eraujk

First off im gonna say, your not in college unless you do something stupid every once in a while. And hopefully you learning something from that stupid mistake, i know we did. We had extra warm/wet gear, water, food, and emergency supplies so we weren't unprepared.

So it snowed out here in Prescott Arizona this last weekend. My self and a few buddies decided that we wanted to go play around a bit and enjoy the nearby mountains, only about 30min NE of my place on 89A towards Jerome/Sedona. We left around 1500 and got to the top of Mingus Mountain by 1530 and waited another half hour for our other buddy (blue JK) to join us, sunset is around 1800 and we figured we would be down by then. Dumb mistake number one.


(just prior to leaving my place. Very foggy, about 28 degrees, sun was in and out of the clouds)

The rigs: My 07 JK with 2.5 lift, 35 KM2s; Gregs 09 JK Rubi stuck but with winch; and Adams 199-something XJ with 3 inch left and bald as all hell street tires (hes in the market) dumb mistake number 2....

We know the area fairly well, even with the snow cover. We got to the top and knew that there was a mud hole down a back road that leads to were the Smiley Rock 4x4 trails gets out. Over a short discussion about it being down hill in the snow, we decided to take it. I know about half way down i was thinking about how hard it would be to get back up, but there was no way to turn around now.

Got to the bottom, the mud pit appeared frozen, drove over it a few times and didn't sink so i pulled up to edge get a picture over the valley with the sun set.



The other two wanted in too. So i moved down a bit to let them in.



I sunk a foot into the frozen, sticky, stiff, heavy mud, six inches of snow above that. Greg did too as soon as he moved in too. Adam saw us in time and managed to escape.



Sun is now setting/set.

Cdyspeed

Did yall manage to get out it, looked like fun until the last couple of pictures

sringer

You have cell service tho I take it sorry to hear.,..you ok?

eraujk

sorry girlfriend skyped...

Greg manages to winch him self to a tree and gets out. Gets around resets and pulls me out.

Attachment 245682



Once i was out we turned around and started heading back up the hill. Everything prior to this was fun but Soon we realized how dumb the whole idea was. Adams tires wouldn't give him enough traction to make it up even small slopes and the trail was turning to ice. Its now 1830.

After looking at the situation (adam didn't have a single rescue point on the front of the Xj... I got in the lead and move up the hill to the next flat spot. We turned Adam in reverse (trailer hitch) and used a tow strap to tie him backwards to Gregs rear tow hook and began to climb. It was too slick to just do straight pulling with the jeeps. So we got out the winch for the third-8th time that night and slowly winched both jeeps up the first hill. We got to the next saddle and decided we wanted to get mine out just in case, so while the two of them slow worked their way up the last bit of the saddle i started my way up the rest of the hill, got stuck halfway, almost slid down the side. When i didn't come back they came and up looking. with the use of branches and logs we got me rolling back up. made it to about the 3/4 mark got stuck again. did the same thing. then got to the very last turn. about 100feet from the top. About this time it was 2030. dark and cold. We decided we might not make it out that day. So we called my roommate and asked him to come out and pick us up in his TJ. Whille we waited we continued to try and get me out that last stretch and sure enough, right before 2100 we managed to get to the top. They had locked up and left their jeeps on the saddle and we took mine out, found my roommate on his way in and Greg went with him.

eraujk

tis wat hapens wehn u type fst an dont really proof reed nor cair... but thanks. ill keep it in mind.

eraujk

We did. took advantage of it later.

Wads13

Sounds like quite the ordeal, hope everyone and everyone's rigs are alright... We had a bit of a predicament this weekend too while wheelin...


Took the other two buggies we were with to yank him out, dried it out, changed some fuses and away we went. Could have been a lot worse... Have a video of the extraction here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy8Fnz1TswE

eraujk

Sorry for the long text. Entire weekend went into this... ill try to keep the grammer up.... but that try might be a fail.

On Sunday i picked both up from Campus at 1000, got gas, and headed back up to get the other two. We expected a 4 hour recovery trip.

We got to the top around 1030, I parked up on top and blocked the trail with a large cardboard "Recovery: Do Not Enter" sign. We packed up the gear and hiked down. Both jeeps started right up.



Temps started at 22 and didn't break 30 all day.

Gregs 10.5k Rugged Ridge winch with 150 feet of cable took us slowly... very damn slowly up the hill. Used our second tow strap when we couldn't reach a close enough tree, sometime having to use less than a full cable pull. I thought the thing did extremely well. $500 for a RR winch, $600-1000 for a warn... why!? Anyways.

Long story short it took 8 hours of pulling to get up. we had a few problems with the XJ sliding off the edge which took about half an hour to fix. Took a lunch break.





Got rolling again. In the final turn, in sight of my jeep, we up rooted two trees (didn't have many options) but finally got the JK around the corner. Got in line for another, set up the line and... the winch quit. Thought it over heated. Thought after 8 hours we finally killed it. Nope! The bolt that hold the line to the drum had sheared off and the line was now jammed against the control box.

With the winch out we were stuck with my jeep. this being the same place i tore up and spent about an hour on the night before. we used a shackle to hook both tow straps together, allowed me to stay up on the flatter less messed up part where i could get more traction and we managed to pull Greg out. The only other friend i know with a winch left his jeep in colorado this fall...

Again with double tow strap we i hooked to the XJ. We couldn't get him straight as he hadn't made it far enough out of the turn yet But with two very large pulls i manged to yank him side ways and out through a snow bank. Its now 1800.

We got out to the road a half hour later. did a check and all was well except the winch. IMO it worked out well with the bolt and our time being the only price to pay. It was an adventure, fun and shitty all at the same time.

If we hadn't waited for Greg on Saturday, both my jeep and the XJ would be stuck down the hill and we would had to hike out. I haven't had a use for a winch before. but i guess it only takes one time to realize that its the few times in life that the money paid is worth it.

So that was my weekend. I actually thought it was a lot of fun, at least a great experience. If you can't read through the spelling and faulty grammar, i apologize. Its the internet, not my research paper, i dont really care what you think.

eraujk

I was gonna say, is that the air filter on top? My brother hydro locked his jeep two years ago. not a fun experience.

Glad you guys got out of there, could have been cold!

Wads13

Yeah, just missed the air filter/intake! Lucky one there!