History Ever see a Deuce on a ski slope??

I don't know any background on this photo but it appears it's used to tow folks up a slope. HRP

 

wow that's cool

 

I would consider it if you could ride up and down "in" the 32 ford being pulled by cables but I would hafta pass if I had to get on skis once I got to the top

 

Just when you think you've seen everything.

 

American ingenuity at its best. Rube Goldberg would be proud.

 

Hope it was a V-8 and not a "B". A little speedier return up the slope for yet another run.

 

Just be sure to let go of the tow rope and don't get snagged on the line and dragged into those pulleys

 

Damn......wonder what the sign on the side said ? That's cool as hell.....but not O.S.H.A. approved....lol. Must have been a triple black diamond slope, with a fun obstacle at the end.

 

I've been sitting here trying to figure out that pulley system, looks like they may have rigged it so the rear wheels are the driven wheels (naturally) but did they use the front hubs as a sort of idler pulley. It's confusing to me, can anyone else figure it out? Can you tell I have too much time on my hands?

 

????? There is something up near the front fender......but whatever they were doing with it is kinda' confusing.................anyone ??

 

In the late 50's the local ski hill had s similar set up. They used an old truck instead of wasting a good duce. The rear wheel minus the tire served as the drive at the top of the hill. Just an idler pulley at the bottom of the hill and a rope between them. Hold on to the rope and it pulled you back up the hill.

 

Well, the title to this thread certainly got my attention, although this was not what I was expecting to see. Someone was pretty creative with this rig.

 

i think the brace up front holds the rope at waist level but the use of the front wheel is confusing maybe it is to add extra wraps so it would not slip, or maybe it was to add braking but it does not appear to be manned.

 

I think the front wheel is if you want to go to the bar rather than back up the hill. That's the one I'm using

 

Just a guess but I would think the front wheel is used more as a guide to keep the ropes from getting tangled. HRP

 

Using the front wheel may be to multiply the load capacity of the tow line, similar to what you do when using a block and tackle for rigging and lifting.
A block will increase lifting capacity compared to a single pulley line.

 

What Blue One said is right - run through extra pulleys for more power. There was a small ski area near me that used a 34 Ford (grille and all) and a 40 Ford, both 4 doors.

 

^^this.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I've had the photo on my computer for several years and I really can't remember where I got it so I can't offer any information on where the car was or how it worked. HRP

 

Hey, that also could be used for a warming house !!

 

Sorta looks like someone got into the cable barrier on the freeway!

 

Yep, beginnings of Ski Areas. Tow-ropes progressed to J-Bars and T- Bars which were solid bars hanging from a suspended cable that hooked under your butt and pulled you up,the hill. Then came chair-lifts and gondolas.

 

does it still multiply the force if both pulleys are fixed?

 

http://www.nonotuck.us/sandy/skiing_russells.html

a little more info about the use of the Model AB for powering ski tow rope

 

If you right click and hit View Image you can see the pic separate, and enlarge it by holding down the CTRL key and rolling the wheel on your mouse.

It appears there is a pulley hanging by a rope on the front fender. The tow rope comes down the hill, over this pulley, around the rear wheel, forward and around the front wheel hub, back around the back wheel again, then forward to a pulley anchored to the ground, then back behind the car to another pulley that is out of the picture. From there it goes forward, no doubt up the hill to another pulley and back down.

They probably needed to wrap the rope around the drive pulley twice in order to get enough traction.

You can see the back wheel is still on but it is blurry, as if the car is running.

This is the kind of thing a clever farm boy or mechanic would rig up in the thirties. When ski season was over they would bolt the wheels back on take it down off the blocks and drive the car again.

 

I've seen this picture before and it was claimed to be Mt Hood. I looked the last time I was up there. Couldn't find it.

 

Never saw a deuce on the ski slope, but know a guy who left one in the bushes just off the side of a ski slope.....

 

Take the car up in Autumn just before winter and snow. Then take it home in Spring when the snow melts? Same pulley system as block and tackle?

 

courtesy of Dick Stevens......
Photos by Ace Nutter of Skiing at Russell's in early 1940's

The following photos were given to Sandy Nichols Ward by John Nutter ("Ace"), a close friend of her parents, Nathan P Nichols ("Nick") and Janet Cutler Nichols ("Cut"):

Russell's Slope
Kearsarge, NH 1930's - 1940's

The dog knows whats up maybe.......



"..........one of my neighbors who died this past January used to go to NH in the late 40's. His name was John Nutter and he built a rope tow at Russell's in 1947 that was powered by a Model A Ford. In 1948 he again returned to Russell's and powered the rope tow with a Buick. The first lift was run from the bottom of the hill while the second one was taken to the top of the hill and run from there. John was an inventor and tinkerer and the typical old yankee who could make or fix anything from almost nothing. I saw home movies he had made from Russell's a few weeks before he died and I also remember skiing this rope that dragged us up the hill at the age of 5 years old. The Skimobile at Cranmore was a much easier lift for a kid who probably weighed about 60 pounds in 1948."

See the New England Lost Ski Areas Project (NELSAP) website for more about Russell's in Kearsarge, N.H.

 

One thing for sure..now we know the car as a Model AB Ford..

Good to know a little history on the photo. HRP