The book is a civil engineering handbook on winch and cable systems. The handbook may be used as textbook for university studies in civil engineering and forestry and as the basis for studies in schools on a technical level. It should be a useful reference book for construction engineers, civil engineers, logging engineers, foresters and leaders of operational activities under difficult terrain conditions. The content in the book is based on more than 35 years experience with practical winch and cable operations. As a leader of the Norwegian Institute of Forest Operations, the author has carried out research work in this field since 1947. The Institute is the owner of yarders, winches, cable cranes etc., and with its own cable crews the Institute operates as a contractor in its own research forests as well as in other state or privately owned forests throughout Norway. The research work also includes other cable crane operations in Norway and other countries. As the leader of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Study Group on Mechanized Forest Operations the author studied cable operations in most of the Eastern and Western European countries. As president of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations the author visited most forest countries in the world. Information from research and practical cable crane operations were collected. The handbook is based on material on winch and cable systems used in Japan, New Zealand, Soviet Union, Central Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern United States, Western United States and British Columbia.