NARRATOR: In Northwest Washington,
Jason Rygaard rallies his crew for the longest
corridor they'll face on their new job site.
For the loggers, a road is a clear path
through the trees for the skyline
to haul logs up to the landing.
the skyline's a 100-foot high cable
system that hauls trees from the cutters to the processor.
Their road runs 900 feet from the landing to the tail hold,
much longer than usual.
Spanning a steep valley has made it
difficult to find a clear path.
At the bottom of the mountain, the cutters
slice through trees.
[trees falling]
And riggers lasso them with a choker.
Then yarder operator Steve Winters
uses the skyline to fly the trees up
to the landing, where Paul Baker bucks the logs
to size with the processor.
Then, Jason's father, Craig, sorts and stacks
the logs for the trucks, making sure they
go to the right mills.
Hey, dad.
Are we going to have any wood for tomorrow?
[sighs]
We need to get it finished by the end of the day.
MAN 1: Here it comes.
[crashing]
Here it comes.
Hurry up. Let's go.
Hurry up.
[beeping]
This is one of the best corridors so far.
Take this one too.
FERNANDO GONZALEZ: All three?
JASON RYGAARD: Why not?
Get it out of here.
FERNANDO GONZALEZ: I think it's a little bit too big, isn't it?
JASON RYGAARD: Yeah. - Vamanos, [inaudible], man.
Gotta pull it.
NARRATOR: To stay on schedule, Jason
orders his crew to yard up three logs at once instead of two--
9,000 pounds versus 6,000 pounds.
[beeping]
He got her.
Nope.
NARRATOR: Jason's plan didn't work,
but not because of the weight.
The skyline's the problem.
The rigging crew hasn't used this section of skyline
yet, because they start at the top
and work their way down the mountain.
Now, Jason notices this lower section of skyline
is dangerously close to the trees.
It's known as a crooked skyline.
JASON RYGAARD: Got the skyline rubbing on a tree
there, rubbing on trees there.
And the tail tree's clear over here.
NARRATOR: If the carriage gets hung up in the trees,
it could rip everything down.
The crew has to move the skyline or risk disaster.
We're going to have to unhook the skyline
and move it back over to get in the corridor.
I don't know how long it'll take.
But it's going to take longer than I wanted it to.
It's a long road.
We should be just yarding all day, not [bleep]
around with moving the skyline.
NARRATOR: Jason Rygaard makes the call to move the tail hold
and swing the skyline away from the trees.
It's not just rubbing on that tree right there.
And it's rubbing on the next tree.
And it needs to be moved in the back end probably 60, 70 feet.
That involves stringing wire and moving the road again.
Instead of being able to just yard all day,
we're going to have to move the road.
STEVE WINTERS: Just like every other business in America,
time is money.
By now, the line is too far to the right side.
It is against the trees.
So that's not good.
NARRATOR: The wire needs a clear path,
or the carriage hits the trees and can't
get up and down the mountain.
The cable could also fray and snap,
sending the 1 ton carriage crashing down on the crew.
To reposition the skyline, the crew needs to identify
a new tree for the tail hold.
The steep valley requires the skyline's
tail hold to be anchored to trees on the far ridge.
This makes it tricky to keep this skyline
straight and clear of trees on the route up to the landing.
Adding to the challenge, workers down in the valley
can't see the yarder up top on the landing.
So the crew communicates using an old school
and trusted logging technique-- a handheld device called
the whistle, or Talkie Tooter.
[beeping]
It sends an electronic signal up to there,
which makes the horn go off.
That's what the whistles are-- the beep,
beep, beeps, like one to stop, one to slack,
three to go ahead on it.
NARRATOR: But with the Rygaard crews spread
out over a quarter mile, communications
are falling apart faster than they can pull a skyline.
What the [bleep] do they want?
They keep slacking it down and picking it back up.
I don't know what the hell is going on.
This guy is so slow.
I don't know why it's so slow.
JASON RYGAARD: So I don't know what the [bleep] he's doing.
Tell your [bleep] crew!
You see?
Stupid [bleep]
NARRATOR: Hearing conflicting whistles,
Steve isn't sure if they need slack on the line
or if they're ready for him to tighten it.
[beeping]
Put down.
MAN 3: Roger!
JASON RYGAARD: You got to be half
mechanic to be an operator, because there's always
little things that happen.
[beeping]
And a guy's got to be able to fix them on the fly,
or you won't be working.
We had some problems.
But--
[beeping]
--the guys have stuck it out today
and really poured it on, stayed a little bit later.
But we're going to get it done and be
ready to move the yarder.
I wouldn't say it was a good day.
But nobody's hurt.
The road's done.
And we can move on to the next road.
And hopefully, the next one will go better.