Peak Putters - FS RD 1302 "megarun" (1/12/2013)

Pics and reports of past Ahtanum runs
OldGreen
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Peak Putters - FS RD 1302 "megarun" (1/12/2013)

Postby OldGreen » Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:18 pm

I'm going to write a report/ect. and post in this spot tomorrow, but I thought I'd get a thread going for people to post their pics and give their version of the events of the day. Let me give a rundown on who showed and a teaser pic for now:

ME. . .w/Daughter and her BF on the strap
Jose and Lee
Lance and Mandi
Commando14
Royboy
DJ
Chrispy/Nichole

and guests

Yjran
BobRacing
Rodentsquisher

along with various and sundry co-dawgs and at least one actual dog.

Here's the teaser of the staging area. I'll be VERY curious to get the Newbie's take on the events of the day. Suffice it to say, the snow was Horrible. . . but we still managed to have one heck of a good time.
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Othe than a couple of XJs with blown beads and my compressor taking a poo, No real damage. Well. . .maybe a little pride damage.

:lol:

OK. . .so the story:

The aforementioned group huddled up at the BC Park/Ride and left pretty close to one time. On the way up, Yrjan made a call for a new CB to be delivered in Yakima. They made short work of getting it installed, those that needed to got some gas and we headed for the parking area.

Once on the FS1302. . all aired down. . .and past the switchbacks, we broke into two groups. The lead group was taking turns breaking trail and the second group was helping the newer guys get their "snow legs". I stayed with the lead group, so that's where my story will lie for the most part.

We immediately past a large group of quads (with one sxs and one Jeep) and headed through the open snow fields. Going was nearly impossible and the quad guys, once they got up and going again, were down right RUDE. They were having even a tougher time than us, but had no trouble nearly sideswiping our rigs and blowing snow in our windows even AFTER we pulled them out when they were stuck. Now, I only witnessed 3 of the people in their very large group exhibiting this behavior, so I don't want to say that "all quad guys are jerks", but those 3 sure were!!! If you stumble upon this post and you are one of the lead 3 quad riders, SHAME ON YOU!

On with the story. Once the ATVs called it a day and the lead group had some lunch, we carried on up the trail. The conditions got worse quickly. the snow had a nice layer of hoarfrost on top with absolutely bottomless sugar underneath. It was beautiful gleaming in the sun, but completely brought the fail to drive on. At the turn around point, Roy said, "It just doesn't go away, no matter how many times you drive over the same spot." Quicksand had nothing on this snow.

Needless to say, everyone got stuck. . .multiple times. I honestly thought that Chrispy and his big beadlocked tires where going to be the secret to success, but this bottomless silt had other ideas. It simply bested all comers.

At the 4300' mark, we hit a wall. Commando14, Chrispy, and I took turns trying to batter it down, but we only succeeded in pushing it back. Over an hour's worth of work only netted us 100 yards or so. At this point we were just approaching what I consider the bottom of the trail!!! No where near the top! We decided that enough was enough and called it a day. Everyone else caught up at this point. I asked if anyone else wanted to give a try, but after seeing the struggles, cooler heads prevailed and quarter was given to the mountain.

On the way down, DJ and I each lost a bead playing Baja racer and I pretty well chewed up a tire in the same incident. Well worth it!! I finally ended up in full hovercraft mode pinned out in 3rd gear.

My passengers and I had a GREAT time with everyone. I'd have to admit that I really enjoyed having my daughter's boyfriend along. He was extremely willing to help in the MANY recoveries. We must have been stuck 15 times and done that many extractions as well.

I will also say this: If you do not own a Super Yanker or some other kinetic recovery rope, go get one NOW. The one recovery that we used DJ's tow strap for nearly jarred our teeth out. The Yanker is better at it and there is no impact. No, I don't get commissions from them. . :roll:

When we started airing up, my compressor quickly died. As it turns out, I had some ice or something inside my wheel that deadheaded the pump. No bueno. Roy and James gave it a go as well, but it wasn't until I caught up to Jose and his Sanden pump that I got past the obstruction. I even put in a brand new core. . .

Yrjan and I (at least) both had some ice build up in our wheels that caused an out of balance condition that annoyed me all the way home.

This morning, I used Orville to get the paper and some eggs from the store. He was frozen to the driveway. That is a sure sign of a good day in the hills!!!!

I'm off to the shop to get some more modifications done. . .

and the pics:

A little logging first thing
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Buried ATVs
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End of the trail for the day. Chrispy ended up with high mark on the hill since he was the last one to give it heck.
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and good night. . .
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Last edited by OldGreen on Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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SPR
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Postby SPR » Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:06 pm

Curtis and I drove past your tow rigs around 1030AM on a sunny crisp day on our way to the coast. We're a wish'en we were wheeling on snow rather than asphalt. You lucky guys.....
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Yrjan
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Postby Yrjan » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:51 pm

Pictures will have to wait till I have access to a real computer. My wife and I had a blast! New to wheeling and definitely "green" we were helped out and mentored throughout the day by Jose, Roy, and Lee. With out them I fear I would have been with out hope. The single most important thing is that we definitely had fun! I feel like maybe a little more encouragement/advice/help would have made things a little easier when I was trying to turn around after lunch instead of all the radio chatter about the new guy in the Rubicon who doesn't know what he is doing would have made things just a little sweeter... All in all I had a blast and look forward to learning and playing a lot more! Thanks for having me and I will have JK Lance post all the pics. We're heading over there tomorrow to consolidate all of them and watch the Seahawks win! Have a good night everyone!

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Postby OldGreen » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:13 am

Glad you came and had fun. Don't take the radio ribbing too seriously. It is all in good fun. You actually did great for your first time. NO ONE had an easy time up there. That was the most unforgiving snow I've seen in a very long time. Heck, I got stuck twice while you were turning around!

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Yrjan
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Postby Yrjan » Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:05 am

I think it's because I was getting so frustrated with myself for not being able to get out is why it was bothering me, but yea it was deep and soft and crazy up there! Had a blast! Glad to meet everyone!

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Chrispy
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Postby Chrispy » Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:21 am

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window fell off the track
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Last edited by Chrispy on Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.
HE TOOK THE BYPASS?? YEAH ITS A JEEP THING.

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Postby SquirrelCrusher » Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:58 am

I had a blast and learned some very valuable things. Like bring extra clothes. I ended up driving home barefoot since my boots and socks were soaked. I was also pretty nervous about airing down, but Jose eventually got me down to about 2#s and what a difference that makes.

Everyone was very helpful and patient even when I was having difficulties moving forward. The snow SUCKED! The people were great. Even the guys that weren't in our group were very helpful and friendly. ATVs on the other hand suck and I think they made a hard spot even harder.

I had a blast, my girlfriend had a blast. I need to explain the role of co-pilot a little better though. She only took random pictures of my while I was driving so we don't have any post worthy photos. :(

I think my jeep did pretty good for its first time up in the snow. And I have a few more things I can tinker with to help do a little better/make it more enjoyable.
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Postby OldGreen » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:14 am

Edited first post for the story. Pics will follow. They are not wanting to load from the phone for some reason.

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Chrispy
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Postby Chrispy » Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:51 pm

pics are up. i dont know what i did but the pics are in order backwards from end of the day to the start of the day.
HE TOOK THE BYPASS?? YEAH ITS A JEEP THING.

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Postby OldGreen » Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:37 pm

Chrispy wrote:pics are up. i dont know what i did but the pics are in order backwards from end of the day to the start of the day.


I put mines up too.

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Postby bobracing » Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:53 pm

Some pictures from the Blazer's back seat.
Not really in any order.
Thanks to the Peakputters for the invite.
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James
'92 YJ with a little something of everything.

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Postby Livin4Today » Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:43 pm

Wow EPIC DAY IN THE SNOW!

We started off at the BC Conoco, of course Mandi & I were running a few minutes behind but they anxiously waited for us to show before heading to Yakima. Just before we left Mike (Yrjan) informed me his radio we had just installed and had tuned a couple days earlier had bit the dust. I mentioned grabbing one at WM in Yakima on the way up, so he made the arrangements and we got it installed in record time in the Fred Meyers parking lot after fueling.

We caravanned up to the parking area, and got the trailered rigs off loaded and everybody aired down, well with a couple exceptions, Squirrel Squisher & Jose apparently had not. Just above the switchbacks, we were stopped while Jose cleared some trees with his trusty saw (that looked amazingly like the one we brought (just in case)…

***Side Note*** My last outing (Raven's Roost FYBR) was painful, thanks to a random stump on the trail and a couple of trees down on the road, hence the recent acquisition of said saw.

While stopped I dropped my air from 6 lbs to 4 lbs, as I was struggling some, then I noticed I'd hit the wrong locker switch (idiot) I had glanced down and hit the rear locker switch all proud like, then glanced again as it seemed to have little effect (No wonder there's nothing hooked up to that switch yet - like I said idiot), and chose the correct switch for my new (to me) front Eaton E-Locker, now were cooking with gas!

Mike asked me about how his switches worked in the Rubi (Hmm, I don't have a Rubi) so I guessed at hitting the switches more than once to get his front locker on, it was a good guess, not he too was moving up the trail better and with more control. We had him down to 6 lbs too, but while he went forward I readjusted his tires to 4 lbs hoping it would help his Toyo ATs hook up better. However, his new (2nd) radio was working 5x5.

Due to the tree work that stopped us, I mentioned to Jose his wheels seemed to be spinning excessively and he replied "that's because their full of air." I thought (That's silly, why hadn't he aired down?), he said he was going to but had to run the saw and looked at his co-pilot for some help, Lee was enjoying the morning and the stress free feeling of NOT driving I think, because he had no idea of our chat… So Jose aired down, causing the group to split into two, us being in the latter bunch. Jimmy had Squirrel Squisher wait at the top for us to make sure we all went the right way…

Then we forged onward meeting up with the "Dirty Quad Guys," who were having a time of the own. They seemed to only move a full throttle or extremely high decibels, and weren't bothered in the least by nearly side swiping a few of us. But you know what they say about KARMA…

A little while later while waiting for the latter few rigs to catch us midway up, I was nearly side swiped by an IDIOT on a yellow quad who was flying around too close to us and then got stuck (right next to my line up). Well, being the equal opportunist that I am, I felt the urge to return the favor… So I did blasting by him at full rev throwing snow in the air and nearly taking his nose off with him sitting on the bike. Needless to say I believe the very same thought occurred to him as I had had only a few minutes earlier…. WTF! I also believe he may have soild himself, but I have no proof it's just a theory. Shortly after this the latter part of our group caught up, as Jimmy was headed back down to see what the holdup was.

Then he got stuck facing downhill, David tried to yank him back up but just sunk… I immediately flashed back to last years nNasty Creek Run where I was the newbie stuck every 100 feet or so and thought so this is payback, I get to pull Jimmy out, and with my brand spunky new rear winch, that I believe a couple of folks scoffed at… Piece of cake, Jimmy was free and we proceeded up the trail. Jimmy and David busted back up front and I played where's my c-pilot with Ms. Mandi, who bless her heart followed my earlier mentioning of us needing more external video of our runs, jumped out and trudged through the snow (quick sand) braving the elements to take some awesome video of everybody. She then jumped in with Mike in the back for a while.

I ended up getting in front of the second group determined to make it to the lead group, and made the trail VERY difficult to follow as my Toyo MTs chewed into the silty snow causing a couple of self recoveries and some help from others, including on pull that had my front winch all the way out, and using a tow strap as an extended tree saver.

After all that I finally made it up to the lead crew (Chrispy, DJ, James, Davis & Jimmy), and following Jimmy's instructions - "Don't stop until you bump into the back of Chrispy's Toyota." I spent 20 some minutes going back and forth until I just about touched the back of Chrispy who was rebuilding his heater. Nichole wondered what I was up to and came back to watch me finally stop at about 3 or 4 inches from their rig.

After tearing it up trying to go further became impossible so we broke for lunch and tried to get bit by Blondie, who knew she was partial to white meat???

After lunch and some laughs, we spent some time turning around, now the old hands did this in the blink of an eye, but a couple of us had more of a time at this, myself included. Once everyone was pointed down again we made our way back down the mountain, with a couple of nice sticks on the way out, and as others mentioned a couple of beads blown etc. We all stopped and helped DJ get his tire back together and apparently Jimmy did the same. While doing DJ's tire he nearly lost his hands when the Hi-Lift jack slipped, so Jeff? & I took over Jack duty making some changes to our "snow base" so the jack wouldn't slip again DJ got the tire reseated and got some air back in it.

Everybody decided to put some air in, to my surprise my ARB compressor worked great on Mikes tires but wouldn't do much for mine just surging sort of like when the hose is disconnected. I didn't realize until the bottom my valves were frozen so air couldn't go in, but luckily I have steel valve stems and a couple of seconds with a bid lighter allowed my air to finely start filling the tires.

I was the last one out from the parking area, and it had turned dark. As I jumped out onto Hwy 12, I saw a line of cars behind me and tried to make speed as quick as I could by about 50 mph we were shaking all over the road and slowed the cars behind us probably leaving the ski resort, to 45 mph until I found a turnout about 3 miles down the road. Then I realized the problem, ice build up, or in my case total encapsulation of my wheels in icy snow, throwing any balance out of whack.

So off the road I got my flashlight and the pair of pliers in my pocket and proceeded to chip the ice off my wheels well wheel, then I had to thaw my hands out with the heater, then in a moment of brilliance I put my gloves on…

Then back to ice chipping, removing as much as I could before racing home to meet Mike & Iulia (pronounced Yulia) for dinner and a drink at Ice Harbor. On the way home we passed Jose & Lee, and Jimmy noticing his right rear wheel must've still had ice on it as it was shuddering something awful, tried to radio check them but they had apparently turned them off. We continued home with the cruise control set at 70 (ok 74) making it a 12 hour run day! Thanks for a great trip from both myself & Ms. Mandi!

GREAT DAY IN THE SUN & SNOW!!!! Pictures to follow shortly...
Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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Postby OldGreen » Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:52 pm

It is possible. . .in fact, likely, that my right rear tire could be full of snow. That was the one that came off of the bead. Dangit!!!

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Postby Livin4Today » Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:47 pm

And now some pictures.... Special Thanks to Ms. Mandi for really getting out there and grabbing some excellent shots, and video to come...

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Here's the guy I buzzed directly in front of me...
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Pulling Jimmy out with my rear winch
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Extending my reach...
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Videos will be added when we get them compiled...
Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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Postby Livin4Today » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:01 pm

Here are some pictures from Yrjan (Mike & Iulia), there are two sets, one from his phone and one from hers we'll start with his.
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Now from Iulia's phone...

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Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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Postby tobyw » Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:36 am

No mention of manifold burritoes? Shame shame, everybody knows your name :?
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
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Postby TJDave » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:23 am

How'd the El Chivo take offs do? Curious how they perform vs the Duratracs.

Jealous. 8)

I planned a sneak attack at the BC gas station but my starter on the pickup took a dump Friday night. Finding one and replacing it is what I did on Sat. :(
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OldGreen
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Postby OldGreen » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:42 am

tobyw wrote:No mention of manifold burritoes? Shame shame, everybody knows your name :?


The carne asada burritos WERE EPIC. There, I said it. Fine.

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Postby OldGreen » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:46 am

TJDave wrote:How'd the El Chivo take offs do? Curious how they perform vs the Duratracs.

Jealous. 8)

I planned a sneak attack at the BC gas station but my starter on the pickup took a dump Friday night. Finding one and replacing it is what I did on Sat. :(


The MT/Rs are far superior to the Duratracs. The only downside is that they take way less air to do it. The sweet spot was around 3 psi. To be honest, I'm absolutely in love with the way that the 285s look on O as well. Once I get the little bugs worked out. . .Darland will shudder with fear. . .(well, probably not. . )

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:36 am

Here are the playas airing up...

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Why does every picture of Jim beg captioning?
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Of course, before DJ could air-up there was this operation to take care of...

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Do you think the guys are over stating how bad the snow was? Just ask Roy:

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All Terrains in deep, sugary snow? At least I'm sure you convinced the wife the winch was a good investment, now sell her on the Mud-Terrains.

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DJ has an interesting way of loading back up on the trailer...

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...and for those of you keeping score, no, no it does not work.

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Thanks for the ride Jose. It was fun to ride shotgun for a change even if I was missing my Jeep. I wasn't missing my Jeep on the ride home. Snow packed unbalanced tires shortening my spine while I drive my trail rig home on the highway doesn't hold a candle to holding down the passenger seat in a big ole diesel tow pig. Next time leave the YJ at home and you can tow my LJ. ;-)
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
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tobyw
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Postby tobyw » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:57 am

iaccocca wrote:Next time leave the YJ at home and you can tow my LJ. ;-)


Haven't we all towed your LJ enough? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry Lee, absolutly could NOT resist that one...
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...

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Chrispy
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Postby Chrispy » Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

tobyw wrote:
iaccocca wrote:Next time leave the YJ at home and you can tow my LJ. ;-)


Haven't we all towed your LJ enough? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry Lee, absolutly could NOT resist that one...

:lol2 :lol2 :lol2 :lol2 :gni :gni
HE TOOK THE BYPASS?? YEAH ITS A JEEP THING.

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:16 pm

I don't even take my rig on the run and I still get this grief...
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
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Postby Livin4Today » Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:09 pm

Here's just a portion of the video taken, I'm still working on more...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPp05Vdwz8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com


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