Winch Fest and lessons learned report
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 8:23 pm
This weekend we had a camping trip planned with Andrew and several other co-workers. We camped at the sno park and planned on taking the Cherokees up the mid fork to the top of Darland on Saturday to see if we could find some snow. Suprisingly there was snow covering the road just past Tree Phones. At Clover Flats all the tracks in the snow ended and we started busting new trail all the way to the top of Darland. Probably 2-3 feet of powder snow requiring lots of full throttle runs to bust new trail.
We took some pics at the summit and started back down the other side... I decided we would check out the mini bowl and see if there was enough snow to drop down the bowl. I figured if there was enough snow to drop off the face of the bowl that it wouldn't be a problem driving out the bottom and tie back into the north fork. We crept up the edge of the bowl and there was plenty of snow.. so I made the decision to drop down.. but I would quickly regret that decision. We slid our way straight down to the bottom with no problems. But once we started to make our way further down the canyon I quickly found myself stuck in the soft snow.. couldn't even go downhill. At this point I started to get a little worried about making it out to the road.. I walked a little ways to get a better look at the canyon and my stomach sank.. there were nasty drifted side hills and holes in the snow.. I knew there was no way we could make it out the bottom. The only option I could see was to go back up the bowl.
After weighing all the options I decided the best way to get back up would be on the edge of the tree lines on the left side of the bowl.. I remember Ed saying he and Paul winched up that side one time. The problem was Andrew didn't have a winch... and my winch only has about 60 ft of cable. So I started winching my way up the hill.. very slowly. I made it about half way up and my winch started to get hot and really slowed down.. we packed snow around the winch and gave it a rest. About 2/3 up things took a turn for the worse... one of the rollers on my winch fair lead broke off.. and then a few minutes later the cable came completely off the spool. At this point it was around 2pm... it started snowing, wind was blowing, fog was rolling in and we had been winching and digging for a good 3 hours. We were all wet and cold.. and I was seriously doubting that my winch was going to hold up. I think we all started to worry that we were going to have to stay here through the night.
After some work we got the winch line back on the spool and continued our way up the hill... finally I reached some hard snow towards the top and could move a little under my own power. Had to winch through a few more drifts at the top and then finally made to flat ground and made it to the road on top... it was such a relief. Now we were left with one Cherokee and 7 people.. and a huge toolbox in the box. Somehow all 7 of us crammed into the Cherokee and we made our way back down to camp.. getting laughed at by some snowmobilers on the way down. We left Andrew's Cherokee at the bottom of the bowl.
I knew there was no way my winch alone would pull Andrew's Cherokee all the way out of the bowl.. and someone would need to go back down the bowl to get pull Andrew through the trees at the bottom. Andrew and I headed to town and I called my dad for help.. and I gave a call to Ed and Paul. Ed wanted to help but just had eye surgery.. luckily Paul was free and willing to help out. This morning my dad and Paul showed up and we took off to the top to retreive Andrew's Jeep. The temperature was warming up a bit and the snow was getting better which helped the recovery. We decided the best option would be to pull his Cherokee up the same path I winched up.. so Paul dropped down into the bowl and pulled Andrew through the trees and up to the point of the hill climb straight up. My dad anchored his Jeep up top and we hooked his winch line to Paul's and they both started pulling with Andrew hooked onto the back of Paul. They slowly made it up the top much easier than any of us expected. We headed down the North Fork and back to camp.
A huge thank you to Paul and my dad for helping us out. I felt like an idiot.. I learned to never drop down the bowl unless there is at least a few people with winches. In the spring time there is enough snow through the bottom of that canyon to easily drive out.. but not this time of year. As we went down the North Fork, Paul attempted to drive up that canyon to the bowl but didn't make it very far.. he said it looked nasty too and we wouldn't have made it out the bottom.
So I'm not sure what the moral of the story is other than don't be an idiot and drop off something like the mini bowl with only 1 winch.. I should have known better. And you can never have too much recovery gear. Now I wish I had a better winch and more cable for sure.
We took some pics at the summit and started back down the other side... I decided we would check out the mini bowl and see if there was enough snow to drop down the bowl. I figured if there was enough snow to drop off the face of the bowl that it wouldn't be a problem driving out the bottom and tie back into the north fork. We crept up the edge of the bowl and there was plenty of snow.. so I made the decision to drop down.. but I would quickly regret that decision. We slid our way straight down to the bottom with no problems. But once we started to make our way further down the canyon I quickly found myself stuck in the soft snow.. couldn't even go downhill. At this point I started to get a little worried about making it out to the road.. I walked a little ways to get a better look at the canyon and my stomach sank.. there were nasty drifted side hills and holes in the snow.. I knew there was no way we could make it out the bottom. The only option I could see was to go back up the bowl.
After weighing all the options I decided the best way to get back up would be on the edge of the tree lines on the left side of the bowl.. I remember Ed saying he and Paul winched up that side one time. The problem was Andrew didn't have a winch... and my winch only has about 60 ft of cable. So I started winching my way up the hill.. very slowly. I made it about half way up and my winch started to get hot and really slowed down.. we packed snow around the winch and gave it a rest. About 2/3 up things took a turn for the worse... one of the rollers on my winch fair lead broke off.. and then a few minutes later the cable came completely off the spool. At this point it was around 2pm... it started snowing, wind was blowing, fog was rolling in and we had been winching and digging for a good 3 hours. We were all wet and cold.. and I was seriously doubting that my winch was going to hold up. I think we all started to worry that we were going to have to stay here through the night.
After some work we got the winch line back on the spool and continued our way up the hill... finally I reached some hard snow towards the top and could move a little under my own power. Had to winch through a few more drifts at the top and then finally made to flat ground and made it to the road on top... it was such a relief. Now we were left with one Cherokee and 7 people.. and a huge toolbox in the box. Somehow all 7 of us crammed into the Cherokee and we made our way back down to camp.. getting laughed at by some snowmobilers on the way down. We left Andrew's Cherokee at the bottom of the bowl.
I knew there was no way my winch alone would pull Andrew's Cherokee all the way out of the bowl.. and someone would need to go back down the bowl to get pull Andrew through the trees at the bottom. Andrew and I headed to town and I called my dad for help.. and I gave a call to Ed and Paul. Ed wanted to help but just had eye surgery.. luckily Paul was free and willing to help out. This morning my dad and Paul showed up and we took off to the top to retreive Andrew's Jeep. The temperature was warming up a bit and the snow was getting better which helped the recovery. We decided the best option would be to pull his Cherokee up the same path I winched up.. so Paul dropped down into the bowl and pulled Andrew through the trees and up to the point of the hill climb straight up. My dad anchored his Jeep up top and we hooked his winch line to Paul's and they both started pulling with Andrew hooked onto the back of Paul. They slowly made it up the top much easier than any of us expected. We headed down the North Fork and back to camp.
A huge thank you to Paul and my dad for helping us out. I felt like an idiot.. I learned to never drop down the bowl unless there is at least a few people with winches. In the spring time there is enough snow through the bottom of that canyon to easily drive out.. but not this time of year. As we went down the North Fork, Paul attempted to drive up that canyon to the bowl but didn't make it very far.. he said it looked nasty too and we wouldn't have made it out the bottom.
So I'm not sure what the moral of the story is other than don't be an idiot and drop off something like the mini bowl with only 1 winch.. I should have known better. And you can never have too much recovery gear. Now I wish I had a better winch and more cable for sure.
