It was great seeing everyone who made it out to the end of year snow bash today. As usual I managed to get hardly any pics, but I did manage to get 2 drone pics of half the group in the black rock meadow and it shows the cloud we were in most of the day, and my wife captured a couple others. If you got some pictures from the day definitely share them 🙂
The morning started out a bit cold but thanks to some portable fire pits it was tolerable and allowed folks to hang out and chat. Stickers were handed out as we spoke about the days plans and backup routes, then the group rolled out.
The railroad grade only had a few inches on it, but we could see the mountain was covered in clouds which promised heavy snow. Most of the way up to the meadow went smoothly, however past the meadow the snow became waist deep and the last climb proved a challenge.
Rather than attempt to get everyone up it, and take the risky route down the backside, we headed back down and circled around the mountain. It was crazy coming back down to the valley where it was sunny and warm, while the mountain was snowing/cloud covered, and cold.
We decided to attempt the mountain pass to eureka since it was still sunny over there. Things went fine, but some vehicle change ups in the lineup unfortunately put most of our mildly built rigs near the front. Again the final ascent was just too much snow with it coming over the front of the trail breaker rig on 37s. Also the storm had now come over us and it was snowing again so we decided to call it quits and head out through little Moab.
It was definitely the most snow I’ve seen in this area in a long time, and with the recent snow fall we were breaking fresh tracks the whole day which is always an adventure.
Speaking of adventure, there were steering issues, linkage problems, 4WD systems that wouldn’t engage, a winch and bumper that got ruined, a split tcase, and other odds and ends but the group kept a cheerful can do spirit that got everyone off the mountain today.
I look forward to our next adventure together.
Til’ Next Time!
