"Texans take high road a tad too high" -- Denver Post, 8-3-2000

[mattadams]

THought you guys might get a kick out of this story. A couple of texans take a a dodge ram and a jeep-wrangler up around silverton (right near where we're having the colorado colors run). They are SO stuck because they weren't even on a trail, out in the tundra illegally, and 12,500 feet up. No tow truck can get to them, the BLM is not letting them get their own vehicle, and they are considering having to dismantle the vehicles to have them airlifted down in pieces, and since the average helicopter can only lift 1000 pounds or so, talking about 3-6 trips per vehicle, at the cost of about $800/hour. Lets none of us get that stuck ok?
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[Gofast]

Texan's.

They probable thought it was just another hill. I read that and thought of the idiot that drove his truck on the roof of a house. I really enjoy off-roading, but I have to admit, some of the people I have met on the trail or at the Offroad store buying stuff lead me to beleave that there wasn't a Lifegaurd on Duty at the Gene Pool the day they were born.

I wish there were pictures of where they were.

 

[mattadams]

there was one picture in the denver post itself but not online. You can't really tell in the picture the severity of the stuck, it just looks like two vehicle on the side of a mountain.

 

[Trckmagik]

Leave it to us from Dallas. We just like to make our own trails and break the law I guess!

 

[mattadams]

One other comment on this - the picture that is shown in the Denver Post show from basically the bottom of the mountain looking up, probably with a hi-powered telephoto lens but I was looking and you can definately tell these are in a bad bad situation, EXTREMELY off-camber and nothing to stop them from rolling for quite a ways. Which is probably why no one is willing to get up there and tow it out. I bet it'll be a while before those guys go off-road again .

Looks like, after reading the article closer, that they are trying to get the owner of the sniper (from avalanche engineering) to go up there and tow it out. That'd be something wild to see - a sniper towing out a dodge .

[Edited by mattadams on 08-03-2000 at 09:29 AM]

 

[CBoug76]

Matt, could you scan the photo and post it?

 

[mattadams]

I'll try when I get home. Unfortanetly it'll be black and white and my scanner frankly sucks, but I'll see what I can do. I was hoping they'd put the picture on the net in color or something.

 

[tdavis]

some more info..

Some pics/urls: (stolen from POR's web site)

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[fixed the link to point to the thread]

[newspaper pic is here]

http://www.info2000.net/~cjnut/rmn.htm



[Edited by tdavis on 08-04-2000 at 04:43 PM]

 

[GJarrett]

Tom, I think we need to meet this guy. Look how far off-camber he got and he didn't roll it or lay it over

Gerald

 

[rpenner54]

Gerald... Its a Jeep. The center of Gravity is not quite as high as the Explorer. Differn't rollover points.

Chop the top!!!! LOL Someday... When I have a real daily driver.

 

[mattadams]

I don't know about you guys but i have a solution for the situation as well as my own explanation of what I would've done. First off, what I would've done if I'd been stupid enough to get into that situation.

First off, wipe off the steering wheel (try to do a shotty job of it) and maybe bust one of the windows, and pull out the wires near the key. Walk into town, mention nothing about getting lost/stuck to ANYONE, the next morning wake up and say your vehicle was stolen and you have no idea where it could be. Then, when they do find it, say "what kind of an idiot thief would take a stolen vehicle up here???" Then its the insurance companies job to get it down . Please note - this only applies if you have full coverage insuranse

Why not weld some braces on to the vehicles to keep them from rolling over then just drive it out? I'm sure from the looks of the photos that while it looks tippy, it doesn't look impossible. It'd take more huevos then I've got, but it could be done.

 

[mattadams]

Just as a follow-up, they got the vehicles off the mountain. Thankfully with little damage to the wilderness or their vehicles. Some durango guys helped them get down, for free even, which upset the Colorado Association of Four-wheel drives, since they felt the men should be much more severely punished for ruining the land that will now take 100 years to repair.
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[mmpc]

I guess Texas got messed with...

Glad they got down safely, but c'mon guys, like you thought you were going to find the trail you were looking for way up there???

As for the Denver Post story, I'm very happy to see it included "outrage" from the 4-wheel-drive community. I wonder if the numerous other national news organizations covering the story did too? Amazing how just two people can make an entire group look bad...

 

[mattadams]

and you just know if ted coppel were to cover the story he'd get out there with his camera, probably drive up there in a tank or something, and civdeotape the damage to the tundra, explain how long it would take, how its happening all over the country, and how we need to do what we can to shut down these trails so no one can drive on them, and how SUV's should be made illegal (even thought here ok for him) because they promote rollovers and damage to the environment, which of course his best friend Al Gore is going to try to close down from all human eyes so it can be preserved forever. :fire:

 

[FlyAU]

Hmm...they could've called the Colorado National Guard. The UH-60L Black Hawk has an external payload capacity of 9,000 lbs. 12,500 ft MSL is pushing it's hover ceiling, but it can be done.

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[rpenner54]

The one good thing that everyone has neglected to mention so far is that it was NOT BLM land. It was private property so the BLM can't say much but it still was totaly stupid of those guys to do that. I think it was good of the few that did help them off them mountain to do it for free. Its called being nice. These guys seemed to make a honest mistake of which they probably will never repeat. BTW The people who helped them off were Steve Rumor (Avalanche Enginering owner) Pat Gremlin (Pull Pall/Premire Power Welder owner) and the BLM person originally who would have had to give the guys the ticket, and some other person who I can't remember the name.

 

[mattadams]

All I heard was it was some guys from Durango, so who knows. ANyways depends on who owned the private property, they obviously didn't have permission to be there and the BLM may not have realized that it was private property but either way its trespassing. Not to say I haven't gone on some private trails before but I stick to the trail too. I agree they most definately will not make the same mistake, in fact I doubt they'll go off-road again for a long long time . I think the reason that the colorado association of four-wheel drive clubs didn't want to help them off for free was the bad publicity, like they condone that kind of behavior, which they do not. Even though the points are valid, I'd still have to side on the part of Colorado ASsociation of four-wheel drive clubs, if for no other reason that people are now looking at four-wheelers in a whole different light, and al gore will use it as even more fuel for the fire that all of our trails need to be closed off. If I had made that big of a mistake I would expect to pay out the ass for it too. I'm glad they got them off with minimal impact on anything though.

 

[rustytr]

What exactly did they do to get them down? I mean, expert four wheelers helps alot but I'm curious as to what was done to get them down, if it wasn't good ol' fashioned four wheelin.

 

[mmpc]

and you just know if ted coppel were to cover the story he'd get out there with his camera, probably drive up there in a tank or something, and civdeotape the damage to the tundra...

Matt, that's the most hilarous thing I've read in awhile - because it's ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Oh, and Ted would be wearing a little helmet like Dukakis did in '88!

I also fully support the Colorado Assoc. of 4WD Clubs decision to NOT help them down! Doing so would've most definitely furthered the cause of those just waiting for an excuse to close down all FS roads. :fire:

By the way Paul Harvey ("stand by for news...") had an update on his national show this morning (8/7/00) saying the vehicles were pushed, pulled and inched down the mountain.

 

[mattadams]

its my understanding that they just drove them off, backed them up the same way they got them in, except with some better drivers attempting it, and probably more safety precautions.