winter

8 Articles

Backyard Rope Tow From Spare Parts

March 20, 2025 by 9 Comments

A few years ago, [Jeremy Makes Things] built a rope tow in his back yard so his son could ski after school. Since the lifts at the local hill closed shortly after schools let out, this was the only practical way for his son to get a few laps in during the week. It’s cobbled together from things that [Jeremy] had around the house, and since the original build it’s sat outside for a few years without much use. There’s been a lot more snow where he lives this year though, so it’s time for a rebuild.

The power source for the rope tow is an old gas-powered snowblower motor, with a set of rollers and pulleys for the rope made out of the back end of a razor scooter. Some polyurethane was poured around the old wheel hub so that the rope would have something to grip onto. The motor needed some sprucing up as well, from carburetor adjustment, fuel tank repairs, and some other pieces of maintenance before it could run again. With that out of the way it could be hoisted back up a tree at the top of the hill and connected to the long rope.

This isn’t the first time [Jeremy] has had to perform major maintenance on this machine either. Three years ago it needed plenty of work especially around the polyurethane wheel where [Jeremy] also had to machine a new wheel bearing in addition to all the other work that had to go into repairing it that time. From the looks of things though it’s a big hit with his son who zips right back up the hill after each ski run. Getting to the tops of ski runs with minimal effort has been a challenge of skiers and snowboarders alike for as long as the sport has been around, and we’ve seen all kinds of unique solutions to that problem over the years.

DIY Cleats Give You Traction In Ice And Snow

December 24, 2023 by 16 Comments

It’s getting into the cold and snowy season for much of the world, and that means it can be slippy when you go walking outside. If you need more traction, but your shoes don’t have spikes, fear not. You can build yourself a set of these nifty strap-on cleats designed by [Zero To Infinity].

The cleats are a 3D printed design, which [Zero To Infinity] modeled in Fusion 360 to match their own shoes. Obviously, everybody’s shoes differ, so they’ve provided simple instructions on how to design your own similar cleats to suit your personal footwear. They’re then printed in a stiff TPU to give them the right amount of flex for bending to conform to the shoe. The cleats themselves are simply M4 bolts, nuts, and washers screwed through the cleats, pointy-side down. They can then be strapped to a shoe, and you’re done!

We’d love to see a set of snow shoes that are fully printed and ready to accept cleats. Indeed, we’ve seen some neat printed sneaker designs before. They haven’t really caught on yet, but there’s nothing to stop you printing the hottest kicks of 2024 right in your own home. When you do, don’t hesitate to hit up the tipsline!

High-Speed Sled Adds Bicycle Suspension

January 19, 2023 by 3 Comments

While you might have bought the best pair of skis in the 90s or 00s, as parts on boots and bindings start to fail and safety standards for ski equipment improve, even the highest-quality skis more than 15 or 20 years old will eventually become unsafe or otherwise obsolete. There are plenty of things that can be done with a pair of old skis, but if you already have a shot ski and an Adirondack chair made of old skis, you can put another pair to use building one of the fastest sleds we’ve ever seen.

[Josh Charles], the creator of this project, took inspiration from his father, who screwed an old pair of skis to the bottom of an traditional runner sled when he was a kid. This dramatically increased the speed of the sled, but eliminated its ability to steer. For this build [Josh] built a completely custom frame rather than re-use an existing sled, which allowed him to not only build a more effective steering mechanism for the skis, but also to use bicycle suspension components to give this sled better control at high speeds.

This build is part of a series that [Josh] did a few years ago, and you can find additional videos about it documenting his design process and his initial prototypes and testing. The amount of work he put into this build is evident when it’s seen finally traversing some roads that had been closed for winter; he easily gets the sled up in the 30 mph range several times. If you’re looking to go uphill in the snow, though, take a look at this powered snowboard instead.

Continue reading “High-Speed Sled Adds Bicycle Suspension” →

Snow Plowing By Bicycle

January 1, 2023 by 44 Comments

There are few challenges more difficult or dangerous than trying to get around the majority of North American cities by bicycle. Not only is the bicycle infrastructure woefully inadequate for safe travel (if it exists at all), but it’s often not maintained to any reasonable standard, either. This goes double in colder areas, where bike paths can essentially become abandoned in the winter after a snowfall. [Phil] found himself in this situation recently after a snowfall in western Canada and decided to DIY his own bike-powered snowplow to help keep his bike paths cleared.

The plow is built around an electric-assisted cargo bicycle, which is almost as rare in North America as bicycle infrastructure itself, but is uniquely suited to snowplow duty. It has a long wheelbase and a large front cargo area that can be weighed down if needed to ensure the plow makes good contact with the ground. The plow itself is built out of sections of plastic 55-gallon drums, which have been cut into two scooping sections and attached to the bike with a wooden 2×4 frame. The plow can be raised or lowered with a ratchet strap mechanism, and the plastic scoop skips over bumps in the path with relative ease.

With this relatively simple mechanism attached to his bike, [Phil] can make sure the trails that he frequents around Vancouver are more suitable for bike travel in the winter. Riding a bicycle through the winter, even in the coldest of climates, is not that difficult with the right support and investment in infrastructure, and this build is the best DIY solution we’ve seen to bicycle infrastructure support outside of adopting something like this remote-controlled snowblower to the job.

Continue reading “Snow Plowing By Bicycle” →

Ski lift in at a European ski resort

Ski Lift Design Does The Impossible

January 1, 2022 by 21 Comments

Tis The Season, for those who are so inclined, to loft themselves to the top of a steep snow-covered hill and then go downhill, really fast. And if something gets in their way, turn. Whether they be on skis, a snowboard, or some other means, getting down usually involves using gravity. Getting up, on the other hand, usually involves a ski lift. And in the video by [kalsan15] after the break, we learn how technology has stepped in to make even the most inaccessible slopes just a lift ride away.