I’d like to amend my vote to some kind of speed line or zip line contraption. They use high lines in the PNW. Why can’t you set up a movable one to get wood down hill over rough terrain? Cut a log. Attach it to the line. And let it ride!!!
Could buy one of those old ski lift line setups. The kind you grab and watch your new gloves melt type.
I skid 8 to 10 cord per winter and can move it much faster (fewer trips) with the winch. My winch is safely useful for hung trees. If you are doing a cord or two it would be more of a toss-up between the two methods, and the grapple has a million other uses.
I'm still firmly in the winch camp for what you're doing. I add 100' of 12K bull rope to the the 100' of synthetic cable on my winch & pull em in. It's the only way I've found to retrieve logs other than one round at a time uphill, & that ain't happenin any more.
Ha, I lived in Pepperell for a year, rented a 3rd floor apartment right on Main St, about 20yrs ago... New England mud versus swamp mud where I live now is way different things, and I still stand by my statement... We put pallets on our trails to walk on when we hunt, or you’ll fall in to your waste or above on ground that has grass and looks like your yard... We have mud season, and it lasts for 12mo’s..
Ha small world. We may have crossed paths. 20 years ago I was cutting on some ground by the breached dam.
