It would work, but it would probably not be practical in terms of materials - any significantly huge gear ratio driven from the low-motion side will run into problems with the strength of the gears and the degree of friction involved (and the steady-state static friction pressure & friction loss per second of the fastest gears being sufficiently large to make it impossible to move the slowest gears at all)- and even if you have an impossibly strong frictionless gearbox, the strength of the contact patches with the objects themselves becomes the weak point - the pressure will impress a hole right through the tectonic plates, rock, or glacier you're dealing with, rather than spinning the gears.