The latest Two Drum Mechanical Interlock Alpine Shovel Yarder - RS400M.

Alpine Logging first pioneered the use of shovel yarders in South Africa, and then went on to develop excavator-based ‘live skyline’ grapple yarding systems for the East and Chile. Now, with the launch of their innovative new two drum Mechanical Interlock winch-sets in Australia and New Zealand this year, Alpine has set a new standard for excavator-based ‘running skyline’ grapple yarding systems.

For a grapple system to be successful, cycle times need to be fast, with high line speeds and minimal delays and unproductive time. The new interlock system from Alpine was specifically designed for high-speed running skyline grapple yarding, and it has an unparalleled combination of speed and power.

Alpine Grapple Carriage on the ASY-RS400MI .

The ASY-RS400MI can run either a motorized or a non-motorized clamping type grapple carriage, like the Alpine Radio-Controlled Grapple Carriage, for uphill and downhill ‘two drum’ grapple yarding systems. It can also run a manual choker system using typical ‘butt-rigging’ and chokers.

When running cables under high tension and high line speeds, good cable fleeting is absolutely essential for extended cable life. The large winch drums and tower are all designed to enhance fleeting, as shown in the picture (below), taken after three days of training and commissioning of the new Alpine Shovel Yarder in NZ.

Perfect Fleeting on the big drums.

Since the new Alpine runs 19mm super-swage on the mainline drum, and a minimum of 16mm on the haulback drum, a Straw-line is essential for setting up the big lines, and is therefore standard with the ASY-RS400MI yarder package. In NZ, ultra-light synthetic rope is often used on the straw-line drum, and was therefore fitted to the new Alpine, as shown in the photo (below).

Straw-line Drum with synthetic rope.

Alpine now has a full line up of the best Shovel Yarder and excavator-based Grapple Yarding packages on the market, and is due to despatch their first Grapple System to Canada shortly.

Visit www.alpinelogging.co.za for more info.

*First published in SA Forestry magazine, Nov 2018