Snow Ball Run SM 2004 

Wellsville, Ohio - January 10, 2004

Story By Jim Oaks

See this event in an upcoming issue

(next winter)

We started out on the frozen pond.  Myself, Ozzy (S-10 Hybrid) and Dave Young (IH Scout) spun around on the ice until we finally got it to break up.  After dropping through the ice I drove out of the pond but broke a transmission cooler line running through the large chunks of ice.  I made a quick fix of it and filled the transmission fluid back up with the help of Matt8888 who gave me some Type F tranny fluid.

From there we went over and played around in the tank traps.  We call this area the tank traps because of the deep mud holes.  Of course, there were people who got stuck and needed pulled out.  What's the fun in doing it if you don't want to see what your rig can do!

Afterwards, some of the groups went different ways and we went to a washout for some hill climbing.  Having locked axles really helped out on the frozen dirt.  Frozen dirt can be a challenge since your tires can't bite in to it.

I found myself leading a group down a trail and receiving a flat tire.  Airing down probably wasn't the best idea today and I knocked a tire off the bead.  With a jack, ratchet strap and my air tank we were able to reseat the tire and continue.  Unfortunately, a Hi-Lift jack ate my tailgate.  We later found that there were a few other victims of flat tires.

We eventually ended up in a creek bottom where a Suzuki Samari that was tagging along flipped over.  We got him rolled over and back on his way.  I got stuck going in to the creek.  It was real ice and I slid nose in and couldn't move forward due to some large rocks in front of my submerged winch and couldn't back up due to the ice.  Once again Matt8888 came to my rescue.

After a successful run my group was heading out and heard the other (2) groups stuck on the trail.  These (2) groups got together on a trail in a ravine section and became victims of the frozen ground.  The group was having trouble getting enough bite to climb there way out.  My friend Ozzy (Bob) pulled a couple and couldn't get them all up so I came down with the winch. I tried to back in off the trail to get in a winching position. After not being able to get back far enough, Will chopped the heck out of about an 8-inch round tree enough with a hatchet that some guys were able to push it to one side so I could go back farther. From there, I winched them up the hill. When I got them to the top, Ozzy hooked to them and pulled them about 20 more feet around the corner to get past the washed out area. This went on for a good (4) hours or better. As a team, Someone hooked to the stuck trucks, Jim Allen gave me the hand signals and I winched them up. It was a great team.

Fortunately everyone had a good time and nobody got hurt.  A few of us had a few bumps from falling on the ice, but I guess under those weather conditions you'll have that.

Thanks to all of you that showed. We had more than expected and as usual it was a great TRS turnout.

Special Notes:

I want to thank Jim Allen for coming along and taking photos for Offroad Adventures Magazine.  Look for this story next winter.  Also thanks for helping with the late night recoveries.

I want to thank Andy (PtRanger) for helping pull people out when needed.  Unfortunately it cost him some transmission problems and he had to rent a U-Haul to haul his full size Bronco home.  He received the BFE Films 'Reliance' video for his hard luck.

Thanks to Matt8888 for helping out in so many areas.  At one point he got his fingers smacked by a fan blade trying to hook a strap to someone's truck.  Fortunately the fan was plastic, he was wearing gloves and wasn't injured. 

Thanks to everyone else who helped out on the trail with recoveries and sharing needed items.  I know everyone did their part.  Also thanks to Randy Miller and Will Wills for helping make this possible.

Click the images below for a larger view.

Gathering

The Ice

The Mud Holes

Climbing Hills

Some Trails

Creeks

Miscellaneous