Peak Putters - FYBR 2012 Report
Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 5:05 pm
Since this is a standing run, I'll start out the report. There is certainly other versions that need to be shared, but here's the short version from my seat:
On the heals of the Friday crew, Will and I loaded up the XJ and headed up to American Ridge at 6:00AM Saturday morning. After some coffee and a nice road trip, we arrived at the lodge without incident. We were greeted by Lurch, Iaccoca/family, Chris/Nikki/kiddos, Dale+sibs, and Roger/Mikey. The crew made quick work of pre-run prep and we were off for the run by 9:00AM.
We made our way to the bottom of the Raven's Roost road with the intent, neigh, MISSION of summitting this year after so many of us were denied the prize last year. At this point, I gave Will a choice:
Me: Either you can drive, or I will drive FAST
Will: "I wanna go fast" ~Ref Ricky Bobby
So we launched full rally-car snow drift style up the northern route (straight where you normally go left at Crow Creek). Tim was close on our heels as we took any non-blind corners as fast as practical. Of course, we made sure that we had adequate stopping distance and obeyed all posted speed limit signs.
Where the two roads converge again, we stopped. Tim and I took to airing down and locking in 4-low while the rest of the team gathered up to do the same. Once we got back on the road, the snow began to pile up pretty quickly. By the time we got to the old sleddin' hill, we were in over a foot. Orville was still up to the task of leading, so I took full advantage and assaulted the sled hill. It took 4 tries to break through to the top, but we did it. The rest of the crew followed. Some ducked on and off of the trail to the road for the next mile or so, then we were finally faced with a series of obstacles that we were uncharacteristically unprepared for.
There were dead falls across the road! Several of them in fact. I'll leave this portion of the story to Dale and others with evidence of the fun we had moving them and/or driving over. Needless to say, we carried on to the deep stuff up higher.
No sooner had we cleared the last tree than Ed showed up to help break trail to the top. At this point, I had a feeling that my manifold pizzas were getting close to done, so I fell to the back of the pack and took my turn as the tail gunner while lunch cooked. Good thing too. . .over the next couple of hundred feet of vertical rise, we were having a tough go of it in the ruts of the rest of the crew!
In the end, a picture is worth 1000 words so as you can see, we spent a lot of time pushing snow with the bumper:
Dale is actually stuck in the background. . .where's Waldo?
Jose was riding "lap" with Lee for most of the day
Darn good lookin' kid right there:
Snow Dance WORKS!
Who was worried about no snow?
So, we headed down the hill. ..this time spending more time on the trail than off. A few stucks, a couple of tires off the bead (because of the altitude drop), not an ounce of drama and a metric S*&T ton of fun and we were back down to the Cabin. We even managed to give Lance a high-five when he finally caught the group. He was half way up when we were half way down, but he had picked up some companions in the form of a Zuk and a Land Cruiser.
Fire, food, lies (uh. . .stories), and a snorefest lead by yours truly ensued.
Sound like fun? I have a feeling that the other pics/videos will do it even more justice.
On the heals of the Friday crew, Will and I loaded up the XJ and headed up to American Ridge at 6:00AM Saturday morning. After some coffee and a nice road trip, we arrived at the lodge without incident. We were greeted by Lurch, Iaccoca/family, Chris/Nikki/kiddos, Dale+sibs, and Roger/Mikey. The crew made quick work of pre-run prep and we were off for the run by 9:00AM.
We made our way to the bottom of the Raven's Roost road with the intent, neigh, MISSION of summitting this year after so many of us were denied the prize last year. At this point, I gave Will a choice:
Me: Either you can drive, or I will drive FAST
Will: "I wanna go fast" ~Ref Ricky Bobby
So we launched full rally-car snow drift style up the northern route (straight where you normally go left at Crow Creek). Tim was close on our heels as we took any non-blind corners as fast as practical. Of course, we made sure that we had adequate stopping distance and obeyed all posted speed limit signs.
Where the two roads converge again, we stopped. Tim and I took to airing down and locking in 4-low while the rest of the team gathered up to do the same. Once we got back on the road, the snow began to pile up pretty quickly. By the time we got to the old sleddin' hill, we were in over a foot. Orville was still up to the task of leading, so I took full advantage and assaulted the sled hill. It took 4 tries to break through to the top, but we did it. The rest of the crew followed. Some ducked on and off of the trail to the road for the next mile or so, then we were finally faced with a series of obstacles that we were uncharacteristically unprepared for.
There were dead falls across the road! Several of them in fact. I'll leave this portion of the story to Dale and others with evidence of the fun we had moving them and/or driving over. Needless to say, we carried on to the deep stuff up higher.
No sooner had we cleared the last tree than Ed showed up to help break trail to the top. At this point, I had a feeling that my manifold pizzas were getting close to done, so I fell to the back of the pack and took my turn as the tail gunner while lunch cooked. Good thing too. . .over the next couple of hundred feet of vertical rise, we were having a tough go of it in the ruts of the rest of the crew!
In the end, a picture is worth 1000 words so as you can see, we spent a lot of time pushing snow with the bumper:
Dale is actually stuck in the background. . .where's Waldo?
Jose was riding "lap" with Lee for most of the day
Darn good lookin' kid right there:
Snow Dance WORKS!
Who was worried about no snow?
So, we headed down the hill. ..this time spending more time on the trail than off. A few stucks, a couple of tires off the bead (because of the altitude drop), not an ounce of drama and a metric S*&T ton of fun and we were back down to the Cabin. We even managed to give Lance a high-five when he finally caught the group. He was half way up when we were half way down, but he had picked up some companions in the form of a Zuk and a Land Cruiser.
Fire, food, lies (uh. . .stories), and a snorefest lead by yours truly ensued.
Sound like fun? I have a feeling that the other pics/videos will do it even more justice.