BPB's Easter Snow Run - 4/7/12

[TORX]

After getting some miles on the Nail Salon's new setup, I was starting to get the itch to take it out on it's first shake down run. BPB was in a similar situation with the Quad Trail's MJ. We decided to head up into the snow on Saturday, and then camp out that night in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It would be a small group of myself, BPB, Dellstopjeep, and BPB's buddy Casey.

We all met up at BPB's Used Car Lot Saturday afternoon to head out. Weather was gorgeous.

Seeing the Quad Trails MJ on public road was a surreal experience.

The drive out went fairly smooth. Quad Trail's was billowing out smoke the entire drive from a leaky oil seal. It literally looked like the truck was on fire going down the road. Like any shake down run there's always things to check/tweak. In this case BPB lost power to his gauges.

Weather was great, and the views were better.

After a short time on gravel we found the snow line. We received some fresh snow a few days before, so the tracks from the past had a few inches of new snow in them. We decided to air down here and see what trouble we could get into.

BPB leading the way.

Not long after progress basically stopped. I was at the back of the line, so I slowly got out of the tracks and made a pass to the front.

Eric followed suit.

Being locked front and rear, Eric and I lead the way. Running order is critical in the snow, and you find out quick what works.

BPB and Casey making their way up.

Progress was steady for awhile. Eventually I broke out onto the ridge side.

Walked back down the road to see where the group was.

After making some pressure changes they were on their way again.

Regrouped.

 

[TORX]

Continuing on, it's always fun traversing the snow drifts and melt off sections.

I tried to break trail on the high side of this corner knowing as more rigs ran through it would slowly suck them in. Eric tested that theory.

Pirate tires did a good job of sinking the Jeep to the frame.

BPB was quick to offer a pull back.

Group continuing on.

Casey's Toyota (open/open on 30's) was working hard to keep up. Eric and I would make it a ways up the road, and then stop to regroup. You can see that I wasn't pushing too much snow. I was able to pretty much stay on top of the old snow, so progress was great. It's always a weird feeling being on top of a few feet of snow.

Eventually it was getting to be around 6:00. We decided to call it, and get everyone turned around. I think if we had an earlier start we could have pushed over the top without too much work.

On the way down, Ben noticed he was basically running on his run flat. Turns out his bead was leaking. Props to Eric for bringing a floor jack.

We headed back down the road, and found a spur road that had an awesome camp site right next to Copper Creek. Eric and I built an Eiffel Tower with Quad Trails.

First flex test on the Nail Salon. While getting back in, my Jeep started to slip off Ben's tire. I had the door open at the time, and it got caught on Ben's bed. Basically my driver's door had the weight of my Jeep on it. I was able to reverse out of it, and much to everyone's surprise there was just a small dent on the bottom of the door.

Successful return from a wood run.

For a quick run without a solid plan, this turned out to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to getting back into the snow, and camping in some good weather.

 

[streetpirate]

OMG the quad trail mj is alive!

 

[jonesinxj]

As always torx, great write up! Thanks for sharing