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The trip down the ice-covered 4x4 trail consisted of a
series of hills separated by small water diversion ditches and short sections
of relatively flat surface. November
snow had turned it all into an ice skating rink. When the Blazer finally stopped, it was
parked on one of those flat areas but was still nearly 400 feet from the
4Runner.
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Cables, straps and chains were attached to the end of the
Blazer’s 100 foot cable to span the distance.
The rest of the daisy-chain was structured by parking Sundance’s truck
on another flat area about three hundred feet up the mountain behind Outlaw. Wild Coyote was near the top of the mountain
pass about two hundred feet behind Sundance.
Blue Moon and Programmer were at the top of the pass acting as an
anchor. The plan was simple. Outlaw would use his winch to pull the
4Runner to his position. Sundance would
use his winch to pull both of them to his position. Wild Coyote would pull the three of them (one
at a time of course) using his winch to within reach of Blue Moon’s winch. The plan worked quite well, but took from 2pm
until 7pm to complete. In the process,
they also rescued a Jeep Cherokee and a Land Cruiser that were stuck in the
ice.
Most of the winches had a part to play in the overall
plan, but Outlaw’s winch ran almost continuously for five hours in the process
of rescuing all those vehicles and getting itself back up the mountain. During that time, it was necessary to pause
several times to allow the 1000 amp battery in the Blazer to recharge. Such an enormous amount of current was needed
to get the 4Runner up that first cliff that the connector between the winch and
the battery melted.
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