By: Larry Soo 7/2000

Jon Bruce has a bad 4x4 day while offroading on the R.I.P. trail.

Jon's Big Roll

Coverage courtesy of www.BC4x4.com

My first trail at Rock Crawl 2000 was the infamous R.I.P. (Rest in Pieces). This was my first time driving the trail. Two weeks ago I spent some time walking RIP but was only able to see the first two obstacles. On the second obstacle, Rob Bryce had come extremely close to rolling his Comanche. This time, however, things were even more exciting.

RIP is a five-rated trail which meant that all vehicles had to have front and rear lockers, a winch, and tires that were at least 33" tall. Consequently, all the vehicles in our group were very well equipped. An additional requirement that was unique to RIP was the width limit. All vehicles had to be no wider than 76 inches. This limit was strictly enforced both by the club and the trees.

The trees' width enforcement was in the form of The Guardian, the first obstacle on the trail. It was a slightly off-camber bit of trail flanked on either side by two large trees. There was no way that a full-size truck would fit between the trees. Dave Lippmann's Bronco was the widest vehicle in our group and he ended up getting his new roll cage wedged up against a tree. After The Guardian, we carefully crept along a slick side hill before reaching the next major obstacle. It didn't have a name but for what will become obvious reasons, I'm going to call it "Spin Cycle."

Todd Scharff attempts an optional climb near the start of the trail.	Dave Lippmann catches his new roll cage on the Guardian.
The two sick rock monkeys who created R.I.P.: Rob Brooks (going through the Guardian)...	...and Shane "Beener" Hofer, our trail leader.

When approaching Spin Cycle, you are on a narrow shelf trail with a drop-off on the left. It dead-ends at a thick stand of brush. At that point, it drops down the left bank into a small, shrub-covered gully. What makes this section so difficult are three things: 1) the drop-off is off-camber, 2) the trail above the drop-off is too narrow so you can't approach it straight on, and 3) there is a tree at the bottom that you have to avoid during your descent.

The angle of Mike Underwood's Toyota only begins to illustrate just how steep Spin Cycle really is.	Dave Lippmann was doing fine until he started losing some air. Listing badly to the left, he had to descend very slowly.

Our trail leader, Beener, made the descent look easy. He was the very first person to ever drive a 4x4 on this trail. In fact, he and Rob Brooks were the ones who conceived and executed the idea of turning this trials bike route into a hardcore 4x4 trail. The vehicles that followed Beener did so with much more caution. And caution was certainly warranted. As you descended down the slope, the rear of the vehicle would tend to slip sideways or the passenger side rear wheel would lift off the ground. Both possibilities could easily result in a rollover, which is why it was critically important that you make sure your initial line of descent is perfect.

Jon Bruce learned this the hard way. He turned into the descent too soon, putting the rear of his CJ7 at a bad angle. The rear Swampers slipped sideways, caught traction, the chassis leaned left and the passenger side rear started to lift. Jon's CJ has a very soft 1/4 elliptical rear suspension which might have contributed to the excessive lean although we'll never know for sure. What we do know is that the CJ leaned over so far that it passed the point of no return. It rolled 2 and 3/4 times. As soon as it stopped rolling, we heard Jon cheer that his recently completed roll cage had worked. Everyone was relieved that he was uninjured. Dana Swanson from Randy's Offroad in Washington began directing the repair efforts and within seconds, there was a flurry of activity surrounding the stricken Jeep. The Jeep had suffered cosmetic damage but the only thing that prevented it from being driveable was the broken top link. A hacksaw and some careful filing took care of that problem. A couple of hours later, the Jeep was driveable. Jon had elected to finish the trail rather than turn around. For obvious reasons, the trucks following Jon had made the descent with extremely nervous drivers. Fortunately, everyone made it down without damage.

Jon begins the first of his two rolls.	Everyone pitched in to get the CJ7 running again.	Dave Lippmann is shortening the bent top link tube so Jon can re-thread the upper Heim joint back into it.

Getting out of the gully was difficult. Some rigs were able to drive out, others had to winch. This was partly due to two large rocks that had been kicked onto the trail by one of the trucks in our group. Compounding the difficulty was an arbutus tree at the crest of the hill. In case you're unfamiliar with them, they are extremely strong and very resistant to bending. This particular arbutus had branches that jutted into the trail, waiting to damage our vehicles. It put a very noticeable dent on top of Dave Lippmann's front fender.

After exiting the gully, the next challenge was to climb onto a rock fin while avoiding damage from another arbutus, and then make a hard right off the rock and between two trees. This was a very tight maneuver that required even the shortest vehicles to make multiple point turns.

An even tighter section came shortly after that where we were squeezed between the trees and a huge rock wall. It required some very careful maneuvering even from the short wheelbase vehicles. I was amazed that Todd Scharff squeezed his 4Runner through without taking any damage. In fact, Todd didn't suffer any body damage during the entire run.

Even the shortest 4x4 in our group required a lot of backing & filling to get through this.	Yet another tight squeeze. Rock wall on the passenger's side, tree on the driver's side.	Fortunately for Armin, his fender flares were already partially detached so they never tore all the way off his Jeep.

Immediately after that was the next obstacle, an uneven rock step. Momentum was required to climb the step. While I was making my attempt at the climb, someone noticed that some washers and a nut fell on the ground. I looked at them and realized that they fell off the new motor mount. A certain friend who had changed my mounts for me while I finished welding his bumper must not have properly tightened the nut. Crawling under the Jeep, I was able to confirm that mount was no longer properly seated. Al Berikoff helped me to reseat it but the mounting stud was stripped. Taking Al's advice, I strung my winch cable under the frame and attached the hook onto the mount. Tightening the cable pulled the mount tight against the frame. It would do for now.

Right after that, the trail proceeded downhill along an undulating rock spine. Scott Shannon, an RC regular since its inaugural run, has suggested calling it Ogopogo (the name of the giant snake-like creature that supposedly inhabits Okanagan Lake) and I'd have to second that. It's a very apt name.

Mike "Crash" Kash makes his attempt on the big rock step.	After climbing the step, Crash made a hard left and headed down "Ogopogo."	Another tight section. Jon's approaching the base of Hamburger Hill.

A few more twists and turns later and we found ourselves at the bottom of Hamburger Hill. This section began with an uphill U-turn to the right and quickly turned into an insanely steep climb. To add further challenge, the right half of the trail dropped off to the side about half way up the climb. If you slipped off to the right, you stood an excellent chance of sliding into a large tree. This trail was said to be unclimbable. Everyone who attempted it failed and had to winch their way up. Needless to say, that was all the encouragement Al Berikoff needed.

Al is the owner of 4Offroad in Maple Ridge and a totally nut-job driver. Al is virtually unstoppable in his Toyzuki and he wasn't about to let Hamburger Hill slow him down. His first attempt ended with him sliding hard into the tree. Al backed down and told Cooper, his dog, to get out of the Zuk. Al was about to get crazy.

If you can only watch one person tackle Hamburger Hill, make sure that person is Al Berikoff.

The first few attempts were very impressive and made for great photos. As his subsequent launches became more violent and his driver's side front tire started lifting higher and higher, those of us on the downhill side started getting a little worried. We scuttled off the trail to take refuge behind trees, logs and anything else that would protect us from flying parts or a rolling Toyzuki. After many wild attempts, Al finally admitted defeat. He had come very close to beating the hill but the last few feet eluded him.

When it was my turn at Hamburger Hill, I tried to get into as good a position as possible before winching. In other words, I wanted to see how high I could get under my own power. Not very far, as it turns out. Halfway up, I slid sideways and almost hit the tree. It was time to winch. But even winching up this hill had its dangers. Just as I was about to get past the tree, my passenger side leaned further over, causing my spare tire to get caught on the tree trunk (yes, the trail had a lot of lean). Luckily, someone saw this and warned me before any damage occurred.

A small but difficult hillclimb after Hamburger Hill.

By this time, my Jeep was very close to the tree. Backing down would mean dragging the length of the passenger side into it. Winching forward would either bend the tire carrier or stall the winch. Solution? We unbolted the spare from the carrier. Thanks to Dave and Paul for that. They had to use some force to knock the tire free and when it popped off, the Jeep lurched sideways. I guess it had actually been leaning against the spare. After we winched my Jeep up, everyone got to enjoy watching me struggle to carry my 35x12.5 tire (on a steel rim!!) up the hill.

Following Hamburger Hill was the last major section of the trail. Even reaching it proved to be problematic. Our trail brought us to a clearing with a rock ridge running parallel on our left. The trail veered to the right, towards a V-rock. Turning right to reach the rock was tricky. If you went hard right, you would drag your side into another one of those indestructible arbutus trees. If you went wide right, you would catch your differential on a large rock. It took quite a bit of futzing around to get through but at least you could easily avoid damaging your vehicle. The same could not be said for the V-rock. As it crossed over the rock, the trail dropped about 3-4 feet and leaned to the left. Once again, a tree was waiting to take a bite out of anyone unfortunate enough to slide sideways off the rock. And the odds of sliding were extremely high, thanks to the damp ground. Staying to the right had its own dangers: the V was very high on that side, putting your 4x4 at risk of rolling into the tree. Those were your choices: roll or slide. Most chose to slide while the bystanders jumped in and pushed hard to keep the sheet metal off the tree. Others of us took the high side and used the bystanders as ballast. Personally, I found this line to be more interesting.

Amy guides Crash towards the last major obstacle. Crash needs to make a hard right to reach it but he also has to avoid the arbutus.	Mike Underwood has opted for the high side. You can see how the tree has diverted his attention away from Beener, who is spotting for him.
Mark Wade did a pretty good job of getting through, coming within an inch or two of wiping his paint off on the tree.	Tilting trails were the bane of Jon Bruce's weekend. Here, a bunch of rock monkeys have offered themselves as ballast.

With that obstacle behind us, the remainder of the trail was a relatively easy descent back to the main logging road. But just when I thought I was home free, when I was about one vehicle length from the road, R.I.P. took one last swipe at me. The driver's side of my Jeep slipped into a small hole. It jerked sideways and stopped an inch short of slamming into a tree.

R.I.P. doesn't believe in foreplay. From its very beginning to its very end, R.I.P. demands total concentration from its drivers. There is no cuddling or spooning afterwards. If you want a nasty, trashy trail that has zero respect for you and your 4x4, head over to Sooke and ask for it by name.

...lars