $1000 from Toronto would have involved too much including shipping and import taxes. I have also visited the grave yard, everything there is for a resort, not for a shoe string or personal operation. But thanks for the suggestions, great ideas.

Perhpas I am asking too much, but, do you have any writeups about how to adapt a cement mixer?
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post #6 of 36
3/2/05 at 9:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackwan1
Thanks,

Of the several answers so far, I think the most likely methods they could adapt is using a cement mixer to start. Others, like to buy a 1 man rope tow for $1000 from Toronto would have involved too much including shipping and import taxes. I have also visited the grave yard, everything there is for a resort, not for a shoe string or personal operation. But thanks for the suggestions, great ideas.

Perhpas I am asking too much, but, do you have any writeups about how to adapt a cement mixer?
EZ. Just find a writeup about how to adapt a Volkswagen engine and modify as needed.

[Seriously] though, my guess is the type of person who has successfuly adapted a cement mixer to serve as a rope tow is not the type of person who is likely to sit down and share the experience over the internet. [/Seriously] Instead, he/she has probably moved on to his/her next project--harnessing the tides to power a cappucino maker, for instance. Or maybe that person has gone back to his/her original project: perfecting the Ski Tote.
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post #7 of 36
3/2/05 at 9:44am
I'll add my two cents i think that the easiest way to do it would be to buy a winch for a car, and use that to pull you up. the only problem would be having to pull it down agai after you ski down....
But hte plus would be it would be mobile, and you could use it anywere.
you might be able to un attach the cable from the drum, and just continuously run it hmmm
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post #8 of 36
3/2/05 at 10:31am
what about skins and AT bindings? I mean what person who is able to ski, can't walk up hill for 100 feet?
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post #9 of 36
3/2/05 at 10:38am
For 2 or 3 weeks I would a guy could hike, however if a rope tow is really what is needed...skip the cement mixer or car winch, and go really old school.

The first rope tow was a Model T, up on blocks, with the tire removed from one rim. The rope was wrapped around the rim. the other end was a pole with a counterweighted pulley to maintain tension. The same thing can be done nowadays by removing the bed of a pickup, jacking up the rear end and mounting a tireless rim. Having two pulleys at the idler end is best. One pulley serves as the top bull wheel. It is connected by a short rope or cable to a bag of rocks. The short rope goes over the second pulley.

The whole thing can be set up by one person in 2 or 3 hours.
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post #10 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:01am
Farm tracker would also work. the first place i ever skied was on a farm in Pa the farmer hooked his trackter up to make a rope tow and marked runs by useing hay bails. We rented wood skis and leather boots. the whole day encluding lunch and gear might have cost $5.00 The lodge was in his barn with a pic nik tables and a wood burning pot belly stove. You could hear and smell the cows on the other side of the Barn. Sounds like it was the the 1900's but nope , it was around 1962 His wife made the lunch, It was hamburgers or chilly.
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post #11 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:05am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Utah49
what about skins and AT bindings? I mean what person who is able to ski, can't walk up hill for 100 feet?
Most of the guys are Snowboarders. Besides, the 100 feet is an initial assessment, it could grow longer. The place is totally steep raw slopes without any human foot prints, or shall we say back country.
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post #12 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:19am
I'd go with the truck and the winch. Use the winch to snug up the rope. It would not be that hard however there needs to be an emergency shut off. Especially with Tiawanese. They don't know how to ride a rope tow. Hell nobody does anymore! Some one could be rope burned in half. I hate when that happens.

They're an inovative lot. I bet they could build a better tow than any found in the USA.
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post #13 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:27am
We built two rope tows at our farm in western New York when I was a kid. My dad and his friends just figured it out as they went. One had an old car engine the other an electric motor. The electric motor was much much better, reliable, no fumes, 12 year old son could go up early and start it up....
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post #14 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by paul jones
I'd go with the truck and the winch. Use the winch to snug up the rope. It would not be that hard however there needs to be an emergency shut off. Especially with Tiawanese. They don't know how to ride a rope tow. Hell nobody does anymore! Some one could be rope burned in half. I hate when that happens.

They're an inovative lot. I bet they could build a better tow than any found in the USA.
Sorry, bad idea all around. First, a truck winch is not designed for continuous use, if you are planning to use it as a drive. If you are planning to use it as a tensioning device, it won't work because it is static. Tow device counterweights are dynamic, and adjust to increasing tension as people use them.
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post #15 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:47am
Here is some interesting information. http://makesnow0.tripod.com/msap.html
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post #16 of 36
3/2/05 at 11:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry_Morgan
If you are planning to use it as a tensioning device, it won't work because it is static. Tow device counterweights are dynamic, and adjust to increasing tension as people use them.
You definitely need an adjustable tensioner, though the dynamic tension, while nice, is not really needed. Our tows were quite long and were tensioned by a hand winch. We let tension down each night and took tension up as the rope stretched during the day. With wet snow we had to take up slack two or three times a day.

Emergency cut off consisted of a big red button ar the botton and an extension cord in a plug at the top. If a skier got dragged through the cord he unplugged it and stopped before being ground up in the bull wheel.
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post #17 of 36
3/2/05 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Utah49
what about skins and AT bindings? I mean what person who is able to ski, can't walk up hill for 100 feet?
But would that really be skiing? AT is akin to telemarking and we all now about those pesky freeheelers.
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post #18 of 36
3/2/05 at 1:59pm
One problem with using an adjustable tensioner rather than a dynamic tensioner is that you need to increase the friction around the drive wheel. The most common way of doing that is to double or triple wrap the drive wheel, but each wrap increases the twist imparted to the rope. Another method uses additional idler sheaves, which is what most ski area ropes do. It can of course, work with static tensioners, but you have to deal either with reduced efficiency and slippage or increased tension and wear. The simplest method is still to counterweight the end idler, which requires only a stout pole or tree to tie to. Rope life is improved, as you do not need to tighten the system above the level necessary to stop slippage when loaded.
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post #19 of 36
3/2/05 at 2:16pm
my home ski area built their own....I believe using a vw engine....runs without breakdown over 100ft long.......I would suggest maybe they call small ne ski areas for either tech asst or perhaps a used tow for sale at an area looking to upgrade to a tee bar or platter pull......
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post #20 of 36
3/3/05 at 11:31am
c'mon guys the answer is damn simple. Write in a Forum based in New Zealand. Or write directly to the club fields.

If anyone got experience on building rope tows, long distance ones too, write there.

Standard Engine are old Ford Engines from the 60's. Speed of the ropes is as high as on detachable chairlifts. Just think about building the entrance downhill.

Get on you harness, buy a nutcracker glove protectors and be happy to ride the coolest lifts on earth. And on top of it you can keep statistics of foreigner s who lost fingers on the lift. (greetings to Craigie and Temple)
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post #21 of 36
3/3/05 at 12:39pm
You could probably just adapt an old lawn mower engine or other small engine. But you might want to figure out how much horsepower you'd need based on the number of people that would ride at one time and the pitch of the slope. Maybe PhysicsMan can come up with a formula to figure out the HP/torque requirements. Maybe gear it up to a bicycle wheel as a bull wheel.

Sounds like a fun experiment (ARGH, ARGH, ARGH - in my best Tim Allen grunt).
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post #22 of 36
3/3/05 at 1:20pm
I believe in NZ they have 300-400 Horsepowers
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post #23 of 36
3/3/05 at 5:38pm
does anybody know how to install a ganja-la? I always wanted one of those for my backyard
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post #24 of 36
3/4/05 at 8:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by extremecarver
Get on you harness, buy a nutcracker glove protectors and be happy to ride the coolest lifts on earth. And on top of it you can keep statistics of foreigner s who lost fingers on the lift. (greetings to Craigie and Temple)
Loved those nut cracker harnesses. They were actually illegal in New York. The rope friction melts some snow when you clamp on, it freezes on the way up and you get a ride through the safety gate at the top. Our gate had just enough delay to convice you you were dead.
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post #25 of 36
3/4/05 at 10:55am
The classic way this used to be done around here was to jack up the rear end of a model t ford, remove one of the tires, and use the rim to power the rope. Safety was apt to involve a trip rope and something that was supposed to fall on the clutch, like a concrete block or whatever. You can form your own opinion as to the relative safety of this kind of thing!
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post #26 of 36
3/4/05 at 12:29pm
Harry,

We would tighten the winch then pull down to take out all slack. The whole concept was - bad. A good way to die!
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post #27 of 36
3/4/05 at 3:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by newfydog
Loved those nut cracker harnesses. They were actually illegal in New York. The rope friction melts some snow when you clamp on, it freezes on the way up and you get a ride through the safety gate at the top. Our gate had just enough delay to convice you you were dead.
need some education here. what is the nut cracker harness and who are Craigie and Temple? I must have missed some stories in between.
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post #28 of 36
3/4/05 at 9:31pm
We just got done renovating the antique tow at Blackhawk Ski Club. Rear spindles and wheels from Chrysler mini vans make great pullies. A differential from an old rear wheel drive car with a pulley on the pinion flange driven by an electric motor will work to power it.(Tyrol still has one like that)
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post #29 of 36
3/5/05 at 1:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackwan1
need some education here. what is the nut cracker harness and who are Craigie and Temple? I must have missed some stories in between.
I have no idea who C&T are, but I assume they are some kiwis who still use ropetows.

There used to be some rope gripper harnesses which folded over a rope something like a nutcracker. They saved your arms, which could fell like dropping off near the top of a long steep rope tow, and saved your gloves, which could be shredded in a day, but they had some drawbacks in that they could get stuck closed.
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post #30 of 36
3/6/05 at 4:54am
Craigieburn Valley and Temple Basin, New Zealand "club fields".
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