Snow Run Report

[Scott Hatch]

I'm still in recovery mode from the NEA run yesterday.....but here is my report

It was a good but long day on the trails. The first road we drove took a bit to get a runway started but with myself, Garret from LIOR, and Steve a.k.a. Willaird (Radiators in Hudson). I broke trail through frozen crust and powder for the first hill running in third gear hitting the rev limiter at times. There were times when my Jeep would end up hydroplanning on top of the powder and I make some really good distance. After the first hill Garret took over to give my Jeep a much needed rest. Garret was running chains on the rear of his rubi and did a great job of greaking trail. To keep our progress moving to breaking the trail we ended breaking up into groups. This way once a vehicle and/or group got moving they could stay moving. Momentum and wheel speed was the rule of the day. Our first group and the middle group made it to the end and we waited for the last group. Finally we were able to establish radio contact with the tail group and they were having some troubles. On the local roads we backtracked to the beginning of the road and I hopped into Steve (Willaird) truck and we went to recover our tail group. Sean from DWE/Baystate Jeepers was getting owned. We got Sean turned around and out. Pat Charron from Baystate and new NEA Secretery was achored hard in her new JK Rubi. Unfortunately the computer system back unlocking the lockers and she was sunk. We strapped her out, got her spun around and she was able to leave under her own power. The other member from LIOR was having starter and alternator issues but was not having difficulties but ended up bailing due to his mechanical problems.

Regrouping we started our last road at 2:30 and headed down into a small valley that would swallow our group and teach us who the boss really is. The decent in was short and steep but uneventful but once we started climbing we ran into lots of issues. On this road Steve (Willaird) broke trail and I (tried) followed. Using lots of skinny peddle I was able to climb the first climb but then quickly got mired into deep snow. Running cable I was slowly able to make progress while JayZR2 and Ryan caught up to me from the first climb. Suddenly and unexpectedly my winch stopped working....now we're trouble! Not sure if it was overheated or an electrical issue. After inspecting the situation and snowing down the winch to cool it off we discovered the issue. When I inspected my Jeep I was forced to install an inline fuse. I have used the winch since but not for this length of time repeatedly, needless to say the fuse was toast. After getting through this deep section was again able to move. The rest of the group was also slowly making progress up the road. On another climb I was gradually making progress but just couldn't creat the top. "One more time", I said to my a-driver. Wheels spinning in 3rd gear at 5000rpms I was doing great, best momemtum of all of my prior attempts.....until I hit one of the curves that thew me right off the road...POP! I must of hit a rock because I was now down to three wheel drive. I inspected the front shaft and u-joint and everything looked intact....but the shaft was tilted at a slight angle. It appeared as though I busted the short side moser shaft in the tube. I would like to give a huge thanks to Steve (Willaird Radiators in Hudson) for being the tow truck for my busted Jeep and also for giving me the incredible workout from dragging the 50lbs of cable and chain from his winch......and some time for the extra 20lbs for the additional 10 feet of chain to reach the tree strap. We kept giving period updates of our progress but Jay, Ryan, and the rest of the group were moving just as slowly as we were....it is kind of hard going any faster than the lead group. We (Steve and I) finally got our vehicles off onto pavement at 7:30. At this point I had to run my a-driver to his truck and on my way back ran into TJ (big white CJ with boggers and V8, Rosco, and John Barnes (part of the group wheeling at Wayne's World). They followed me back and only Jay had made it onto the road. TJ backed down and then with his V8 roaring and 38 boggers making short work of the snow pulled the rest of our group up the last hill, there is no replacement for displacement! Thank you TJ, you saved us from a late night and eveyone was out of the woods by 8....still a long day though! Slowly we made our way to the American Legion for a great Spaghetti dinner and chatting with friends of a long but fun time.

[Scott Hatch]

If anyone has pics, please email them to me

shatch at nea4wd dot org

[rblank]

Any idea how mcuh this and the dinner raised yet?

[Scott Hatch]

There wasn't a lot of people at the dinner, I'm sure Steve will post a report in the General Business area and not in a public area

[rblank]

Sorry, didn't realize where this post was...

[Scott Hatch]

no problem

here are some pics from Wayne's World that Mika took

[JayZR2]

Ok so here's my story from the weeekend.
Kelly and I booked a room at the Stonegate bed and breakfast in Hillsborough NH
It was yellow to match sunshine.

Great place. Great breakfast. We headed out to meet Scott and convoy to the Staging area

We combined trails 1 & 2 and Trails 3 & 4.
Got a little bit of a late start but headed out to the first road. Scott was leading and Gave this his best effort but couldn't make it. We busted out some shovels and chipped away at it till Steve knocked it down.

Once we got it in, it was still slow going with Scott breaking trail. The snow was deep and fluffy so traction was horrible.

I got stuck at the first incline and decided to air down more. Kelly "helped" me and did one tire while I worked on the other 3. (This will be important to remember later.) I got to break in the new winch and it worked like a champ. Pulled Sunshine and an open open Jeep that was behind me. I think the jeep was getting pretty good traction though and drove most of the hill.
When it bogged down again, I let Kelly take the wheel as I was going to pull cable for her and she drove to the top of the hill like it was nothing.

After that we kept plugging along in the second group. After a while of us having some slow going and the others not catching up I went back to see what was the hold up. Pat's new 4 door Rubicon wasn't letting her lockers stay engaged and keep up her wheel spin. This just left her digging in and going now where.
She had 2 capable Jeeps with her and they said they would be ok and I could keep our group moving. So I walked back up and we took off again.
Kelly still driving she was doing great and we were moving at a good clip. She also happened to be wearing mittens and the ruts from group one were grabbing the tires and yanking the steering wheel around on her. She lost her grip for a minute and we sort of bumped into a tree about 8" in diameter on the passenger side. It grazed the bumper so there was no damage to us and we headed out again.
We caught up to the first group and got out onto a plowed road. Remember that tire Kelly worked on, well it was now looking REALLY soft so I put a gauge on it. 2 PSI. :rofl: Kurt from baystate had a compressor so we air it back up to 12 and waited on group 3. Eventually they radioed over and said they were turning back because they weren't getting anywhere.

Scott hopped in with Steve (Willy) and they headed back in the way we came to see if they could help. Steve got Sean from Baystate/DWE turned around and headed out then got Pat unstuck. He dragged her backwards for a ways until she could turn around and then she drove out on her own. Finally Matt came out. His Jeep is Very built, but he was having some alternator issues and starter problems. His family decided to call it a day and we headed off to trail 2.

Steve and Scott got over this bank ok, but when Kelly tried she got high centered. She tried rocking it back and forth with no luck. Steve hooked up and started tugging. Kelly floored it, and Steve almost got us over the bank, even though Kelly had the truck pinned in reverse. Once she was back in drive we made it over and started out after Scott. At the first turn, Steve took over breaking trail then it was Scott and Steve Nordby in his Jeep and then Kelly and I and Ryan (exploring NH) in his Toyota.
With lots of skinny peddle we were able to keep moving ok until Scott broke and axle shaft on a difficult hill climb. He kind of veered off the trail a bit and we think he hit a rock. Now down to 3 wheel drive he wasn't making much progress on his own so Steve hooked up an dragged him out. It wasn't that easy though. The going was tough even for Steve's truck and Scott was trying his best to help him but they were pulling a lot of cable. We caught them so I went up to help and took over pulling so Scott could actually drive his Jeep instead of Steve N steering from the passenger side.

We were doing ok, but that left Kelly back behind in Sunshine. She tried going on her own but it was just too tough. Garret from LIOR and Ryan both pitched in and helped her with the winch and got her moving forward again. Once she got going she was doing all she could to keep moving and that left Ryan behind with no winch in front of him.

By now I left Steve and Scott to fend for themselves and went back to check on Kelly. I started pulling cable for her so Ryan and Garret could get themselves going. I was very impressed with Ryan's rig. If he had just a little more clearance, I think he could drove most of it with out getting stuck. It was when the snow built up under his truck that he had trouble.

So Kelly and I were plugging away, 92 feet of cable out, 92 feet reeled.
When she did get traction I would grab the cable and run ahead of her so she could keep driving. Running in snow is not easy and occasionally she would over drive the cable. At one point I was giving her the "cut it" sign by waving my hand across my neck. With the biggest cool aid grin you ever saw she was waving at me back from the cab, with her foot pinned to the floor and snow flying from the tires.

Now we could see the end of the trail. Steve had given up on the winching and he and Scott agreed to just use the 350 and drag Scott out. Once out, Scott toook Steve N back to get his truck that was at the meeting spot and Steve headed back to the hall.

Finally using the other Steve as an anchor Kelly and I were able to get Sunshine onto the road.

Scott came back with one of the hardcore Jeeps and TJ went to work.

His Jeep on Dana 60's with boggers and a 350 made short work of going down, hooking up to the first rig in ,line and dragging them at about 25 - 30 mph out onto the road.

We went into that trail at 2:30. The last truck got out at 7:30. It was only a mile long. This was also 2.5 hours AFTER I was supposed to have cooked the Spaghetti supper.

Fortunately Tammy and Roy bailed me out. I had dropped the food off the night before and they got there early and cooked and set up everything.
The really covered my ass and I am very grateful.

So all in all it was good day. I blew a bead on the way back from the trail to the hall but Pat and Sean came back and helped me get going again.

By the end of the night Kelly and I were so beat we decided to stay over again but this time we just got a place at the Days Inn in Concord.

Along weekend and lots of work but a lot of fun too.

[Scott Hatch]

Was it only a mile? It felt SOOOOO much longer...

[kodi]

Here's a couple of video's fer ya


http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s265 ... Run015.flv

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s265 ... gstuck.flv

[Paul]

Waynes World in the snow.

The cross-paths look hard enought!

[JayZR2]

Did anyone behind me find a BFH? I last used it on the 2nd trail we did and it's not in my tool bag. I thought I put it back but might have left it on the bumper and it fell off.
It's a 2 pounder.

[Treasurer]

I know a mentally ill woman that collects hammers and uses them on herself. I have all met the normal people in the past.

[Scott Hatch]

Nothing I have, sorry

[Treasurer]

LOL That hammer looks real nice sitting in my toolbox. LOL

It will surface out there when the snow melts. It just might be rusty by then.

[ChrisD]

I know a mentally ill woman that collects hammers and uses them on herself. I have all met the normal people in the past.

Between this and the UFO posts, I'm not sure what to think about Steve.

[Treasurer]

Hey I dated a wacko a long time ago. I got to meet all the local wackos.
I like my friends from another planet. LOL

[Mikey]

I found a mudflap from my Samurai a year after I lost it, after some major flooding rearranged the trail... (like rocks the size of my samurai were moved...)
and it was in the same spot.