Saturday, March 10, 2001

August decided he'd head up to his cabin near Chilliwack this weekend. He posted this message to our mailing list when he got back:

Photos and comments added March 13

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Well.. what a weekend. I went up to the cabin on Friday for some post-exam rest and relaxation (got 14 hours of sleep the first night). On Saturday, I decided to do a little exploring. Now, 99% of the time, I usually go wheeling with at least one other truck. However, this was the exception.

I was heading up the Chilliwack-Chipmunk Forest Service Road and hit some snow at about 4km in. The snow was fairly old and compact and because it was a fairly nice day, I decided to go a little further. By about 5km, the snow pack was getting to be about 2+ feet thick but it was so compact that I wasn't even sinking 2 inches. Finally, I decided to turn around when my right side of the truck found the nice soft stuff and sank about a foot and a half. I increased my forward speed and tried to veer left but it was no use. I frantically tried reverse... still no luck. So I got out to assess the situation... it was now about 11:30am.

For the next TWO hours I tried everything to get myself unstuck. I aired down to 10 PSI from 35 PSI, dug as much snow as I could, jacked every corner of the truck to put gravel and branches underneath the tires but to no avail. By 1:30pm, I was four feet back from where I started, the right front tire two feet below and the other three wheels 8" below the original snow line sitting on a nice solid layer of ice. To make matters worse I was at an elevation of 850m and it started snowing hard. In 20 minutes I couldn't see out my windshield.

Fortunately, I heard Doug and John on the VE7FVR repeater, who were both at Eagle Ridge (Coquitlam) doing a trail cleanup. I told them of my situation and said I would keep trying. Finally I decided I needed help and asked Doug for assistance.

Doug comments: "When he called me, he was so out of breath, gasping and wheezing, it sounded like he was going to kak up a lung!"

He said he would come after he stopped by at home. So I shut everything down and took a break. I gave Doug my coordinates from the GPS and a description of my location.

John comments: "Doug ran home to grab his laptop; he wanted to play with his mapping software while we were out there!"

By about 3:30, Doug reported that he was just exiting the freeway at exit 104 (No. 3 Road), when a guy came down the road. He didn't have tow hooks but he did have a come-along. We hooked it up to a tree and pulled me out. Whew! I thanked the guy and got on the radio to Doug. I really felt bad for getting Doug and John to come all that way for nothing. I owe you guys BIG time! I always know that I'd help someone else out in need but when the time comes that you're on the receiving end... boy is it ever appreciated!

Moral of the story.... Don't go wheeling alone no matter how innocent it may appear. If you do plan to wheel alone, make sure you have the proper gear. I surely can't afford a winch or lockers yet so I should at least buy some more recovery gear like a come-along, chains, straps, dunnage (scraps of wood) and a Hi-Lift jack (I must have opened and closed my tiny bottle jack 20 times). I hate snow... well, not really :-)

Luckily, Doug and I both had GPS receivers and VHF radios (a CB radio wouldn't helped me one bit).

Needless to say, that night at the cabin I slept 16 hours!

-August

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