Here's a few posts from previous Lion's Back
Misc prev posts by me concerning Lion's Back:
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Chris, yeah, I've never read anywhere else about what you specifically "do" when doing Lion's Back. Every writing I've read by those who have done it simply mentions - yeah I "did" Lion's Back - without explaining what really goes on during the "do" of doing it. And I forgot to mention in my previous post that the wind is about 40 mph up on top too. Just more fun thrown in if it starts raining.
I'll repeat again that from a technical rockcrawling standpoint it is an easy ride. If you have sufficient approach angle to climb the initial hill on the "rump" of the lion you are on your way. The difference is that the room for error in negotiating it further up is fatal.
If you want to do it, I've said before that I've been skydiving and the adrenaline rush you get from this run is more than skydiving. You'll be fine, BUT.... make sure EVERY part of your Explorer is in tiptop shape. You have an advantage since you have a new lease vehicle in good condition. You don't want brakes or center pin bolts or other items going south on you while up there. And don't do what I did and go up while it is sprinkling.
Find someone to go with you so when you make that turn up top you have a second set of eyes to let you know how far you can back up during your multi-point turn. Doing that "blind" is no fun.
And I'll agree with HIX while disagreeing with him. It is true that Potato Salad Hill is much more dangerous from the standpoint that screwing up and rolling over is definately more likely on it. Anyone trying it needs to realize a rollover is very possible. But you'll survive a rollover on PSH. The outcome is debatable if you do it on Lion's Back.
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Up on top of Lion's Back is a "hot tub" hole right in the middle that you will have to circle around if you go up that far (most people turn before then after that first smaller hot tub dip that Matt was talking about). It's scary enough staying in the middle without having to veer off. My tires were ON THE EDGE of a several-hundred foot dropoff going around that hole. A more built rig might chance going into it. It had water in it when I was up there and I was alone and did not like the idea of getting stuck in it, so I went around it.
Well Matt, I'm happy that people can offer to help keep you in the tire tracks. My problem was that no one would ride with me to help. While going up, I couldn't see a d@m# thing because it was like being on a roller coaster when the chain catches you and you sit back in the seat and are raised up loooking into nothing but sky. It's easy for those who haven't been there to say "just follow the tire tracks" but I couldn't see them. I was sitting in my Explorer at a severe positive angle looking up to nothing but sky, knowing that to veer a few degrees or so either way would kill me. Or that any mechanical breakdown that I had no control over would do the same. And ask those who were there about what you cannot plan on..... it started raining while I was up there. I did Lion's Back wet. Who's next?
That is one adventure I'll not repeat this year. I did it, got the t-shirt, and won't do it again. Game over.
Ray Hutchison wanted to run Lion's Back right after me but his wife Debby talked him out of it. The very next run, they promptly sheared their centerbolt on their left rear leafspring and the axle careened back into the rear bumper. If Ray had run Lion's Back he'd be dead now.
This is an obstacle that can be conquered by any of our Explorers. It is a technically simple run that any stocker can do provided the driver can negotiate precise maneuvers. The Moab slickrock traction makes it possible for any of us to do it. What makes it world-famous is the fact that the slightest mistake doesn't result in body damage on the vehicle, but death to the driver.
I don't think it is worth betting my life again to run that obstacle simply for bragging rights. Instead I'm gonna enjoy my time with my son Exploring the rest of southeastern Utah this year.
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