Re: Thanksgiving run at TSF
Another one down for the record books.
Rod, Darren, Ben, Dan, and myself met up late Thursday to head out. The roads weren't too bad, but the higher we got the more snow we found. I honestly wasn't expecting snow at camp, but we must have had a good foot of snow on the ground.
Friday rolled around, and people slowly began to trickle in. Once everyone got their camp set up we rolled out in the afternoon to go see how much snow we were dealing with. The plan was to do a "quick" trip up Hoodraiser to Hogsback. Well when you add snow to the mix, double the normal total trip time, and multiply by two.
I broke trail up the second section, and it was packing really well. The problem was that after one or two people had driven on it, the traction was gone. A few tugs with the strap, and a few runs at some hills were needed, but eventually everyone made it off the trail. Myself, Rod, and Brandon had already broke trail to the top of Hogsback, so I figured a good route back to camp would be up to Hogsback, and then come down C-Line road. That was a bad idea.
The conditions really started to turn on us fast. Even though tracks had been laid, traction started to become an issue. Within minutes we had two people off the road, and most of the group at the bottom of the hill. Fast forward three hours, and we finally had everyone turned around and heading back the way we had came. I have to thank everyone for having the patience to sit still for so long. Stuff happens, it's part of wheeling. I think where we went wrong was in our running order. Also a
huge thank you goes out to Brandon for getting everyone turned around. Unsung hero on the trip. :cheers:
Fast forward to Saturday. I had the itch for adventure so my plan was to hit up FB5, and make the loop over the top and ideally make it all the way to Waterfall. Brandon, John, Dave, Scott, and myself all headed out around 11.
We passed a group at the Rock of Doom on FB5. Surprising with the conditions, we all made it with relative ease.
Johns new tires hooked up all day.
Scott's CJ clawing through the slush.
Further up the first section we got to the short rocky hill climb.
Big hole.
Dave was determined to get up it. With a little rev limiter, and a good line he made it. The downside was he inverted his shackle. A quick fix with a hi-lift and winch and we were back on our way.
The second and third sections were fairly uneventful. When we got to the fourth section, navigating between the trees proved to be a problem for the open guys. Some cable was pulled, and some pressures were dropped but eventually we got to Crushers. We stopped to watch a group make it out of the lower loop, and then ran up to the staging area.
Up top I ran into Pistonschick of Piston's Wild. Crystal was by herself up top, and informed me their group was having some mechanical problems in the lower loop. I wanted to make sure they had everything they needed so I hiked down into the bottom of the lower loop (snow shoes would have been nice). I found that their group was heading back out the lower entrance, so I hiked back up (a chair lift would have been nice). About that time Rod's group was just about ready to start the third section. We decided to meet up with them on the road, and I would take a detour to make sure Crystal made it back down to the lower entrance alright.
After our groups met back up we split off again. Rod's group headed back to camp, and my group set off back up the hill. Brandon and I ran Saddle Up down. It had a good amount of snow on it, and the ride down was defineitly a pucker factor. We continued on after that and made our way to the top of 7-Up trail (~3600ft?).
Brandon went for the pass.
From there we headed back down toward Hogsback. Brandon made it up, and John followed but unfortunately lost a bead at the top. After we got him back together, we decided to call it a day and head back down.
Although it was a slow day on the trails, I had an absolute blast. It's not often you get to run the trails with that much snow on them. I also have to hand it to John and Dave for sticking with me all day. You guys did awesome.
I have a few video's I'll get uploaded later tonight (and one from Thursday I'll keep for myself :laugh3
Also, this run was a good practice run for some future snow runs, and maybe an overnight snow run. Stay tuned...
Thank you to everyone who came out. It's always great to put faces to screen names.