Photo: Backyard Boarder Co
Ski lifts – or more specifically, ski resorts – have been having a rough year, so maybe it’s time to take things into our own hands. One amateur snowboarder recently did just that when he made a tow rope out of a used lawnmower.
The contraption is showcased in a YouTube video by Rosas Leon of Backyard Boarder Co. In it, the Winnipeg snowboarder details the process of converting a rusted-out riding mower into his very own personal lift.
“I just bought an old lawnmower on Facebook Marketplace,” explains Leon. “It was really rough when I got it. The whole wiring had to be redone. I didn’t want to wreck the lawn mower, just so I could always sell it after if I needed to. So everything I did is bolted onto a plate or bolted into existing holes.”
Though the work is all reversible, that doesn’t mean he didn’t perform some pretty significant modifications to the machine. He attached an extra tire to the mower’s back wheel to create a groove for the tow rope. After that, he bolted a crude lock on the opposing wheel, to put all the lawnmower’s 10 horses into the pulley system.
“It’s got more than enough power to pull three people up and it’s like we’re riding at an actual ski resort,” he described.
How did he come up with this plan, you may ask? Well, his answer to that question is as much in the DIY spirit as the contraption itself: “I just saw a YouTube video and [thought] ‘I can do that.’”
