[iron]

curious to see if anyone's tried setting up a pulley system to create a ski tow rope. my idea would be like a 9:1 pulley ratio with a deadman buried upslope 30m. then, hook the other end to a skier (like a 3 year old) and quickly hoist up. this would be at a closed ski resort.

[dave allyn]

At 9:1 it would take around 270 meters of rope. Good idea, not sure how to make it work.

[InFlight]

The issue is resetting the pulley system after the first use. I’d suggest modifying a cheap electrical winch as a continuous rope pulley. A motorcycle sized battery would run it for plenty of runs.

[texasbb]

Dad's supposed to carry the 3-year old up. Just one more time!

[iron]

dad's at work. mom goes out midweek

[williswall]

Hook 3 Y/O to runner or rope (skis still on), stash her (wife's) skis on pack, boot up slope with tot in tow. Low angle slope just V up the slope. Been there. Great workout.

[treeswarper]

I assume you are uphill yarding the kid with your "yarder" at the top. You can rig a skyline and then put a "carriage" which would be your block, to ride on the skyline. You'll need a line attached to the block to pull it up the hill. You should be able to send the block back down the hill via gravity but will need to keep the speed down and have a stop attached at the bottom to stop your block and keep it from bashing into things. Think zipline with a line attached to the pulley to pull it up. Or do the old method of running a rope around two blocks which are attached to trees and hook the bottom up to a car axle and run the car. That's really old school ski lift tech. This would be overkill, but kind of shows a method. The carriage runs on a line that is hung up and there is a line attached to the carriage that pulls it up the hill.

[treeswarper]

On a very serious note, I would only go with a people powered system. Little kids do not know the concept of LET GO. This observation is based on a few winters of working at small ski hills. That's why rope tows have about three ways to stop the rope. The last is a safety gate at the top which breaks loose and breaks a circuit which stops the rope. I've seen kids glomped on, fallen over and getting dragged up the hill. They won't LET GO so the tow operator has to stop the rope and even run up to get the kid standing and out of the way. I've seen kids fall, get the rope hooked under their ski and go up upside down--that's until the panic button gets pushed and the rope stopped. No scarves allowed and if they are old enough to have poles, those must not be looped around wrists. That's my safety lecture. I recommend parent or dog assist up the hill.