334
	Norman Davidson
	1981

Extracting timber with the Alp Cable Crane

Photograph courtesy of Jim Pratt and photographer Graham Whistler FBIPP FRPS.
Hugh Greig unseen at the controls of the Alp cable crane with forester Jim Lyon watching behind the cable reel trailer as the cable crane hauls down the logs. They were harvesting the large Douglas Fir on the very steep rocky slopes above Loch Ness at Altsaigh in 1981 (part of Inchnacardoch Forest).
Jim Pratt in charge of harvesting at the time says that they were pushing the boundaries of harvesting technology then and having to invent and innovate in order to cope with the steep slopes, long distances between harvesting roads, unstable rocky ground, very large trees and always waiting at the bottom, the A82, the main public road between Fort William and Inverness.
In this location they pushed the limit of the Alp cable crane skyline up to 1000m which was very significantly greater than the former cable crane skylines that had a maximum of 300m or there abouts. There would be several tons weight in the skyline wire rope alone and this put enormous strain on spar, support and anchor trees even before the carriage and timber load was added. With no road at the top, the winch team had to carry a great deal of the anchor and support equipment up on their backs!
Picture Added on 24 May 2008.

If you found this interesting, have a look at the following groups of pictures.
Forestry Areas
Forestry in Action
Fort Augustus
Large tree harvesting - Invermoriston and Altsaigh
Other Vehicles and Machines