Thanks to everyone who has posted up so far, especially the awesome sledding videos. I trust you got some video of Jeeps and Broncos, oh Bronco, going up that hill also and are just waiting to post them. (Sorry Toby.)
4:30ish Friday found me rolling into Whistlin’ Jack in my Rubicon where Don had already met up with his dad, Roger. We rolled from there to Long Meadow Camp Ground, hoping to find Dale (Mattawa) waiting for us. Don was in his tow pig with CJ in tow, Roger had his dually diesel with all important camper, none of us had firewood or a chain saw. While I was setting up casa de Leon, Don and his dad went in search of firewood and Dale. Unfortunately they found little of one and none of the other.
Around 7:00 PM Dale and his sister Danielle (please offer up corrections on any names, trying my best here) rolled into camp and began to set up their tent and foraged for firewood. Dinner was shared around a small, pretty fire that refused to offer up as much heat as smoke.
9:00 AM found us breakfasted and our Jeeps aired down and our motors running. 10:00ish, Rob’s (Lud’s) Jeep raced into camp… Rob likes the skinny pedal. He informed us the daytrippers were piled up behind Tim’s (Lurch’s) tow-rig Bronco combo that was stuck at the infamous corner. (Sorry, I did not know that was the infamous corner when I called the run.) Bronco off of the trailer, and Tim was rolling with just a little more drama.
After a bit, wheeling rigs were off of trailers, tires were aired down and we were meandering up Ravens Roost looking for Jim (OG) who had headed out in search of the ultimate sledding hill. The decision was made to bypass the lower part of Ravens Roost
trail and to enter the trail on a hill climb section, AKA the perfect sledding hill. Tim took a few runs and was up it in three. Four tries and my Rubicon was up. Don clawed up impressing his dad with his Jeep. Soon Dale was up making look
too easy. Toby gave it the ole’ college try in his EB, but proved to us open / open wasn’t going to cut it on this hill. His friend David (David448) completed his air pressure science experiment by doing it with quite a bit less than the 5lbs of air in his tires that he first thought would work for his built YJ. Somewhere in this mix Rob broke his front JKS trackbar which put him under his TJ for much of the day.
Those who had crested the hill proceeded on the trail while the sledders started a fire and began a day of BBQing and sledding at base camp. At the bottom of a steepish hill we came across a tree across the road. Tim, Don, and I were already at the bottom and radioed for the rest of the crew to hold up. The tree proved to be less ominous than it initially looked and soon we were across it, but it took some time to regain radio contact with the group above. Turns out Dale had some t-case linkage issue and it took some time to remedy it. Once the 5 of us were at the bottom of the hill we looked at our watches, realized it was lunchtime, Ravens Roost road was a short 20 yards away, and the base camp had a fire and a BBQ grill… you do the math.
After enjoying lunch and standing around offering Rob advice and a few tools, we were back off to the trail.
About this time, Toby proceeded solo up the road where he was breaking trail in his Bronco. I think it is safe to say that for the next bit we found the trail fun, but not overly challenging. That is probably why I got a little sloppy and got stuck on a tree that I should have made it over. (I might have been tuning my sat radio, but you will never prove it.) Anyways, I got to try out my fancy new winch in dash switches. While I was recovering the Rubicon we could hear Tim wailing on his Bronco trying to make a hill climb that was never going to happen… that probably spelled the beginning of the end.
We turned around and proceeded towards Ravens Roost on the snow covered road. We were joined at this point by Toby who had gone as far as he could. We stopped to let Tim’s Bronco cool, but unfortunately when we proceeded we were able to follow Tim by the trail of ATF coming from his tranny. We enjoyed plowing through the snow for awhile, but as Tim’s Bronco drank more and more ATF, the decision was made to turn around.
It is unclear that we would have made the summit as the going was getting slow, and we had not even arrived at the steeper hill climb the road offered. No 2nd guessing, but we probably made the turn around decision too late. At a couple of cool down stops Tim begged every drop of ATF the group had as it kept leaking from the front pump seal.
Soon, as I was following Tim, the trail of fluid in the snow kept getting fainter and fainter. Next time he stopped he waved me around and I won the straw pull to pull him back to base camp and then on down the hill.
Pulling a heavy, built, EB on four flat tires was not uneventful. For awhile I thought Tim had no power steering. One of his trips into the ditch had Tim pretty much convinced he was going to roll, but as I looked at the shower of snow in my rearview mirror and noted that I was still moving I just kept putting coal to the 4.0. Tim’s next trip in to the ditch was a bit much for the Rubicon and it bounced me backwards on the Master-Pull Super-Yanker we were using. [Hey RGR, need an endorsement for your sponsor. I was pulling as hard as I dare (harder sometimes) and I’m sure that Master-Pull Super-Yanker saved me doing any damage to my LJ, even when Tim was trying to get me stuck.] To get Tim out of this ditch we used Tim’s winch to my Jeep and then I tugged and tugged locked/locked on the tow rope just to get Tim into the intersection so we could go down the road. Once back at base camp (we should always have a base camp, OG I’m putting you in charge of this) we aired up Tim’s flat rubber and the rest of the trip was much easier.
Soon the day trippers and sledders were loaded up and heading out along with Dale and his sister leaving Don, Roger and I to enjoy a dinner of Lasagna and steak (really) around a
small campfire. Roger turned in, followed a bit later by Don while I tried to dry my feet before rolling into my tent. I learned Don is allergic to Man Quiche (eggs actually) so in the morning we enjoyed pancakes provided by Roger instead of using the Dutch oven Tim had provided us. We were rolling out of camp by 10:00 AM.
Another great Freeze Your Buns Run that only would have been made better if more people could have joined in the fun. We will see what next year holds, but I’m already doing some brain storming.