Hi, I was wondering what the work schedules look like for winter logging. Is it 8 hours of work per day for 5 days a week? Do you work night or when it is dark? thx
We always worked 12 hour days. 4:30 am to 4:30 pm but It was in equipment with full cabs and lights. If you were hand cutting you would be limited to daylight hours.
With the old skidder and chainsaw crews it was daylight only. Now with the feller bunchers, processors and forwarders they seem to go around the clock on some sites.
Winter time is go time especially if you have any major freeze downs to contend with. The couple of days spent not goofing around in November and beginning of December become pretty valuable when your roads are going for a s*** in March. Most contractors ( everything is mechanized, no hand fallers ) where I am try and work a 12 hour day, 10 days on, 4 days off. If they're from out of province, some will work as long as 4 weeks straight, one week off to make in worthwhile to fly home.
How about spring break? how long is it?
If someone could accurately predict that now a days, they'd be a rich person. It used to be you could always count on 7-10 days of warning, where at least you could get a little cold weather at night to continue the haul and get your camps out. It seems now, ( in the last 5-7 years ) you're pushing your luck after St Patrick's day in northern Alberta anyways. I've noticed that lately, it seems to turn within 2-3 days, then its push pull drag time. The other issue to consider is that once it warms up, its pretty hard to keep workers around if they have been in camp all winter.
We were always shut down 1-2 months in the spring. That was when everything got hauled to the shop and ready for the next year.