Les Cognées Skidder Race

[Craig.]

Looks a good couple of days!

[monkeybusiness]

5 hours ago, RichardRenwick said:

It's a pretty interesting show. But what the purpose of it? Did they cut the trees or it's just something else?

It started out as a bit of an unofficial ‘I’m better at dragging trees than you’ local affair, but has grown into quite a big competition.

They have to drag a load of tree trunks around a trials-style course with really tight gates and very steep slippery terrain. I couldn’t really follow the scoring but hitting the gates was obviously a no-no - the operators were amazingly skilful and had the timber double choked (one near the skidder, and the second nearer the back of the timber) and used the double drum winches and machine’s pivot to steer the logs around corners etc. 

Some of the skidders were also fitted with cranes which obviously made the job easier - I’m not sure if these competed against other similar machines or not though. The cranes were ridiculously strong and were used for dragging as much as lifting.

It has apparently turned into the biggest event of its type in France, and draws in quite a few trade stands. I think it’s as much a showcase/working demo for the skidder manufactures as anything else tbh. 

Or it may have just been a bunch of pissed Frenchys having a big dick competition - either way it was ace to watch!!! 

[Ian Flatters]

Wow, what a couple of things to see. Those bikes and riders are crazy though, very cool [emoji108]