It is here

[Jacob Bugge]

[Jacob Bugge]

Now we are close to the end of my third year of brooding over it, Kurt; still working on it.

[tromboniator]

I take it to be either a fog machine or a predatory bird repeller. Perhaps dual-purpose.

[Kurt Gold]

It is not a fog machine, although it was certainly befogged many times, Peter.

A predatory bird repeller is of course another exciting idea, but unfortunately it isn't something like that.

[tromboniator]

A pump, I think, would necessitate some sort of attached plumbing, nor would it require a safety perimeter. Also, too mundane.

[Kurt Gold]

Loosely speaking it pumped something, but it was rather dragging something.

[Jacob Bugge]

Kurt, as I (mis)understand it, it was (capable of) dragging the two belts in, presumably independently, and in the first photo with the children both had been dragged in, in the second without/with the jaybird only one.

Was anything dragged in along with each/the belt(s)?

[Kurt Gold]

Nothing was dragged with the belt and it was not able to drag it in, Jacob.

The belt was just an operational safety mechanism, as Peter probably assumed.

The steel cable is not quite visible, isn't it?

[Jacob Bugge]

The steel cable is certainly visible, Kurt; in the last two years, long before my seeing that the jaybird was also brooding over the matter, I have assumed that it led to the other belt visible on the first photo, ready to drag it in.

[tromboniator]

Surely not massive enough to support pulling a skier up a hill.

[Kurt Gold]

Peter,

you are right that it was not overly massive, but you are wrong that it could not pull skiers up a hillside.

It is an ancient mobile drag lift engine that was strong enough to pull about 40 adult skiers up a pretty steep slope at the same time.

You unravelled the mystery. Congratulations.

[Jacob Bugge]

Kurt,

Peter unravelled the mystery, indeed.

I gather that the quodropod serves as its supporting gear in between its operating, and that it is anchored when operating to prevent its dragging itself down on top of the skiers, eventually at the bottom of the slope.

[Kurt Gold]

Jacob,

the real mystery was that the engine (or the entire construction) was not anchored at all. I always wondered how that actually worked.

By the way, the skiers had to manually latch onto the tow rope with individual handles, which often caused some comic situations when beginners used the drag lift.

[Jacob Bugge]

A real mystery indeed, Kurt.

There are some related present day equipment versions, searchable with terms like portable ski tow rope for individual and mulitple skiers, both including ready made sets and DIY solutions, all of which include anchoring.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=portable+ski+tow+rope&t=ftsa&atb=v320-1&ia=web

[tromboniator]

I am struggling to work out the physics of it without mathematics. Not the first time that reality has diverged from my visualization. It was, of course, the feathered operator that gave the game away.

[tromboniator]

It was here, but went away in a wave of warm. Back to cold again (feels like -15°C in the wind) and nothing but gray. At least the dog is no longer tracking in mud.

[tromboniator]

Well, it isn't here, but it is over there.

[Jacob Bugge]

Ah Peter, the topping beyond the bay.

[Kurt Gold]

Beautiful view, Peter.

The giant bat on top of the pole apparently feels good as well.

[tromboniator]

Large mammals are a constant menace.

[Jacob Bugge]

No New Year Show here this year, only a few balls

Click to get closer

[Ton Frederiks]

Not enough for a snowball fight. Have not seen any snow here in the last months (once, a little and it lasted only for a few hours).

[tromboniator]

Longest cold (and sunny) spell that I remember seeing in 45 years. Still cold, and very windy. The harbor was frozen over for a couple of weeks, but someone has broken open a passage. Obviously the sunny part no longer applies.

[Jacob Bugge]

A most delighful sight Peter.

Is it really showing that the spruce bark beetle spell/curse been lifted after some 40 years, and the forest is growing strong?

[tromboniator]

Almost all signs of the beetle damage, which was massive, have been erased by time. I believe the infestation is cyclic, but its period, if it exists, is unknown to me. The trees in the photo are largely blue spruce, a non-native species, which were not as affected by beetle kill as the more prevalent Lutz spruce, a hybrid of Sitka and white spruce. The foreground trees were transplanted to our yard from neighboring forest as seedling in the mid-90s by our son, who was then not yet a teenager. My information is from decades-old memory, and may have inaccuracies. In any case, the beetles as a plague are long gone.

[Jacob Bugge]

Thank you for sharing, Peter. That is a great relief.