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As I saw someone pulling/carrying a sleigh up a hill, I thought of what would be the best way to get this sleigh up a hill (But without any effort of someone). An idea would be to just bring it up with a car, but that way is not original, not practical (too much time, to much effort, ... ). I think you get what I am searching for.

I thought of a cable pulled by an engine, but those are a bit expensive.

Things which could help and I have:

  • A Tractor
  • a cable
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  • Um, reindeer? :)
    – Lawrence
    Commented Dec 4, 2017 at 16:03

3 Answers 3

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I've seen setups with one drive wheel of a car jacked and blocked off the ground, and a wheel without tire changed onto the axle; two or three wraps of rope or cable around the rim, car running and in gear (with wheels chocked), and you've got an improvised rope tow, suitable for sleds (sleighs), inner tubes, or even skiers.

Unless you're going to be sliding or skiing all day, I don't see it as being worth the effort, though; further, it almost certainly works less well with front wheel drive than with the then-universal rear wheel drive from the 1940s era, when (AFAIK) this method was first published.

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  • Haha wow great! Well, but when I understood this right, the effort actually shouldn't be that big....
    – asparagus
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 15:46
  • This is about the least effort you'll get without spending lots of money on specialized equipment -- and still it really only saves effort if you have a bunch of people sliding and skiing for a whole day.
    – Zeiss Ikon
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 16:54
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This idea may sound unrealistic, but hey, it might work too. You'll need:

  • 2 sleighs
  • rope about 10 feet longer than the length of the "run"
  • a fixed point at the top of the hill, like a tree (preferably with smooth bark)

Here are the steps:

1) Tie one end of the rope to the back of sleigh #1. Tie the other end of the rope to the back of sleigh #2.

2) Leave sleigh #1 at the bottom of the hill. Walk sleigh #2 up to the top of the hill. Walk around the back of the tree, and stand on the other side of it.

3) Someone rides sleigh #2 to the bottom of the hill. This will pull sleigh #1 up to the top of the hill, using the tree as a "pulley".

4) The rider at the bottom of the hill leaves sleigh #2 there, and walks back to the top of the hill. Simultaneously, another rider slides down the hill on sleigh #1 ... which pulls sleigh #2 up to the top of the hill. (Watch out, person walking up the hill!!)

enter image description here

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  • You need to protect the bark of the tree, or as I mentioned in my answer, use a block (or you may call it pulley) there.
    – Willeke
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 21:20
  • @Willeke Right. Good suggestions. Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 21:21
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    I think I would rather use TWO trees a short distance away from each other so you don't run the risk of hitting the other sleigh with an impact velocity of 2x. Friction on the bark would be very high so you could either use pulleys at each tree, or much easier would be to pack snow/ice onto the upper side of the trees and the outer faces to maintain a low-friction contact with the rope.
    – Lefty
    Commented Dec 2, 2017 at 10:09
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I do not know how safe this method is, with a long rope going free up and down hill.

Have a bag, a block and a rope that is a bit longer than the hill you want to sleigh down.
Feed the rope through the block and tie to a fixed point at the top of your hill, stakes into the ground should do but a tree or even the tow hook of a car will work.
Tie the bag to one end of the rope, the sleigh to the other end.

Sleigh down the hill, the bag will come up. Now fill the bag with snow (or other heavy things which you can stack at the top) and the bag will go down the hill while the sleigh comes up.

This is not tested, (and no chance to test around here either,) so test before you do and remember rope and heavy things safety.

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