PEAK PUTTERS

Here are a few pics I’ve got from the Darland run on Saturday. I am sure someone else will do a full write-up and add more pictures…

The requisite manifold burrito breakfast:



My codawg for the day:



Here he is testing out the sled while we aired down:





Heading up, the snow gradually got deeper:



And a few needed to let more air out:



More sledding fun:



A view from the summit of Darland:



Roy and Curtis leading the way:



The rest of the group behind us:



Roy blazing trail and crabwalking the sidehill:





Too much sledding:



We stopped and waited for the group to get bunched up again:



And then I got stuck and did the final damage to my front axle:



THE END

I was on the Saturday day crew and had a GREAT time! It was good to see everyone and to be wheeling again! I have to say I was impressed with my co-pilot for the day. She had a great time, and for the most part had more faith in me than I did! I even held out telling her the top was off until the night before and she still showed! Jimmy I was copying you, sporting the bikini top and hard doors

I'm really happy with how the Jeep performed for it's debut! Only got puckered up a couple times. Once was when I ran out of brakes on a steep side hill. The other was the over-the-side-o-the-mountain toboggan run that I decided to do on 3 tires!

I'll let someone else explain Jose's Jeep gymnastics ....


I can't wait to get out on the trails again!

dang that sucks

I'll try to get a report up tomorrow.. haven't had time yet.

Here's a video from Sunday:

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While waiting for the official run report I will add my own voice to the narrative. I drove up Saturday morning, bypassing the caravanners, because I knew I would have to set up my camp (including my funky tent.)
11 rigs headed out at about 9:45 along the familiar route. As opposed to the same run last year there were very few sledders, but it would have been nice if someone had groomed recently… everyone was getting their kidneys realigned curtsey of the whoop-dee-doos. Judging from Rob (Lud) in front of me, it was harder on the short wheel base guys.
All day long we seemed to break into 2, sometimes three groups, with the lead group making good time, even though breaking trail, and waiting for the rear group to catch up. Sometimes those of us taking the more leisurely pace caught up just in time to see the grill be put away and smell hotdogs on somebody’s breath.
Here DJ (Sillyputty) is trying to get through a side hill section that I had made more interesting by my passing. In front of him in his CJ is Don who also commented on my destroying the perfectly good trail the lead group had put down. (But, hey, I did not get stuck.)...


At the point where you cross the ridge to Darland Mountain, Roy decided he would take the route where even snowmobiles fear to tread. (TJDave will remember the spot; it is where we spent most of the day on the FYBR while everyone else was breaking their stuff.)



Here DJ takes the route onto the ridge that actually involves a bit of a road, as opposed to the route Roy, David, Curtis, and maybe Rob, chose. It involved a bit of digging (he brought good diggers) and a bit of direction from ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ José (more on that later.)

As a thank you to José for all his help, DJ winches him up the last bit of hill that is a challenge getting up on Darland Mountain. In defense of José and me, who both had to use cable to get to the top, I think the hotdog eaters at the top had been pissing down the hill to make it icier for us than it had been for them. (Yeah, I’m talking about you Tim, why you gotta’ be a hater.)

While we were regrouping, some went off to play and summit the mountain while some of us were discussing their stock derivatives and when we were going to short sell when we heard across the CB radios, “STOP, STOP, STOP.â€

Sky, Snow, Sky, Snow. . .

Me: HA HA. . .you rolled.
Jose: Yeah, but you have to wheel in order to roll
Me: (takes ball and goes home)

Seriously. . .it sounds like you guys had a BLAST!!!!!

It was an eventful weekend. On my way up Friday evening I stopped by the last gas station on Ahtanum road to pick up some food when I car came flying by towards Tampico with about 6 or 7 cops chasing him. When I got to the sno park my dad was already there with a fire made and he seen the car with the cops on his tail heading up the mid fork. The snow was not very far up the road so he must have hit the snow and bailed out... hours later we seen the cops heading back down and then a tow truck headed up and back down with the car.. not sure if they caught the guy but we made sure the doors were locked that night.

Snow level at Tree Phones:
















Restroom at Clover Flats:



















My dad got high centered on a stump and had to chainsaw his way out:
































Uh oh, this can't be good!





Yikes!





I learned that an exo cage and a winch is easier than a high lift:




Tim tried to back out the sheared off bolts with a chisel but they weren't moving.





Out came the bailing wire in a last ditch repair attempt... but it failed miserably:




Chris pulled the knuckle off and we had to leave the Toyota on top of Darland. The plan was to swap knuckles on Jose's jeep back at camp since he was heading home that night.




On our way down the North Fork:























My dad breaking trail along the side hill.. each rig that passed slowly creeped down a little further.













We dropped off the side of the road and headed down the steep open hillside.. towards the bottom Tim's Bronco stopped in it's tracks. I pulled in front for a winch point but he was just pulling me up the hill. We started digging thinking he must be hung up on a stump.. but didn't find anything so tried winching again and it finally broke free. Meanwhile the group behind us was working on getting Don's tire back on the bead.






Below us was Toby getting stuck in a huge hole. (This was the hill drop where Jose rolled, I think.)

On our way back down we came across a idiot in a stock Ford Explorer heading up, as he pulled over to let my dad by he was instantly stuck. We pulled him out and to our suprise he wanted to keep heading up... somehow we figured this would not be the last time we see this guy. In the meantime we hear something about Jose rolling over the cb but they already have it turned back over and moving again. So we continued on down to camp. Ceg and his huge group of rigs showed up at the sno park to air up after their run.





On Sunday morning we headed back up to Darland to retrieve Chris' Toyota. Tim and Chris left a little early to get a start on getting it back together. It was a nice day on top of Darland:















We started to head towards Blue Lake but it was getting late so we headed back down. And sure enough on our way back down we found the idiot again stuck in the Explorer. Some local kids in a Toyota were trying to pull him out and had already broken a few straps. My dad was able to winch it out ok, with only a little tweakage to the Explorer bumper



It was a great time and a good turnout!

Looks like a fun time in the deep snow. Very good reports and pics guys. Please share them on on EWOR and the PNW4WDA sites.

Well I was not articulate enough to get my pics up yet but i have to chime in to say that my boys and their buddy and myself had a great time wheelin with ya'll. Thank you everyone for the kick a$$ first PeakPutter wheelin experience. I will be ready for many more...

[There are pictures out there, I will see that they are posted soon.]

...as promised. I have DJ's pics of José’s roll.