December 1/2007 @ Hut Lakes
In Attendance:
Chris - Ford Bronco (blue)
Indir - Ford Explorer (beige)
Brian - Jeep J20 (blue)
Mike - F-350 (blue)
Ken & Daryl - Jeep Wagoneer (dark green)
Gita & Amanda - Suzuki Samurai (white)
All I can say is what a day!
I woke to snow at the house, and the news warning of a nasty snow storm heading in later in the day. This made me wonder if heading out into the bush was the wisest of moves. I met Indir at A&W at 8:00 am for breakfast, then we hit the road and met the rest of the group in Squamish. The snow stopped half way up
Hwy 99, so I was pleased that we were ahead of the storm.
After fueling up in Squamish, we continued on to the start of the trail. We aired down at the start of the gravel road, then continued on to the start of the trail, which was covered in about 6" of snow, and two large boulders had been moved to block the trail. Brian pushed me in first, and after plotting my course, I dropped in. It was slick and off-camber, so the pucker factor was full on. I made it through with a little effort, and the ARB's made it just that much easier. I spotted everybody else through, and the only problems were with Ken and his open diff's, but with a little skinny pedal and some good driving, he made it through.
The drive to the lower lake was un-eventful, except for the snow in the tree's. Because I was at the head of the line, I was knocking it all down, and it kept
building up on the windshield (6-8" at times), so I had to stop 3 or 4 times to brush it off. We stopped at the lower lake for a few minutes, took some pictures, then continued on. The rock face at the lake was snow covered, and very slick, so leaving as we normally would was not possible. I managed to slide my way around and get up and over. Coming off the rock onto the road, my rear slip down into small tree. Luckily the base rails of the boat rack took most of the hit.
Indir was now in front, which meant his wiper motor would get the workout mine just went through.
At the base of the Waterfall, Indir decided to give it a try. As he was climbing into the trench, he slipped into the crack, and his right rear was climbing up the wall, and he pretty much flopped it. We used the winch and chains to secure him, then winch him to level ground. Luckily, he suffered no damage. After burning off the oil in the cylinders, he tried the upper Waterfall, but was stopped quickly as the ice was just to much. We spotted him as he backed down the trail.
We all turned around and headed back down the trail. I'm sure we were all concerned about the entrance, as it was getting colder, which meant it would be even slicker than it was on the way in. I was a little ahead of everybody, so I starting going through, and I ended up mashing my passenger door into the stump that always seems to be a problem. I called for a few spotters, and Brian and Indir were shortly up front. I worked my way up the the last boulder, and the snow was slick, slick enough to keep sucking me down. We moved a little snow and rocks, and I a managed to get around the boulder. The next little ledge was ever slicker, so I used the winch to help pull me out and over. I climbed up the last hill, and breathed a sigh of relief. I tuned the truck around and got ready, as I was going to be the wincher to help the rest of the group through. Mike and his F350 were next, and he gave my winch a good workout, until it died; it would spool out, but not in. We ended up snatching Gita's winch off me to pull Mike up and out. Gita and her light Suzuki made it through fairly easy, but she too needed to winch here way out.
Now that we had a working winch on safe ground, we chained the Bronco the the telephone pole that was in the most perfect spot, then Gita snatched off my front bumper, and down to Brian. After a but, Brian was so off-camber that his dog was standing on the door panel. The winching was just dragging Gita into me, so we
re-adjusted and anchored Gita on to Mike. Apparently Amanda was just about to say "look at Chris' tire", when I heard a gust of air and felt the rear of the truck drop. The side pull blew the bead on the left rear. Being that I have never blown a bead in 13 years, I couldn't really complain.
So now Brian is up on safe ground, and he tells me that he snagged a valve stem and has a leak, so he starts changing his tire. I was waiting for Indir to take his turn, but he was delayed and he snagged a sidewall and had to repair it. I took advantage of that time to change my tire. By the time we got all the trucks through, we had wasted 3 1/2 hours! We were all cold and talking about warm cups of coffee and chicken noodle soup to keep out spirits up.
We drove down to the start of the gravel road to air up and say our good-bye's. Indir and I stopped in North Vancouver for a coffee, so I didn't get home until 11:45pm. That was one long day!
I just want to extend a big thanks to the group. Everybody helped in whatever way they could, and it made the whole trip very enjoyable.
This was what I woke to. Made me wonder
what the day was going to bring.
Hwy 99 to Squamish; gusting winds and low cloud.
Heading up to the trailhead.
The start of the trail.
Flex shot!
Lower Hut Lake.
I was kicking snow at Brian's dog, and she just loved it.
The rock was very slick.
I had never taken this route before.
Heading up to the upper Lake.
The easy side of the Median.
The hard side of the Median.
No matter what line I took, my rear kept getting sucked to the left. Between
the icy rocks and my short wheelbase, I got put in my place.
I had to settle for the easiy way.
The little clearing just before the Waterfall.
Indir decided to attempt the Waterfall.
He got messed up and dropped in. He ended up so close to flopping (he was teetering),
so we had to use the winch and some chain to get him out.
Safe and sound. He tried to keep going, but the
ice was to slick. He ended up backing down.
Heading out; the last secion of the trail.
This part was now super slick. After some creative rock stacking by Brian and Indir, I almost
got out. I ended up winching off a tree to prevent me from sliding down the bank.
I tagged a stump on the way out. Everybody says it will buff right out, so I'm not to worried.
Not very often you have a nice sturdy telephone pole to help anchor you.
The blown bead.
The chaing of trucks.
Indir and Ken trying to get out.
Brian's pictures on BC4x4.
Post 1 / Post 2 / Post 3
Brian's Video:
Brian / Mike / Me / Gita
Gita pictures.
Gita's Video:
Brian / Gita / Indir / Mike / Ken
Ken's Picture's.
My damage for the day:
Bent my snatch block.
The blown tire where the spare should be.
Passenger's door.
