Altoona, PA Anyone with a winch. please help. i will pay you nicely.

[sqwirl]

Ditch diggin in the snow or... Sqwirl getting stuck and freezing his butt off

My truck is stuck in a ditch outside of bellwood in tight quarters on a trail. I need someone with a truck mounted or portable winch maybe even a heavy duty come along to help me get out out. Or if someone knows of a towing place around here thatll tow someone out of a trail.

 

[Crankcase]

Moderators, please leave this in 911....I have heard full situation in chat, and agree it is important

 

[Nate1]

I'll second that motion. He sounds really badly stuck and in great distress, and has frostbite on his feet now from trying to get this rig out.
Anyone with a winch? Anyone know anyone with a winch?

 

[JDraper]

Anyone know how this turned out? Wish I had seen it, but I was asleep when it was posted. I'm about 35 miles from Altoona and have wheelchains, towstraps, and a hand winch.

Hope ya got out ok.....

 

[sqwirl]

My truck is still back there. I found a towing company that will supposedly get me out Im just waiting for them to get back to me. Said they wouldnt be free till at least 11.

 

[Nate1]

update???

 

[dman726749]

i talked to him lastnight in the chat and he said he goit it out with a come along from walmart and a bunch of his friends so all i good.

 

[Crankcase]

Yeah he pulled it out with a $20 come along Here are the pics....:



I am moving this to whoops

 

[rikguy]

I'm in Altoona but, no winch. Just read this today but ... next time I'll come help push.
p.s. I have a come a long.

 

[sunbum]

Nice bird. ROFLMAO A good addition to the images.

Glad you made it out alright.

 

[sqwirl]

Yeah I'm out. Thanks to everyone in the chat for their helpful advice and all even though I got bitter and called them all "armchair quarterbacks". Gotta understand though where I was coming from though. Anyways after I get home from work I'll post a nice long write up about the whole ordeal .

 

[Crankcase]

Sqwirl himslef should be coming out of hibernation to explain the whole storyLOL

Here are the pics on a different page:
Sqwirl stuck down by the "Olde Railway bed" Pics

 

[Fish Man]

stooooory!

 

[sqwirl]

I'm pasting this from my entry in my livejournal earlier. I don't feel like typing it again so bear with the first paragraphs off topicness.


Wow. This weekend. Where to begin. Well friday started out fine, went to work it was an easy day. Got my paycheck and my christmas bonus check. After work I took my usual nap till everyone was done with classes and everything. I went driving around for a while getting used to driving a 4x4 in the snow and how it reacts and such. I met up with kyle and wiggums. Then me and wiggums went off driving around and decided to go back kerbaugh and see whats up back there. I decided to just drive the whole way from the kerbaugh entrance up to the exit by the pinecroft bridge. I had done that trail within the past month and all was clear except for now... We get about 3/4 of a way down the trail and some #######(more than likely norfolk southern) put a large mound in the middle of the trail. Normally these can be avoided but there was an old railroad line directly parallel to me on my left and dense trees to my right. I could've backed out like 200yds to an area that wouldve been simple to turn around in but there was a tree jutting into the trail and I was afraid I'd clip it going backwards and break something so I tried to turn around. I backed up a little too far and little did I know there was a ditch back there. Well I set the frame down on the ground and got hung up fairly well. I got out and surveyed and my god it didn't look good.

We looked for logs or anything we could use to get out. After quite a few failed attempts I called my parents to bring me some supplies. They came out and my mom was sick and I told her to stay in the car but she wouldn't. She started getting fired up and was ripping trees out of the ground and ****. After an hour or so of trying we gave up and went home.

We got ahold of the Tyler boys and Rice and went out for round two. We tried pulling out with Matt's truck only to snap two tow straps and a rope cause of the horrid angle and locale that I was stuck in. We tried pushing, jacking, swearing, anything you can think of to no avail. Sometime after 2am we gave up and went home. Being so nervous about leaving my truck in the woods I only got about an hour or so of sleep. I got up at 6:30 and went out and bought a come along and a tow strap and had to call off work. I came home and decided to call a tow truck since that would probably work for sure since I wasn't too confident in the come along. I called him at like 8am and he said he couldn't get down there till at least 11. 11 came and no tow truck. 12... 1... so wiggums called me and wanted to know what was up. Said Kyle just talked to him so I gave Kyle a call to see if he would just drive me out to my truck.

He came down and we got ahold of Joe and went for round three. We get out there, hooked the come along to the old rail line and start cranking away and the truck started to come out. I'm pumped thinking its gonna work. So I jacked the drivers side up to get the frame a little off the ground so the come along wouldn't have to work so hard. I keep jacking and all of the sudden the pulley just disintegrates. Luckily the bolt through the pulley held fast for the time being. I went and dug out in front of the rear tires as best I could. After that I thought for a second at how bad that cable would **** my day up if that bolt failed. I said **** it I want my truck out and started cranking away while Kyle was giving the truck gas. After about 5 clicks the truck climbed out. I felt like I just had sex the hottest girl in the world thats how good if felt to get it out of there. So we start driving away, me in my mom's ex and Joey in mine when Joe somehow slides up over the railroad track and gets hung up. What a buzz kill. I went back and got two logs and put them in front of the tries and threw it in low and just hammered it. Luckily I got up over the rail. I dont even know if the logs helped. After that we made it home with no other problems.

All in all I probably spent 8 hours out in the cold trying to get that out. $80 total($35 for come along and a tow strap then $45 for dinner for all of us afterwards) spent on the whole whoops. Im now sick from this and I hope no one else that helped me gets sick from it.

Lessons learned:
Wheeling in the snow = bad
Not surveying a brushy area before backing up = bad
Waterproof boots work boths ways. Once water gets in it stays in.
Wool socks just suck up more water.
$20 come alongs can save your ass but I wouldn't bet my life on it.
Leaving your baby in the woods is the worst possible feeling in the world.
Do anything you can to help your friends cause hopefully they will be there when you need them.
Cellphones are well worth the $30 a month.
Always keep your truck stocked with supplies if you do wheel.

I know I learned plenty of other lessons but thats all I'm listing for now. This will definately be something I will never forget for the rest of my life.

P.S. GET YOUR BUTTS IN TEH CHATROOM!!!

 

[GaSouthern1]

Damn, you bought a 15 dollar strap...you are lucky that think didnt break.

 

[JDraper]

Hey Sqwirl, next time ya get the itch to go play in the snow, give me a yell. I'm over near Lewistown, and we have lots of state forestry roads to go play on. Plus I have extraction gear .

If you really like offroading, join our group on one of the trail runs. We run about once a month. Last weekend we did Rausch Creek, which is about 30 miles northeast of Harrisburg.

 

[SHISVX]

glad you got out! shesh, tight spot

Kelli

 

[Charlie's_93EB]

super glad you got out alright.

PS the sleep you get after getting your car, truck or anything out is truly the best, 20 hours+ staight is recommended!!!

 

[Hokie]

Random comment..

Ya know.. as southern as I am.. I really like this pic. North or south, snowy small town America with a nice Ex just gets to me (I think its the blue and red houses in the background. I'm a sucker for what our country was ~ not the suburbian wasteland that its becoming)

If i had to live in the North, I always said I would draw a line between Philly and Pittsburg and pick somewhere smack dab in the middle Harrisburg, York, Johnstown, looks like thats my 2 hour radius ... Looks like Altoona is there too

 

[JDraper]

Originally posted by Hokie
Random comment..

Ya know.. as southern as I am.. I really like this pic. North or south, snowy small town America with a nice Ex just gets to me (I think its the blue and red houses in the background. I'm a sucker for what our country was ~ not the suburbian wasteland that its becoming)

If i had to live in the North, I always said I would draw a line between Philly and Pittsburg and pick somewhere smack dab in the middle Harrisburg, York, Johnstown, looks like thats my 2 hour radius ... Looks like Altoona is there too

Then you would probably love where I am. I'm halfway between Altoona and Harrisburg. Our house is nestled in the tail end of the appalachain mountain chain. Beeyoutiful area...