Snow Bashing 2010—Turned Rescue Mission??

What’s more fun than running the trail to Woldorf Mine? How about conquering that same trail with over a foot of fresh powder under your tires! When it takes seven tries to make the first switch-back you realize traction is in short supply! After steadily climbing the shelf road buried in snow we encountered a couple of young men. They were forced to spend the night after trying to dig out their late model 4-Runner that was stuck dead in the middle of the road with a broken rear axle. We have never seen a person’s face light up with relief more than that young man running towards our vehicles looking for help. Uncle Warin came to the rescue, as always, with some fancy winch work. We pulled the 4-Runner backwards out of the main trail in order for us to get around it. We then yanked him forward to the point to where he was able to drive out powered only by his front end.

No sooner was our first rescue mission complete; a new Rubicon came barreling up the trail. The driver asked if we could help since his other Rubicon was stranded about a mile up the road with a broken front driveshaft. At this point I decided I would show the trail who was boss and chain up my rear 36’s and make short work of the powder we were forced to drive on. Ronaconer decided to pack down the snow while breaking in his new 35’ Krawaler Pattern BFG Mud Terrains ahead of us. With the rear end chained up I thought all the snow had melted with the amount of traction the Crusher had. Nearly a mile up the trail the other group showed us where the recently purchased Rubicon Unlimited was stranded with a shredded front drive line…I backed all the way down the shelf road in order to give the Jeep a tug back to the mail trail. After unbolting the driveshaft we began to pull the Jeep backwards realizing the rear tires were not moving at all. After about two feet the driver began to holler and scream “Stop, Stop, I’m sliding off the edge!!” After analyzing the situation we realized he had his emergency break on the whole time...The Crusher didn’t seem to mind, but he had a tough time steering. After getting him off the shelf we got him turned around and headed back down the trail with the other Jeep to safety. During this time Ronaconer realized he had been using power steering by Armstrong!! His power steering pump had failed giving him the forearm workout of a lifetime. At this point we decided we had worked up a powerful thirst and our vehicles were pulling us towards “Tommy Knockers” for an ice cold frothy and an ice cold root-beer for the kids!!

If you are going to ready for the Slick Rock why not get started out in the snow!

Cheers Chris…