15,000' expedition

[Prov8]

We need to climb a 15,000' mountain and cut some glacial ice on an archeological expedition... 45% climbs, rubble fields, snow and ice -- advice?

Looking at an Argo 954DT and have a Stihl 310. ATV: Poor clearance, good turbo and nice turn radius. Taking an extra belt and tires. Equipped with 22" track with paddels. Delivered to snow line by a 6x6 Mog with over size tires. Saw: No turbo! mix and cooling are problems. Objective: Manhole access.

Need to ice drill 4x 6" corner holes of the 3' square, then box, X, and + cut the 3x3' cube to make little 1.5' x 1.5' pie shaped segments. Melt through to 1' height segments that can be lifted out.

Looking at a Jonsered 2186 (turbo)???

Target in Turkey. Departure this summer (current objective July 20th).

 

[Prov8]

Found out that that Jonsered turbo is just an air cleaner not a turbo charger - nixed the option. Went back to my Stihl 310. Got in touch with a Stihl application engineer and got a main jet mod.

 

[Prov8]

Anybody know of a good chainsaw adapter to drill earth/ice post holes? We need to drill 6" visual inspection holes.

 

[D'Animal]

You can jet the MS 310 for 15,000 ft elevation but you had better not run it at a lower elevation. It will actually not run right at a lower elevation if jetted to run well at 15,000ft.

It sounds like you are looking for a Core Drill attachment. Many manufacturers make them. They are unauthorized attachments for STIHL equipment. STIHL used to sell a drill attachment that was built by Atom in Australia.

Are you sure you want a saw that small for what you are doing? You will loose 3% of your power for every 1,000ft elevation.

The MS 310 is a 4hp saw at sea level. At 10,000ft elevation is will be making 2.8 hp and at 15,000ft elevation it will be making 2.2hp.

If you started with a 6hp chain saws (MS460) it would be making 4.2hp at 10,000ft elevation. At 15,000 you will have a 3.3hp chain saw.


I would probably recommend a BT 121 for what you are doing. You can still rejet it for higher elevations and it is built to drill and get core samples. It is a lower hp to start with but with the 47.5:1 gear reduction it more than makes up for it.