Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That is quite interesting and if you look at the updates you can see that it's actually a real thing rather than just somone's pipedream.
The poor guy leading the project broke his knee testing it on a road. Ouch.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Straight outa Kamloops. Well there's not that much else to do there in the summer
He broke his knee on the downslope as far as I can see, not a direct result of the device. I guess I could buy one for Royston gold course when it snows, but it's never that hard to walk up in English snow, so maybe not. The mechanism must be a bit of a challenge as presumably the line will get twisted.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Can see this having a niche market for those pro athlete that build a kicker in the middle of nowhere and then lap it all day - also maybe more NA /Japan than Europe given the need to be skiing below the treeline.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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800m of altitude gain is not much. Could be dangerous if someone skis into it.
Other potential uses include getting one of your legless mates back from Apres Ski without the need for a taxi or shopping trolley.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Having fallen off a t-bar when younger & tried to hang on, I can tell you that walking up would be a lot easier than being dragged up by your arms!
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Gordyjh wrote: |
Having fallen off a t-bar when younger & tried to hang on, I can tell you that walking up would be a lot easier than being dragged up by your arms! |
Ditto
Also, wouldn't want to get my fingers trapped in those wheels, and I doubt it would last more than one pull before needing a recharge.
I'm not convinced!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I lost interest when the instructions said: 'Shred the Gnar'.
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philwig wrote: |
I guess I could buy one for Royston golf course when it snows.... |
"Shred the Par!"
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I can see a couple of uses for it.
I'm sure we've all driven up a valley to a resort that's full of houses and farms with nice sloping fields behind them, sometimes green but other times just shouting "ski me!". Well if you live there it would have to be tempting to have one in garage you can just set up on a post-snow Saturday and tell the kids "Have at it, and last one bring the rope back".
And there are a few on here who like to make the rest of us jealous by posting their "We walked up the mountain and skied this" pictures. I'm sure they know a few lovelly little dead-end valleys and bowls that they would love to ski, but just not worth the whole skins off/skins back on hassle for a few short runs. Slightly different story when you have your own drag lift in your bag so can get a few runs in before skinning up and carrying on with your main route.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Given that it gives 800m uplift on a charge you would get 5 uplifts on a slope the length of Hemel. That's after walking up and sliding down in a controlled manner to lay the rope. If you and a couple of mates had one you wouldn't even get 2 goes each and that assumes that the cold hasn't reduced the charge in the battery!
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tarrantd wrote: |
Given that it gives 800m uplift on a charge you would get 5 uplifts on a slope the length of Hemel. That's after walking up and sliding down in a controlled manner to lay the rope. If you and a couple of mates had one you wouldn't even get 2 goes each and that assumes that the cold hasn't reduced the charge in the battery! |
It would make more sense to have a dirty petrol version
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You know it makes sense.
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It would work better if the user could wear a climbing harness and clip on to it. Bit of an arm killer otherwise.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I’d say not worth a try on the basis of that website.
It’s an electrical machine obvs.
So IMO, a decent spec for any such machine would actually give with the ‘800m uplift’, a rated power, a rated speed, the gradient for that uplift, and the working load/skier mass, and they give none of that so far as I can see.
Doesn’t mean it doesn’t ‘work’, but it’s inadequate information to give confidence in how good it would prove to be in practice, never mind even ‘5 uplifts at Hemel’. How long would it take to do that compared to the (appallingly slow) drag at Hemel?
It would be no surprise to learn it’s actually just a bodge made from the bits of a cheapo electric scooter off ebay or similar, or maybe a battery operated drill or suchlike, put in a placcy box.
Where’s the video?
Would like to see.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Quote: |
I can tell you that walking up would be a lot easier than being dragged up by your arms! |
Some of us were hardened by being dragged up the rope tow at Spectrum dry slope and the steel cable (with your own detachable tow hook!) on snow at Harwood. Both were in County Durham.
Those were the days
Sadly, both are long gone - though I think the Harwood tow has ended up at Lowther Hill in Scotland(??). That one, in particular, was a bit of a killer....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ropetows are much easier if you use a belt. We used seatbelts with a quick release buckle. The main problem is then not gripping the rope but having to lift the rope up where it goes over an apex.
Rope tows are still in use at Lowther, Allenheads and the portable tow at Raise although it’s quite a few years since they’ve set it up.
In the 40 years since portable ski tows were commonly used in our hills ski touring has become mainstream and weather information has improved making outcomes more certain. Access rights have also been extended and it is commonly assumed to include skiing (as a form of walking!) although that was not made explicit in the 2001 Act, probably because of a absence of lobbying by our representative bodies.
Perhaps it’s time to get the portable tows out again and seek out the drifts.
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