Here in California we are having some real power problems. The electricity is going out all over the place and all the time! Because of this, the radio station I work for has been running their big diesel generator, to power the mountaintop transmitting equipment, much more often than usual. Normally, a full fuel tank will last all winter, but now it’s only January and it ran dry! Well, somebody has to go there to pump in more fuel from some emergency drums and guess what? I have the Discovery so I got volunteered.
The equipment site is up 6000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and snowed in by this time of year. By the time I reached the end of the paved roads I was in low lock and churning through 22 inches of powder snow while fresh snow was falling like a blizzard white out. In several spots of drifted snow, I was covered as a rushing wave of powder snow washed up and over the hood and windshield. The peace, tranquility and otherworldly feelings of this type of off road driving situation are difficult to put into words.
Once on the un-maintained logging road that leads to the site, I was climbing and sliding through ever increasing amounts of snow for the final 5 miles to the site. Traveling in and out this last 5 miles of forest road took most of the rest of the day and part of the night. I had to winch the Disco along 9 times, the last 3 times after dark. I was in over my head, literally!
On the way out, shortly before sunset, I got the Disco noised into a deep rut off the side of the trail that was filled with snow, snow and more snow. The only thing to do was to back out, uphill. After a little wheel spinning it was clear my tires where just compressing the snow into ice and the winch would be called for if I was ever to get home. But how was I to winch this one? My winch is permanently mounted up front and I had to go backwards!
Being high in the mountains, far from home and all alone caused me to think very clearly and focus on any reasonable solution to this problem. My mental images of my frost bitten limbs and of hungry bears looking for a mid-winter snack made me think fast! I recalled a discussion I once had with a winching guru. We had chatted about the possible methods of rigging up to winch in reverse. It had been a nice theoretical discussion then, but I was wishing I had tried it at home first. I soon figured there was no time like the present to get busy and try it out.
I doubled back the winch cable, down around and under my roller fairlead, threaded the hook straight back under the Disco and passed it through my receiver mounted tow shackle. I had to be very careful to run the cable next to the differentials and let it ride up on the underside of the axel tubes without getting tangled with anything else under there like exhaust or radius arms. The shackle on the tow hitch reciever acted as a collar to keep the cable captive and force it to pull from the center of the rear of the truck. I then rigged the cable to a nice sturdy pine tree 60 feet behind. I plugged in the Ramsey’s remote control and began to tighten the cable up. I bumped the winch along slowly, not just punching the button to grind away. My winch system was not really designed to work this way so extra care and patience was necessary. Letting the cable pull some tension and then helping rearward motion with the truck in reverse worked wonders. Little by little I progressed backwards and in no time was back on the trail and heading towards home, warmth and safety.
This advanced winching technique saved me from an unscheduled overnight campout in that winter wonderland. I did pay a price to get recovered though. The doubling back of the winch cable puts all the winching force on the fairlead roller. While my fairlead survived this nicely, the brush bar it’s mounted to bent under the strain. No worries though, the bar can be fixed and I got home . Getting home, that is the real prize.
pk aka SlipinKramer
Exeter, CA