|
Snow Trip
Contributed By: Chris
Medlicott
While our northern brethren are now enjoying the summer here
in NZ the Land Rover Owners' Club inc just had to put off a trip to the
Razorbacks and replace it with a SNOW TRIP. 25 vehicles, mostly
Japanese but also a few Landrovers , a Rangeys, my GW, 1 98 Wrangler and 2
Mahindra build (indian) cj3Bs took off for the Lammerlaw range and the
Lammermoors here in Otago.
We left in convoy at 9 am and arrived at Deep Stream where
those with less technologically excellent machines got hands dirty putting
in hubs and then we headed up the Dunstan trail. Mostly a rocky and
bumpy high road and then we turned off and started up towards the high and
marshy tops. Lunch we stopped at a musterers' hut after negotiating a
fair bit of slush, tussocks and about 6 -10 inches of snow. At one point we
had to negotiate a steep drop off of about 4 feet into a 2 foot deep water
hole with a steep exit. Everybody dragged their tow bars on it - even
the CJ3Bs - The nearest anyone came to getting stuck was the new
wrangler but I suspect he was trying to look after his nice new Jeep. After
lunch, when Jane (4) made a snowman, though it got interesting.
Looking for a loop we took a side track but soon found 5 vehicles severely
bogged, freezing fog, wind and snow coming in horizontally. Time to
head back to the main track.
The team turned around as best we could and yours truly, a
relative newbie, was #2. Deane in his Nissan Granroad (Safari/Patrol)
lead the way. We soon found ourselves on the main track pushing
through snow 12-18 deep in places and crashing through ice 4" thick
over the tops of water filled bogs and ruts. Great fun playing
icebreakers and giving the V8 the gun to get through it. After an hour
we ran into trouble while we stopped to get the crew back together. A
lot had got stuck after Deane and me so we had to wait while they were
snatched out of their predicaments.
While we waited I made the mistake of leaving the truck
idling in a blizzard on a steep up slope. Doesn't sound a bad thing to
do? Well I found out that carb icing can be a real bugger! (realised
this was the problem later) I got into the truck, put my foot on the gas and
it went from idle to a weak splutter and stopped. It restarted for a few
seconds then died and refused to start. It was behaving exactly as if
the module had gone west. The spark was weak (battery low from
cranking at that stage) and she would not run so plan B was put into action
to get us along a distance where we could carry out repairs without blocking
the trail and to get off the exposed tops. No spare module aboard but
I did have a complete points dizzy (thanks to Rod and Brian in OZ for this)
in the get-me-home box. - we brought up Gareth's "Heavy" It
doesn't sound such a big vehicle but consider this: 1985 Landcruiser swb
with front and rear ARB diff locks, 33x12.5 BFG Muds, body and spring lift,
and an Izuzu (GM) 5.9L I6 diesel truck engine. (infinitely tougher
than a Chevy V8 diesel) This thing has huge torque.
We threw on the snatch strop onto the custom bumper and
heaved away. No good. It took the cruiser + Deane's Nissan to
get us moving. So here we were in snow getting deeper, dead engine in the
jeep and 3 tied in a train to keep going through ruts tussock and snow now 2
feet deep. We did it though. I tried the starter. No go. She
turned but slowly. Then I hit on it. If i could get the auto spinning
the tow might get the motor running so i dropped her into 1 (already in lo)
and cranked the starter and the torque converter engaged and the tow spun
her over rreally fast and she fired up. She ran.
The guys in front stopped so I jumped out to yell "hey
we are going". Mistake #2. Deane thought i said "get
going" and didn't see I had jumped out (awful visibility, horizontal
snow and wind) so he started towing again with no one in my driver's seat
and Natalie and Jane in the passenger seats. Gareth didn't twig to it
either. I ran and dived throught that door and grabbed the wheel` and hung
on got myself on the seat and hit the brakes. Stopped at last.
Yelled through the window and finally got Gareth to pass on to Deane not to
move. Got the rope off. Whew.
Another kilometer along the tops and whoops, Gareth broke
thru ice and was up to his axles in mud and ice. As he walked over to
my truck he went thru the crust of snow and ice into a bog filling his boots
only 2 feet from my left front tyre. He grabbed my snatch strap and Deane
snatched him out. The rest of us went round the impassable bog he so kindly
pointed out for us
A kilometer on the track started downhill and it was smooth
sailing from then until we got out of the snow. Then the track turned
to slick yellow saturated clay. Some put on chains. Most just
went for it - we did a fair bit of crabwise progress. Good fun.
Really sticky 'orrible goo but fortunately not deep just 6" or so on a
firm slick clay base. An interesting uphill climb in the clay - those
who went first lined the route looking for the thrills and spills. It
was a gentle run up but with the camber of the track threatening to put us
off to either side (really slippery) a steep left turn, up and over a hole
then right turn. Some got stuck. I proved the V8's really got it
to please a crowd. I was in lo drive and doing well - but rather
anticlimactically so I threw it into lo 1 and burried the pedal. Mud
everywhere, took the corner at speed at full revs proabably about 4500
-5000 in a beaut 4 wheel drift spraying the vultures on the roadside with
clay.
The rest was a long drive through slippery clay roads and a
descent onto the Taieri Plains and home at 5.30. A big and exciting
day out.
Chris
NZ
|
