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Rescuing Grunizzle's Ranger. Story/Pics/Vids.


Hahnsb2

Well-Known Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Aug 8, 2007
Messages
4,416
Age
36
City
Battle Ground WA
Vehicle Year
88-95
Transmission
Manual
So it started snowing after work on Tuesday, I tried giving my friend Chris (Grunizzle, build thread here) a call, his phone and my other buddies phone went straight to voicemail as if they were out of cell service. So after several hours of no contact I ask Danny's parents if they know where they are, they said they had said they were "going up in the mountains". Next morning (Wednesday) they still were no where to be found so I got the parents involved and after the 24 hour limit was up I started packing up my truck to go search for them as I had a good reason to believe they went to our camp spot in the Gifford Pinchot National Forrest.

Complicating matters, Chris was on leave from the Air Force and had to fly back today. As his step dad went to the sheriffs office to report them missing they received a call that the Forrest service had picked up 2 men walking out of the NF-93 road, where I thought they were. Once we had confirmation it was them we drove up to the little town of Cougar and picked them up.

Turns out they had gone down the little dirt road that our camping spot is on and as he was driving his ranger though one of the rutted spots in the road the ice in the ruts gave way, high centering his rig on a huge block of ice between the ruts, at that point it started snowing (there was no snow on the ground before). All they had was one of those worthless folding army shovels, very little food, no blankets, ect. After 5 hours of digging they went to bed, starting the truck every hour to keep warm.

It snowed over a foot that night. The next morning they started walking, the nearest town, Cougar, was 25 miles away. They walked 8 miles until they got to where the road was plowed, it's an evacuation route if St. Helens blows so they only plow up until the last cabins up there. A Forrest service truck spotted them and drove them into town.

So Thursday we loaded up my B2, Danny's Cherokee and another friends FX4 and set out on a recovery mission. I chained up my B2 to take it down the steep dirt road our camp spot is on while we left the other rigs up top and pulled out his Ranger. It proceeded to get stuck in another set of ruts on the way out and I pulled him out again, all in all I think it was a good learning experience..

Ranger's Icy tomb.
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B2
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The block of ice it was sitting on.
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Muddy river parking lot after recovery.
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Having some fun.
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Muddy river bridge.
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Ranger extraction

Another tug.
 
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That had to suck... gotta love getting stuck alone with no recovery gear... in the snow much less... damn.

Glad to see ya got it out, and I always love seein that b2 in action :icon_thumby:
 
damn that sucks, dont wanna spend the night in the truck during the winter
 
That sucks at least they were found. my buddy high centered on a hill out here and called me an 2 hours before he had to be at work and he was way off the road go figure and he didn't even have a shovel. At least no one was lost and no vehicles abandoned
 
Man, looks like a tough time but at least you have a good story from it. All very good looking trucks!
 
great story, Hahn. Looks like a fun time too. lol.
 
Looks like he needs to invest in some 33's or 35's next to give him some extra height so he doesn't get hung up on other blocks of ice.
 
Looks like he needs to invest in some 33's or 35's next to give him some extra height so he doesn't get hung up on other blocks of ice.

Yeah, hahns, you and his 'rents gotta wrap some of those up for him and stick them under the Christmas tree later this year. :icon_rofl:
 
Nice photo essay and thanks for letting us go along with you on this recovery from the warmth of our homes! Well done.
 
Good save. Definitely one of those things thats not funny or enjoyable until after its over. Once it's over you have a good story lol
 
A winch would of saved the day! Glad everyone is ok!
 
Nice recovery....but tell your friend in the yellow jacket to watch himself around those straps....I cringed when I saw him standing next to it....nevermind when I saw him grab it...I can see somebody loosing an arm in the near future....
 
Yeah he shouldn't have grabbed it as I was pulling, I think he was expecting me to get another run at it so he was gonna pull the slack out from under my rig.. As far as standing next to it, I wasn't too worried with a such a big strap/minor recovery.
 
Nice recovery....but tell your friend in the yellow jacket to watch himself around those straps....I cringed when I saw him standing next to it....nevermind when I saw him grab it...I can see somebody loosing an arm in the near future....

I felt like I was going to see someone die. There was an extreme breakdown of communication.

Otherwise, looked like fun.
 

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