2007 Wentworth Springs Snow Run
January 28, 2007
Written By Rob
John, Lee, Richard, Bob, Pat and
kids, and I were the only attendees of this run. Other members of the club
were supposedly spotted cruzing the local malls showing off all their bling.
We all met up in George Town and had breakfast at Buffalo Hill. Good food!
From there we all headed off down Wentworth Springs road with a destination
of the Rubicon trail. We didn't find any snow until we were within a few
miles of Ice House road. The snow we did encounter on Wentworth road was
extremely icy. There were a couple hills some people made it half way up
then all forward motion was stopped due to the ice. On two separate
occasions, Richard was driving and with no warning at all, he went into a
360 degree spin. On one of the spins I think he went up on 2 wheels.
Once we hit Ice House road, we headed up toward Wentworth Springs camp
ground to enter the Rubicon from there. Ice house road was plowed so no snow
or ice to contend with. Once we hit Wentworth springs road, we aired down
and headed in. We were questioning if we were on the right road or not. I
had not used this entrance to the Rubicon since 1992. Pat and Richard were
pretty sure we were on the right road though. There was about a foot of snow
on the road and most of the ice had melted off the top, so we had great
traction. We encountered several deep water holes on the way in. Going in
these were not bad. On the way out was a different story. These ponds had
broken ice chunks in them that were like mini icebergs (most of the chunks
were between 8 and 10 inches thick). Some of the deep water crossing were
completely frozen over and supported the weight of the Jeeps as we drove
over them.
Once we got to the Camp ground, we stopped and took a break. Pat checked on
the oil problem he was having and decided he wasn’t going to chance going
any further. He and the kids stayed there while we headed up. Most of the
trail from this point on was 50/50 water and rocks. There was a stream
flowing down the middle of the trail. The first obstacle was a very deep
snow rut that threw you off camber and the only thing that probably kept you
from flopping over was that the side of your tires and jeep were pushed up
against the snow as you drove through 20 foot section. We all made it
through with no problem. Rumor had it that Lee had to change his pants after
he made it through.
A ways down from there we started the climb up to the granite slabs. There
are several good sections of rocks to climb here and this was where Bob cut
open one of his side walls. (He is looking for anyone who might have a
couple 33 MTR’s for sale) After changing the tire, we headed out and came to
the first big rocks. I tried the hard line with no luck. 37’s just weren’t
big enough for the side I tried to take. I tried the other side and
just kept getting hung up, so John with his thumbs in his pockets came up
and used his expert spotting skills and guided me over. It took us a short
time, but we got everyone over with the exception of Lee. The only one in
the group who didn’t have a front locker. John strapped him over and we
headed out…..
There were a couple other good sections that I spotted everyone up and all
made it. John tried to pass Richard using a hard line on one of these hills
and got half way up then realized he had no idea what was in front of him.
Had he kept going, he would have surely flopped, but we got him around it
with no problem. (Always showing off)
Once we got to the slabs, we made our way up and went as far as Ellis creek
before we decided to turn around due to the time of day. If we had started
early enough, we could have gone all the way to spider and let John try out
his CTM’s on the sluice.
Turned around and headed out after taking some photos on the slabs. Heading
down, John was leading and in the spot we strapped Lee, John came really
close to going over. He took a really high line over a rock and when his
front slammed down, his back passenger tire shot up in the air about 4 or 5
feet, but John drove out of it and his rig flopped back down on all 4’s.
It was fun to watch!!!!
We all made it down and now came the water crossings. John was first and I
was second. Most of these crossings took several tries, lockers, and a lot
of throttle. The worst was the spot where you saw Richard stuck in the
photo. John, Bob, Lee, and I broke this section up pretty bad when we went
through. Each person that went in broke more ice and where you needed to
exit was a 3 ½ foot ledge that you needed to climb on to the ice to get out.
When Bob came across, I was standing on the ice and when he broke up on the
ice, you could see his jeep wobbling on the ice sheets that were breaking
from under him. Suddenly, there were cracks shooting all over on the ice and
under my feet. I took off running to the shore…..It was cool!!! When Richard
came across, not even his V8 Magnum powered Jeep would help him. He had to
be winched out…….
Several other challenging sections of water and ice on the way out. Bob had
to be strapped out of one and the rest of us had to make several tries
before we made it through.
Richard and Lee took Ice House to Hwy 50 and home. John, Bob, and I headed
back to George Town where we had pizza at a place called the hungry dog.
Awesome pizza!!!
All in all, I rate this as the best snow trip we have had yet…….
Photes here
http://posse4x4.org/gallery/Wentworth-Springs-1-28-2007