JadeRunner
Rising Sun Member
Steve Crase and I did a last minute pre-run up Yankee last weekend. We managed to get 3\4 the of the way up to the top. But, it was very windy and drifting in fast. I dought anyone could make it that far anymore with the drifting and crust on the snow.
On the first hill before the middle parking lot we met a group of modified Rubi's and two farm boys in pick ups. The pick\up were stuck on the hill and the Jeeps were struggling on the easy route around the hill to the parking lot. I'm not sure why whey were having so much trouble. Perhaps their lighter weight rigs just couldn't dig in and go, plus they weren't really driving with gusto. They were very nice and let us by and we hammered our way up. I struggled on the hill above the middle parking lot and let Steve give it a go.
It took us a lot of work breaking trail. We switched off and had too go back and forth to keep forward progress. He kept his rpm's up and let his 34x10.50 swampers keep digging in until they reached the ground. We had to maintain pretty high rpm's to keep the wheels moving and digging in. Steve had been winching here and there but then started sliding off the trail and getting into trouble on the off-camber section. He winched out and I put chains on the rear. I blasted into the playground and broke our drift wide open from the back side (oh what fun...).
The jeeps managed to follow our tracks and arrived at the playground also. We had lunch and the lead rubi on 35's broke trail. They turned around after a while, let us by and we went slightly further until we met the really large drifts before you break out of the trees. I got stuck again playing around then we turned it downhill and had a pleasure stroll out. We were back in town at 3pm.
It's so much more fun snow wheeling early season. I expect we will at least be able to get to the middle parking lot on the Pizza Run. But we need more people keeping the trail broken open. You don't have to wait for an organized run. Just call up a buddy or two and hit it before it's too late.
I didn't get an picture of the large drifts when we turned around, but the last picture is Steve coming up to the final area.
On the first hill before the middle parking lot we met a group of modified Rubi's and two farm boys in pick ups. The pick\up were stuck on the hill and the Jeeps were struggling on the easy route around the hill to the parking lot. I'm not sure why whey were having so much trouble. Perhaps their lighter weight rigs just couldn't dig in and go, plus they weren't really driving with gusto. They were very nice and let us by and we hammered our way up. I struggled on the hill above the middle parking lot and let Steve give it a go.
It took us a lot of work breaking trail. We switched off and had too go back and forth to keep forward progress. He kept his rpm's up and let his 34x10.50 swampers keep digging in until they reached the ground. We had to maintain pretty high rpm's to keep the wheels moving and digging in. Steve had been winching here and there but then started sliding off the trail and getting into trouble on the off-camber section. He winched out and I put chains on the rear. I blasted into the playground and broke our drift wide open from the back side (oh what fun...).
The jeeps managed to follow our tracks and arrived at the playground also. We had lunch and the lead rubi on 35's broke trail. They turned around after a while, let us by and we went slightly further until we met the really large drifts before you break out of the trees. I got stuck again playing around then we turned it downhill and had a pleasure stroll out. We were back in town at 3pm.
It's so much more fun snow wheeling early season. I expect we will at least be able to get to the middle parking lot on the Pizza Run. But we need more people keeping the trail broken open. You don't have to wait for an organized run. Just call up a buddy or two and hit it before it's too late.
I didn't get an picture of the large drifts when we turned around, but the last picture is Steve coming up to the final area.
