Great video... captures the wind very well, and the "white out" conditions we had to back track in.
That darn hill climb doesn't look half as steep as it was once you were out there. Isn't that always the case?
My only additions probably aren't worth much, as I don't have any good photographic accompaniments.
Scenario:
Breaking trail on a road on the way out, running a road just under the crest of a ridge towards freedom. Elevation is somewhere around the 2500-2600 ft mark and conditions are deteriorating. Running near the top of the ridge, the road is sidecut and covered with plenty of snow. As we get near a very steep drop off to the left (crest of the ridge on our right) things start to get off camber, down hill of course. After creeping slowly for a bit, I was greeted with that well known sinking feeling in my stomach as all 4 tires seemed to lose traction at the same time and I started sliding laterally towards a very significant drop off.
My saving grace was a tiny little lip on the edge of the road that my right tires caught. I think my lateral slide downhill pushed enough snow out of the way that there was some exposed dirt/rock that my aired down tires were able to grab.
With my uphill coil springs completely unloaded, and my entire vehicle precariously perched on the edge of a less than stellar off camber road, I started thinking about how happy I was that I left the RTT at home.
Self recovery was not an option. Any application of throttle meant more slippage and certain death in the form of many rolls down a hill into a valley. After slowly opening my door and easing myself out of my seat, I took a walk. The truck wasn't going anywhere, and if it was, I wasn't in it, so it was alright.
I'm a "keep calm and carry on" type guy, so I'm sure it didn't show, but I can assure you that's probably the most scared I've ever been in an offroad situation. As supplemental proof, I found my first gray hair in my beard this morning when I went to shave. I'm pretty sure that wasn't there when I woke up yesterday. My 27th birthday is coming up next month, but I feel like I'll be celebrating my 37th.
To keep a short story long, as Grant always says, we examined several different options and finally settled on a very long winch pull (multiple straps + winch cable) that finally got my truck slid around enough for me to back out of my predicament. There was very little maneuver room, and even less room for error.
(I could go on and on about how grateful I am that we were all prepped for this stuff. Everyone had a winch, we had 5x the amount of extra straps and cable extensions requird, multiple snatch blocks, a slough of shackles, tons of other stuff, and a healthy base of working knowledge. No one panicked when our exit route was blocked and the weather was coming in, and no one seemed to mind my Land Cruiser sliding off the road sideways, about to roll down a steep hill. We went to work, and it was business as usual. That, in itself, is why I'm on this site. That, and Mike Block brings awesome fire starting material and good beer camping.)
After handling the immediate situation on hand and getting all trucks back on terra firma, the snow and wind seemed to take our extraction personally, as we were greeted by what you can see later on in Grants above video (though it doesn't do it justice, but it's close) with about 50 feet maximum of visibility as we started backtracking. After we got down below 1400 feet the weather wasn't too bad, and we were able to find an alternate route to our egress point.
It was a great time, but I'll exercise some candor in saying Vantage highway looked awfully good when we finally made it out.
Now that I'm back to civilization, all I can think about it how darn quiet it was out there, and how many stars there were. The elk were great to see, and we also spotted bald eagles, quail, some cool hawks that I couldn't identify (used to be pretty good at it, but alas) and a wild big-block bronco.
After this trip, I have decided that for me, selectable lockers are absolutely the way to go. I'll probably be doing at least an air locker in the rear of the Troopie, and kicking the LSD to the curb. I would rather run open and winch than auto-locked. Not trying to turn this into a debate, just making my personal observation for my personal application. YMMV.
Thanks for a great trip, Grant.
Thanks for the recovery, everyone.
Thanks for Overland Navigator, Craig. My little red dot gives me a good feeling in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks for Land Cruisers and K294 axles, Mr. Toyota.
Pics to be uploaded to album shortly.
-Mike