CA4WDC Winter Fun Fest 2000	Short Cuts
| Index | Avalanche | Siberian | Tundra | SUV | Raffle | River Bottom | 4x4Wire Home | 4x4 Trails |	Navigation Menu OutdoorWire Front Page Main Expo Center 4x4 Parts OutdoorWire Site Index Main Links Index 4x4Wire Front Page 4x4 Tech 4x4 Trails

By: Randy Burleson
2/2000

Staging

The trip started out at the staging area, with no snow to be seen, and a light but constant drizzle. We stepped out of our vehicles to air down, meet the other drivers, and scope out the other rigs. There was a good variety of rigs, including the oft-seen Jeep CJs, TJs, and TJs, and Toyota mini trucks and FJ40s. Other rigs included two full-sized Chevy Blazers, a Ford Ranger, an Early Bronco, and a full-size Bronco. The variety of rigs really shows one of CA4WDC's greatest strengths: welcoming all four-wheel drive enthusiasts, regardless of what brand of rig they drive or what level of experience they possess.

Mud Turns to Snow

This big blazer was wider than the tire tracks but did w ell once aired down. Randy Burleson

I started out riding with a family from Modesto in their Blazer. We followed our trail leaders as they ascended up through the rain. The muddy roads slowly turned to muddy snow, then at last, snow! When we hit the snow, we all stopped and aired down even further, to provide a bigger footprint to stay atop the snow. We continued on up the trail and as the snow got deeper, the big Blazer started to have problems. With a wider track than most of the other vehicles on the trail, Gabe had a hard time keeping the Blazer in the packed down ruts, and kept slipping to one side or the other, down into the unpacked snow. With heavy throttle, he could claw back up into the ruts, but sooner or later, he'd slip back down. After airing further down, he did better.

Terry slips closer and closer to the dropoff on his left. Randy Burleson

It didn't hurt that the continued rain continued to pack up the snow. I joined Terry Johnson in his Toyota Extended Cab Truck, and we were doing fine in the deepening snow... until Terry turned to talk to me and the left front wheel of his rig slipped off to the left. He tried to drive back up onto the trail, and from there, it just got worse, until his truck was sitting on its belly. Even after a bit of shoveling, Terry just had far too much truck to be budged by a little CJ5. An older body-by-Rubicon big Blazer pulled out to try to lend a hand, and promptly got stuck. With a stylistic show of wheelspin, he managed to back the Blazer back onto the trail. Terry was finally rescued by a Toyota FJ40 and a winch.

A group (passle? gaggle? flock?) of YJs. Randy Burleson

Deeper Snow, Deeper Holes

The rest of the day was much of the same -- we'd hear over the radio that a truck was stuck, and we'd pull up, get out, and lend a hand. Sometimes we could push or lift a rig enough to get it back on the trail with muscle. Often, we'd have to shovel... and occasionally, we'd strap or winch. The snow sucked in a Teal YJ.... which was pulled out in the forward direction. Then the snow grabbed hold of the big Blazer until the FJ40 strapped him free.

90 degrees to the trail and buried to the frame. Randy Burleson

Just short of our lunch break, a red YJ with the Pro-Comp coil kit executed the best stuck of the day. Driving high on a significant sidehill, he started to lose the rear end downslope. When he locked in his air locker and gassed it, the rear continued to swing, and he ended up perpendicular to the trail, dug in deep. All the articulation and air lockers in the world couldn't help him, and he stayed stuck for most of an hour. After a whole lot of digging and pushing, the trail crew hooked a strap across the frame of the wrangle (where the shackle mounts are on regular leaf-sprung Wranglers) and yanked him back parallel with the trail. The other rigs pretty much coasted through after the trail crew and a bunch of volunteers shoveled to fill the holes and rebuild a trail.

Technique

Any inattention and you'd slither off the tracks downhill. Randy Burleson

Our lunch break was pretty miserable, as the half-rain, half-snow slush continued to fall, and our trail crew decided to turn the parade around. We went out the way we'd come in, and there were fewer stucks... but still enough of them to keep things interesting. The trail was pretty well packed by this time, but people kept sliding off toward the downhill side of the trail. The more experienced folks hugged the downhill side of the trail, running with one wheel up against the snow 'curb.' Pressing the entire sidewall of both tires against this snow curb provided sufficient resistance to keep the rig from sliding off the trail. Less experience folks tried to hug the uphill side, and they'd fishtail up against that same snow curb. The problem was, with only the rear tire touching that snow curb, and even then, crabbing at an oblique angle, that tire would cut through the snow curb instead of leaning against it, and they'd wind up downhill of the trail, wondering what happened.

That big Blazer somehow found the same hole that had claimed it on the way in. He tried to power out, even when being winched. Normally, assisting the winch makes sense, but his Thornbirds just seemed to extend the hole in the direction he was being dragged. This resulted in a snow bank in front of his wheels that the winch just couldn't seem to pull him over.... until he pushed in the clutch and just accepted a dead pull. Without wheel spin, the winch pulled the Blazer up out of his holes, to freedom. Sometimes a dead pull is better, especially with a heavy rig in deep, wet snow.

Miscellaneous Observations

This big blazer's dual lockers kept him struggling against the sidehills. Randy Burleson

The snow was the best packing snow I have ever seen -- the problem was that any sideways slippage resulted in lateral tire tracks (troughs, really), instead of the more traditional longitudinal tracks. Vehicles with automatic lockers seemed to have the worst problems with this, especially on sidehills. They'd start to crab sideways, and wind up short of forward momentum, and at the end of a set of those longitudinal ruts. With snow piled up in front of their tires and behind their tires, they couldn't retreat the way they'd came, and they'd be stuck, unless they jumped out and shoveled or stomped clear tracks back to the path. Rigs with open differentials or manually controlled lockers seemed to have much better luck staying in the ruts and not sliding downhill.

A nicely built YJ with some killer treads. Randy Burleson

We had a guy on the trail with the new Baja Claws. I wasn't expecting much from these tires, since I've watched Boggers in snow (they dig down FAST, which isn't always what you want in deep snow). Every other tire showed at least some degree of snow pack, but even in this wet, amazingly dense snow, I never saw the Claws retain any snow.

For more pictures, CLICK HERE.