Cable logging is a logging

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

 method primarily used on the West Coast of North America with yarder

Yarder

A yarder is piece of logging equipment which uses a system of cables to pull or fly logs from the stump to the landing. It generally consists of an engine, drums, and spar, but has a range of such as the Swing yarder.-Early Yarders:...

, loaders

Loader (equipment)

A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to load material into or onto another type of machinery .-Heavy equipment front loaders:A loader A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to load material (such as asphalt,...

 and grapple yarders

Grapple yarders

A grapple yarder is a piece of large crawler tracked logging equipment with tongs used to move logs. It is used primarily on the Pacific West Coast of North America....

.

The cables can be rigged in several configurations.

There are two classes.

1. High lead logging, in which a simple loop of cable runs from the yarder
   Yarder
   A yarder is piece of logging equipment which uses a system of cables to pull or fly logs from the stump to the landing. It generally consists of an engine, drums, and spar, but has a range of such as the Swing yarder.-Early Yarders:...
   
    out through pulley blocks anchored to stumps at the far end of the cut.
2. Skyline
   Skyline logging
   Skyline logging are terms in forestry, in which harvested logs are transported on a suspended steel cable, a cableway or "highline", from various locations where the trees are felled to a central location, typically next to a road for logistical reasons...
   
   , in which a carriage, pulled by hauling cables, runs along a skyline cable, providing vertical lift to the logs.

Into this there are varieties of loading systems.

While skyline logging requires additional setup time, the vertical lift of the skyline allows faster yarding, which can outweigh the additional labor costs, especially on larger harvest units.

Since the 1980s Grapple Yarders have become popular.

Skyline and grapple yarding, however, require more complex and expensive equipment.