How far can I go before I get stuck, or....

[Stargazer]

...How far can I go before I get stuck?


Remember, having 4x4 only means you get stuck further along the road . I went out to test out that theory on Sunday.

My goal was to get to the top of Brohm Ridge (above Cat Lake) just north of Squamish. I had been there in the summer and there's an abandoned ski lift at the top (from a planned ski resort that never developed).

It's about 8.5 km from the trail head (Hwy 99) to the top and I almost made it....

Pic 1: Cat Lake parking lot--empty, no one around, very quiet. Someone's been ripping pages out of the owner's manual of a Sony cardeck in the outhouse. Time for some fun in the snow!



Pic 2: Fresh snow. No tracks. We'll be the only ones to go up since the last snowfall. (The road goes up between the trees behind the girls.)



Pic 3: We get stuck going around one of the switchbacks about half-way up the mountian. I put on the chains and continue upward. We are rewarded with this view shortly afterward:

Picture 3

At about 7.6 km from the trail head one of the tire chains breaks while we round a bend . That's it. We can go no further because I have no traction. I take the broken chains off.

Pic 4: This picture was taken after I had backed down the slope:

Picture 4

That was tricky, because being in reverse, I couldn't take advantage the the truck's low gear and I actually slid about 10 ft. backwards with the wheels locked because the snow had iced-up underneath. I had to put the broken chains back on for a little traction so that I wouldn't slide all the way to the bottom.

Pic 5: Luckily, at the bend there's enough room for me to back into the shrubs and turn around. I really didn't want to go in reverse down the entire mountain:

Picture 5

Pic 6: This is the best view from the highest point that we got. We were so close to the top!

Picture 6

No more pics, but on our way down there were a couple of scary moments (neither of which Teresa or I admitted until we were back on solid pavement ).

1. After turning around and going back down, Teresa noticed that the right rear wheel is not turning. I stop and put the car in park but cannot activate the parking brake. WTF? I go out and look and, yes, we had been dragging that wheel for about 30 ft. I look under the car and the broken chain had wrapped itself around the axle. Hmmm....I think to myself...a pair of cutters would be a good thing to pack in my emergency kit for next time. I ask Teresa to turn off the engine, but don't mention anything else. Luckily, I'm able to untangle it and we are on our way down again.

2. Another steep slope (they never look that steep when you're going up). Very icy. ABS not working. Learning from when we slid last time with the wheels locked, I pump the brakes. We pick up speed and the car squirms from side to side. Nerve-racking (sp) because to the left of me is solid rock and to the right is the drop-off. Good for us is the fact the this part is straight and I am able to finally stop where it levels off a bit. Teresa and I don't say anything to each other.

3. We approach another incline. This time it's really, really steep. I can't see over the edge--looks like a cliff edge. (We came up this?! :damn: ) I get out and take a look. At the bottom of the incline is a bend and I picture the Sequoia sliding down the ice and over the edge. I tell Teresa: I'm just going to break up the ice a bit before we go down....just in-case--be right back!

I start digging and shoveling, breaking the ice and thinking: next time, bring some cat litter or sand. After about 20 min. I think to myself, there's no way I can shovel the whole mountain--I hate shoveling my own driveway! We can't stay up here and there's no other way down. I've done the best I can to reduce the risk so now we have to take the plunge.

I climb back up the hill and tell Teresa that we're going to go down. I wait a minute or so to catch my breath. Then I put it into low and we go. We don't slide at all and the curve is not as bad as I thought. Whew! We're home free!!!! We leave the Squamish area just as the sun is setting.

Anyway, now I have a better idea of what the truck is capable of. The chains helped but they're not really suited to the hardcore situations I like to get myself into. (I really need to get that winch once day.)

I usually pride myself in being prepared for any situation and not putting my family at undue risk. Two things happened that I didn't anticipate and cause the day to be more adventurous than I planned:

1. I didn't think about the tire chains breaking. I knew that I wasn't supposed to spin the wheels with the chains on, but I thought that was to prevent damage to the vehicle. I spun the wheels to get around a soft spot and the chains broke. Without the chains, we were really crippled.

2. I didn't think about ice forming under the tracks we made going up the mountain. The snow was very sticky (perfect for snowballs) but after we drove on it, it turned to solid ice. It made it very treacherous to come down on especially without the chains.

P.S. Man, I am so lucky that Teresa puts up with all the things I put her through!

[wylcat]

Cool story but I would like to point out some other things you might not have thought about.

RULES OF OFF ROADING: (I numbered them but are not really rule #'s)
#1- NEVER GO OFF ROAD ALONE, ESPECIALLY ON A TRAIL YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN ON!
even tho you had your "very understanding" Wife with you, you should have had another truck with you.
#2- IF IT CAN HAPPEN IT WILL HAPPEN, ITS BETTER TO BE OVER PREPARED THEN UNPREPARED.
when you broke the chain you probably could have made a temporary repair with some bailing wire or even a coat hanger, but the best idea would be to have a backup set of chains.
#3- WHEN DRIVING UPHILL OR DOWNHILL ON A SNOW COVERED TRAIL USE THE LOWEST GEAR AVAILABLE, AND KEEP THE WHEELS FROM LOCKING UP OR SPINNING.
you mentioned not being able to take advantage of low gear in reverse, did you have the transfer case in 4lo? if you did then you have a low gear reverse as well. also I have found that locking the center diff. on my mothers sequoia helped in the snow alot when going through the fresh powdery stuff.

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by wylcat

Cool story but I would like to point out some other things you might not have thought about.

RULES OF OFF ROADING: (I numbered them but are not really rule #'s)
#1- NEVER GO OFF ROAD ALONE, ESPECIALLY ON A TRAIL YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN ON!

Yeah, that rule's in my head all the time that I go out. That's why I don't usually tackle anything too challenging or deep (until I get that winch, that is ). I don't know anyone around here with a family who's interested in doing the same things we do so we've been sticking to well travelled routes. I was on this particular road in the summer, but this was our first winter trip. I also waited because it had been warm and dry for the past little while and the temperature was just starting to go down again so there was relatively little snow on the ground. I was careful about keeping track of our distance from the trail head and we were always in cell phone coverage. The road itself is a loop so actually while I was breaking up the ice on the last steep slope, another truck came by. A handheld GPS is also on my shopping list .

Originally Posted by wylcat

#2- IF IT CAN HAPPEN IT WILL HAPPEN, ITS BETTER TO BE OVER PREPARED THEN UNPREPARED.
when you broke the chain you probably could have made a temporary repair with some bailing wire or even a coat hanger, but the best idea would be to have a backup set of chains.

Absolutely correct. It just never occured to me that the chains would break--I guess that's part of my learning experience. That's a good idea about the wire/coat hangers and I'll definitely be adding that to my emergency kit. As for new chains, I'm going to see if old ones can be repaired and I've been considering getting a set of SnowClaws: http://www.autoklene.com/snochains/snoclaws.htm I definitely won't be tackling any more 100% grade hills during the winter in the back country .

Originally Posted by wylcat

#3- WHEN DRIVING UPHILL OR DOWNHILL ON A SNOW COVERED TRAIL USE THE LOWEST GEAR AVAILABLE, AND KEEP THE WHEELS FROM LOCKING UP OR SPINNING.
you mentioned not being able to take advantage of low gear in reverse, did you have the transfer case in 4lo? if you did then you have a low gear reverse as well. also I have found that locking the center diff. on my mothers sequoia helped in the snow alot when going through the fresh powdery stuff.

I had it on 4lo with the center diff locked. I guess I was trying to reverse too slowly so the gear never had a chance to help. I moved back a couple of feet and tried to stop and couldn't because the wheels were locked.

Going down, I thought that I had shifted to L but the hill where I had to pump the brakes has got me having second thoughts. Maybe I only had it in 2--I can't recall because things were kinda hairy at the time and I didn't have time to look. When I went down the steepest hill, I was definitely in L and I made it down no problem.

Anyway, part of the reason for me posting this is to evaluate my experience so that I can learn from what happened. I appreciate the feedback .

[Ademadude1960]

Absolutely correct. It just never occured to me that the chains would break--I guess that's part of my learning experience. That's a good idea about the wire/coat hangers and I'll definitely be adding that to my emergency kit. As for new chains, I'm going to see if old ones can be repaired and I've been considering getting a set of SnowClaws: http://www.autoklene.com/snochains/snoclaws.htm I definitely won't be tackling any more 100% grade hills during the winter in the back country .


Hey i found something better than those Snowclaws i think. there is a company called go claws and they make these weird claws that you can use in snow, mud, and sand! They attach to the wheels using zinc-coated steel fasteners and the chambers on it are self cleaning, self tracking, and self tensioning. They look pretty good but i thought i would like to give you another option. Hope this helps. Later - Brendon

P.S. I am glad to see you take your sequoia off road and on trails. All my friends are like your crazy taking that thing off road. They say it's to nice and expensive, yet when they get stuck i am the first person they call..

[pistolpete]

Another thing you could have done to reduce the risk is have your wife and kids out of the truck as you went down the steep section....that way if you "crashed" they could walk down the slope and go for help rather than all of you being flung over the side!

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by pistolpete

Another thing you could have done to reduce the risk is have your wife and kids out of the truck as you went down the steep section....that way if you "crashed" they could walk down the slope and go for help rather than all of you being flung over the side!

You know, that was another obvious thing I didn't think of until someone mentioned it to me afterwards....doh!

Brendan,

I did a search for Go Claws and found this:

http://www.f150store.com/Shop/ViewPr...eIndexID=45755

Are those the ones your thinking of? If so, they're exactly the same as the Snow Claws--just marketed under a different name . They do look good. I guess I'll have to test them to see how they perform in the "real" world .

[Mike Donofrio]

There are always http://www.mattracks.com/html/105_series_.htm

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by Mike Donofrio

There are always http://www.mattracks.com/html/105_series_.htm

Cool !

[glennk]

That sure looks like a blast to wheel on, but i would have done it in my Jeep CJ7 because i have lockers. If i did it in my Tundra i would have almost been in the same situation - almost.