Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information & opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 50 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about
ski touring and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the
Fourteeners! Books and free ski touring news and information here.
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Some details please! Were you able to winch out of that? Front or back? Studded snows?
one of the hazards of driving in ski boots?
Hi Kristian, I was able to winch out, took a while to set up a system that worked as I was afraid that just winching with single line would encourage the truck to roll. It was night before I got started, so before I did anything I contacted the guy who drives the snowplow and lives fairly close, he came up with his backhoe and helped operate the winch as I nudged the truck out. We ended up not needing the backhoe, but winching a 7,000 pound truck hanging off the side of the road is dangerous, so I was glad he was there. Glad to pay him for his time.
I considered installing the winch on the rear as I’m set up for that, but that not only seemed like it would jackknife the truck and cause the heavier front to head down the hill, but I’d also have had to crawl under the front of the truck to undo the winch attachment, which is a 2 inch receiver tube and pin.
It was a close call, I could easily have rolled the truck down into the trees as the bank in this spot is about 40 degrees steep.
Lou
P.S., All I was doing was driving about 2 mph and giving room to a couple of skiers walking down the road. The edge was disguised by the leveled plow swale. Not the first time I’ve done this, back when I lived in Crested Butte I drove a resort shuttle, and the wing plow would perfectly level the road and swale so you couldn’t often discern any difference. The shuttle operation manager kept a 3/4 ton truck chained up, with a logging chain permanently attached to the rear and hung up over his tailgate. We’d “auger” off the side of the road, radio him, and he’d be there in 8 minutes and jerk us out. He always grumbled about it but never fired anyone (smile).
Yup, very scary. I have good knowledge about a couple of guys who after night skiing at Eldora many years ago, followed by a bar visit, started four wheeling up one of the slopes from the parking lot. Of course they hopelessly sunk in and were suddenly left in the cold blowing dark waiting for the inevitable legal nightmare. Within moments, ski patrollers came laughing out of the dark, radioed for a snowcat, pulled the 4×4 free, and the two were on their way home.
Now that’s a way to ring in the new year! Glad everything turned out okay.
Driving in ski boots can be tricky….. 😉
Easier in AT boots than alpine, I can confirm.
Not a problem in unbuckled TLT-6, in commodious cabin of Silverado, with automatic tranny. Lou
I was wondering who went off the quarry road…..