Ponsse and Herzog have made use of a winch on a forwarder to increase its terrain handling capabilities.
/Ponsse Alpine 1.jpg)
Herzog Forsttechnik AG of Switzerland has placed a winch onto the forwarder to increase the slopes that it can work on. The winch is able to provide more than 50% of the traction power when moving upslope, and serves as an efficient brake when moving downhill. Wheel slip is eliminated which also reduces the amount of site impact. The winch enables the forwarder to work on slopes over 50%, up or down slope. Wet underfoot conditions are less of a problem with the winch.
The winch cable is usually secured to a tree, and the cable then allows 300m (980 ft) of winching/forwarding distance with a 14 mm (0.55 in) cable and 250 m (820 ft) with a 16 mm (0.63 in) cable. To handle the steel slopes, the forwarder also has crane tilt (26.5 deg/53%) and seat tilt that keeps the operator in a level position on slopes of up to 50%.
Safety wise, there is an operator alarm for cable overload as well as camera surveillance on the winch drum. Xenon lights are integrated into the back frame of the forwarder.
Source: http://www.herzog-forsttechnik.ch/english/pdf_e/prospekt_alpine_buffalo_e.pdf