Re: End of Year Flagpole Ride - Last Official Club Ride of 2012
« Reply #266 on: December 30, 2012, 03:05:09 PM »
Quote
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Here's how it went down.
We had a group of four Jeeps, two with winches. We left a little before 10:00. Got to the trail and pulled off next to the lake to air down and disconnect, and hit the trail. Not too many problems getting to the top, although Overhead, in the back of the pack, had to winch a four or five times since the preceding rigs packed the snow down. Even with these small setbacks, we got to the intersection of Union Springs and Spritzer in a little over 2 hours. At this point, I asked the group which direction they wanted to take, telling them the easy way was to the right, more challenging to the left. Given the speed with which we arrived at the top, conditions that were more favorable than expected, and a small amount of other traffic seen, I anticipated 3-4 hours to get to the downhill on Union Springs (easy, fire road exit trail). I figured going down that hill at dark (4pm) wouldn't be a big deal since it was all simple grades. I also figured we would skip the steps and take the bypass and that would make it easier. I expected to have to winch people up the last bit between the steps and the mud pits, but figured that with only four rigs and two winches, this would be pretty quick work. Everyone said they were up for anything (little did they know...) so I made the call to head toward Meadow.
I went first down the big downhill and it really wasn't too bad. 4Lo, 1st gear, and managed to keep plenty of control. As long as you didn't touch the brakes you could slow down easily and maintain control. Unfortunately, bigyjjeeper's Jeep stalled out when he tried to compression brake, which made for a more hairy decent. Everyone got down safely though, and while kind of tricky, we made it to Meadow Knob in pretty decent time. Overhead had lowered his air pressure, so he was climbing hills much more successfully than he was originally. We had a couple places where we had to winch a couple of the rigs, but still doing pretty well. In a small group of 4, it wasn't too much of a problem.
When we got to Meadow Knob, things started to decline. There was a large group at the top, with 8 or more rigs still working their way up coming the other way. I had planned on not having to stop at Meadow, just pushing through. Didn't work out that way. We had to wait 45 minutes to an hour for the group to get clear. By the time we hit the steps, it was about 3:00 or 3:30 - not sure exactly, it wasn't dark yet though.
We had a couple of other rigs behind our group that I thought we were holding up, so I let them go in front of us. As it turned out, they weren't that much better equipped than we were, just a little more crazy. They planned on taking the steps, we planned on taking the bypass. When they got in front of us, they changed their minds. This probably ended up working in our favor, as the bypass was much steeper than I remembered and very slick. While one of the two other rigs (an XJ on 35s) tried the bypass, I set up to get our group up via the steps - we needed to press forward and not wait while the other group rocked their way up the bypass.
I set Overhead to task first, since he had the easier winch to manage. Took a running start and made it partway up the non-rocky path around the steps, to the left of the tree. Winched him up the rest of the way and parked him right where the steps path merged with the bypass path. Wanted to put him up higher, but didn't want to impeded the progress of the other group. I figured they wouldn't make it far and we would be ahead of them and winch our way up while they were still pounding it.
Then I set Sail2Jeep to task via the steps. The snow had actually filled in much of the gaps in the rocks, so it was easier than normal to climb. Once again, he got about halfway up and we winched him. He only made it about halfway through the winch cable before the winch stopped pulling. Just clicked. Even after sitting and charging, the winch gave no love. My two-winch plan was now a one-winch situation. To complicate matters, the other XJ (we'll call him XJ35) was actually progressing and had worked it's way to the intersection of the two paths, blocking my winch paths. Bad to worse.
While waiting for XJ35, we scoped out anchor and staging points. There were three good ones. The only thing we could do was get Overhead up, turned around, pull the other three rigs up, and repeat. It was going to be a long night. It was close to dark at this point.
XJ35 started to overheat and needed some cool down time, so we started our group up. It was very challenging just to get him up and turned around without slipping down the mountain. We did, though, with a combination of winching, strapping, and my trusty come-along. We got Hazen up and staged first. Then XJ35 woke up again, and with some brutal engine revving actually made it to the top (The other guy in his group, a yellow TJ, was still at the bottom staged in front of the bypass). Then we got bigyjjeeper up using a combination of winch cable and tow straps. XJ35 and YellowTJ started helping with the recovery effort, and the extra hands were really appreciated.
SafariJeep was the only one left in our group, and so she had a go at the steps. Same situation - halfway up, winched the rest of the way. Then we offered to help winch YellowTJ up too since the two of them were incredibly helpful, and one more rig on the winch couldn't add that much more time. So we got all five rigs up to the first staging point. I think it was about 6:30 at this point.
Back to overhead. We winched him up to the next staging point. I had intended to set him up there and pull the other rigs as far as we could, then do it again. With my 50 feet of strap and the length of Overhead's winch line, I figured that was all we could manage. However, we ended up rounding up another 50 feet or more of straps (plus extra), and so we anchored Overhead at an ideal staging point just short of the mud flats. It went around a curve which wasn't ideal, but since the straps were the ones taking the friction on the trees and not the winch line, and since the winch line was synthetic reducing the danger if something broke, we went for it. We pulled Yellow TJ up first since he was in the best position. Pulled him the length of the winch cable, deleted a strap, pulled cable out, and did it again. I think this process took about 2 to 3 winch pulls per rig, depending on when the rig could get up under its own power (some sooner than others). Then we pulled up SafariJeep using the same process. With these two rigs up, there was only one little hill to get climb, but it was extremely slick. There was a liiiiiiittle space with enough powder to get a running start. I tried it first and got TO THE TOP but it was all ice and I ended up slipping back down. YellowTJ gave it a running start and after a couple tries made it. Holy crap, someone made it to the top. It was amazing how much this meant to us mentally. Someone did it. We could all do it. I figure it was about 9:30 or 10 at this point.
SafariJeep made another running attempt with similar results. This time, though, instead of slipping down, she stayed at the top, just with no forward progress. We hooked a kinectic strap and tow strap from Safari to XJ35. This got her out, and to the top. Two rigs at the top. Getting there.
At this point things went pretty smoothly. We had a good system in place. Bigyjjeeper next. Hook up the series of straps to the winch line, winch, stop, run out the line again, pull him up, stage him. Then Sail2Jeep. After getting winched to the staging area, Sail2Jeep attempted the last hill and walked right up it (what!?!). Bigyjjeeper made it about halfway and we snatch-strapped him the rest of the way. Just overhead left. His new bored out 4cyl creates a lot of wheelspin, so we ended up having to winch him the rest of the way (opted for that instead of the strap, since it was there). Finally, all 4 (now 6) rigs made it to the top. It was 11:00.
We started the slow, careful decent but had no issues whatsoever. Some fresh powder and wide trails probably helped. No problems on the switchbacks - nice 4Lo crawl kept everyone in control. We caravanned to Sheetz (Sheetz never looked so pretty), gassed up, got some warm food and drinks, aired up, reconnected, and rolled out. At 2:00am.
I know we had some concerned passengers as well as drivers. But thankfully, we had no breakages and no injuries. As mentioned, we had plenty of supplies, blankets, and water for the worst situation (which, notably, this was not - we got out and did not have to spend the night there). I want to congratulate everyone and thank them for their patience, for keeping their cool, and for their help in the recovery efforts. It definitely kept a bad situation from being worse. Also special thanks to Overhead for managing outside communications and for his winch.
1990 XJ Laredo with Zombie Apocolypse Mods
3" (ish?) budget boost
31" Mickey Thompson Bajas
JKS Disconnects
"Built, not bought"
"Damn RENIX..." - Me, every single day
« Reply #266 on: December 30, 2012, 03:05:09 PM »
Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's how it went down.
We had a group of four Jeeps, two with winches. We left a little before 10:00. Got to the trail and pulled off next to the lake to air down and disconnect, and hit the trail. Not too many problems getting to the top, although Overhead, in the back of the pack, had to winch a four or five times since the preceding rigs packed the snow down. Even with these small setbacks, we got to the intersection of Union Springs and Spritzer in a little over 2 hours. At this point, I asked the group which direction they wanted to take, telling them the easy way was to the right, more challenging to the left. Given the speed with which we arrived at the top, conditions that were more favorable than expected, and a small amount of other traffic seen, I anticipated 3-4 hours to get to the downhill on Union Springs (easy, fire road exit trail). I figured going down that hill at dark (4pm) wouldn't be a big deal since it was all simple grades. I also figured we would skip the steps and take the bypass and that would make it easier. I expected to have to winch people up the last bit between the steps and the mud pits, but figured that with only four rigs and two winches, this would be pretty quick work. Everyone said they were up for anything (little did they know...) so I made the call to head toward Meadow.
I went first down the big downhill and it really wasn't too bad. 4Lo, 1st gear, and managed to keep plenty of control. As long as you didn't touch the brakes you could slow down easily and maintain control. Unfortunately, bigyjjeeper's Jeep stalled out when he tried to compression brake, which made for a more hairy decent. Everyone got down safely though, and while kind of tricky, we made it to Meadow Knob in pretty decent time. Overhead had lowered his air pressure, so he was climbing hills much more successfully than he was originally. We had a couple places where we had to winch a couple of the rigs, but still doing pretty well. In a small group of 4, it wasn't too much of a problem.
When we got to Meadow Knob, things started to decline. There was a large group at the top, with 8 or more rigs still working their way up coming the other way. I had planned on not having to stop at Meadow, just pushing through. Didn't work out that way. We had to wait 45 minutes to an hour for the group to get clear. By the time we hit the steps, it was about 3:00 or 3:30 - not sure exactly, it wasn't dark yet though.
We had a couple of other rigs behind our group that I thought we were holding up, so I let them go in front of us. As it turned out, they weren't that much better equipped than we were, just a little more crazy. They planned on taking the steps, we planned on taking the bypass. When they got in front of us, they changed their minds. This probably ended up working in our favor, as the bypass was much steeper than I remembered and very slick. While one of the two other rigs (an XJ on 35s) tried the bypass, I set up to get our group up via the steps - we needed to press forward and not wait while the other group rocked their way up the bypass.
I set Overhead to task first, since he had the easier winch to manage. Took a running start and made it partway up the non-rocky path around the steps, to the left of the tree. Winched him up the rest of the way and parked him right where the steps path merged with the bypass path. Wanted to put him up higher, but didn't want to impeded the progress of the other group. I figured they wouldn't make it far and we would be ahead of them and winch our way up while they were still pounding it.
Then I set Sail2Jeep to task via the steps. The snow had actually filled in much of the gaps in the rocks, so it was easier than normal to climb. Once again, he got about halfway up and we winched him. He only made it about halfway through the winch cable before the winch stopped pulling. Just clicked. Even after sitting and charging, the winch gave no love. My two-winch plan was now a one-winch situation. To complicate matters, the other XJ (we'll call him XJ35) was actually progressing and had worked it's way to the intersection of the two paths, blocking my winch paths. Bad to worse.
While waiting for XJ35, we scoped out anchor and staging points. There were three good ones. The only thing we could do was get Overhead up, turned around, pull the other three rigs up, and repeat. It was going to be a long night. It was close to dark at this point.
XJ35 started to overheat and needed some cool down time, so we started our group up. It was very challenging just to get him up and turned around without slipping down the mountain. We did, though, with a combination of winching, strapping, and my trusty come-along. We got Hazen up and staged first. Then XJ35 woke up again, and with some brutal engine revving actually made it to the top (The other guy in his group, a yellow TJ, was still at the bottom staged in front of the bypass). Then we got bigyjjeeper up using a combination of winch cable and tow straps. XJ35 and YellowTJ started helping with the recovery effort, and the extra hands were really appreciated.
SafariJeep was the only one left in our group, and so she had a go at the steps. Same situation - halfway up, winched the rest of the way. Then we offered to help winch YellowTJ up too since the two of them were incredibly helpful, and one more rig on the winch couldn't add that much more time. So we got all five rigs up to the first staging point. I think it was about 6:30 at this point.
Back to overhead. We winched him up to the next staging point. I had intended to set him up there and pull the other rigs as far as we could, then do it again. With my 50 feet of strap and the length of Overhead's winch line, I figured that was all we could manage. However, we ended up rounding up another 50 feet or more of straps (plus extra), and so we anchored Overhead at an ideal staging point just short of the mud flats. It went around a curve which wasn't ideal, but since the straps were the ones taking the friction on the trees and not the winch line, and since the winch line was synthetic reducing the danger if something broke, we went for it. We pulled Yellow TJ up first since he was in the best position. Pulled him the length of the winch cable, deleted a strap, pulled cable out, and did it again. I think this process took about 2 to 3 winch pulls per rig, depending on when the rig could get up under its own power (some sooner than others). Then we pulled up SafariJeep using the same process. With these two rigs up, there was only one little hill to get climb, but it was extremely slick. There was a liiiiiiittle space with enough powder to get a running start. I tried it first and got TO THE TOP but it was all ice and I ended up slipping back down. YellowTJ gave it a running start and after a couple tries made it. Holy crap, someone made it to the top. It was amazing how much this meant to us mentally. Someone did it. We could all do it. I figure it was about 9:30 or 10 at this point.
SafariJeep made another running attempt with similar results. This time, though, instead of slipping down, she stayed at the top, just with no forward progress. We hooked a kinectic strap and tow strap from Safari to XJ35. This got her out, and to the top. Two rigs at the top. Getting there.
At this point things went pretty smoothly. We had a good system in place. Bigyjjeeper next. Hook up the series of straps to the winch line, winch, stop, run out the line again, pull him up, stage him. Then Sail2Jeep. After getting winched to the staging area, Sail2Jeep attempted the last hill and walked right up it (what!?!). Bigyjjeeper made it about halfway and we snatch-strapped him the rest of the way. Just overhead left. His new bored out 4cyl creates a lot of wheelspin, so we ended up having to winch him the rest of the way (opted for that instead of the strap, since it was there). Finally, all 4 (now 6) rigs made it to the top. It was 11:00.
We started the slow, careful decent but had no issues whatsoever. Some fresh powder and wide trails probably helped. No problems on the switchbacks - nice 4Lo crawl kept everyone in control. We caravanned to Sheetz (Sheetz never looked so pretty), gassed up, got some warm food and drinks, aired up, reconnected, and rolled out. At 2:00am.
I know we had some concerned passengers as well as drivers. But thankfully, we had no breakages and no injuries. As mentioned, we had plenty of supplies, blankets, and water for the worst situation (which, notably, this was not - we got out and did not have to spend the night there). I want to congratulate everyone and thank them for their patience, for keeping their cool, and for their help in the recovery efforts. It definitely kept a bad situation from being worse. Also special thanks to Overhead for managing outside communications and for his winch.
1990 XJ Laredo with Zombie Apocolypse Mods
3" (ish?) budget boost
31" Mickey Thompson Bajas
JKS Disconnects
"Built, not bought"
"Damn RENIX..." - Me, every single day
