The other weekend I participated in a 2-day off road driving course at Hollister Hills SVRA in California with
The Driving Company. I had taken my new 4Runner off road a few times, but since I’m so new to this and don’t have any off roading friends to learn from, I signed myself up for two days in the dust.
Since I haven’t seen much info online about driving courses on the forums, here is a write-up of what went down. TL;DR: Everything about the experience was absolutely amazing – especially the staff. I walked away feeling that everything I learned was essential.
The Instructors: Every instructor was phenomenal. For one, they all have enormous amounts of experience in not only recreational off-roading, but more importantly in EVOC training. Like, decades of experience. Do you think maybe it would be good to be trained in vehicle recovery by folks who also train the United States Marine Corps, and Cal Fire? I do.
The cohort: I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the diversity of people who showed up for the classes. It is a myth that off roading is a macho boys’ thing. Our group was mostly families and couples, from all kinds of backgrounds and with diverse interests and plans as far as what to do with their vehicles. There were hard core wrenchers, absolute novices, and everything in between.
The vehicles: We had new Jeeps, old Jeeps, a Tacoma, 4Runners, an FJ, an F150, a Mercedes G 550 wagon (!), and even an awesome 4x4 Sprinter van.
Day 1: We started with some time in the classroom learning about how 4WD systems actually work, with specifics about several different vehicle types that we students showed up with. They covered in detail the various assistive technologies that our vehicles had (A-TRAC, crawl control, lockers, transfer case, etc.). It got quite specific and we didn’t just cover what the mechanical and technological systems are, we covered when and how to actually use them to our advantage. Clearly the instructors know a LOT – and what they know was learned in the real world through experience.
Next we learned a method (hand signals, voice commands) for spotting drivers through rough stuff. More on this later.
Then, we headed out to the obstacle course! First we watched the experts take a lap with one driving and the other spotting. It was truly eye opening to watch how closely they worked together, and how thought-through and deliberate every decision was, and how slow and careful every move was. There was none of the tire spinning, brute force throttling that you see on the internet.
Next, we paired up and practiced driving and spotting each other through some rough stuff. This was one of the most valuable parts – being forced to think through real problems in real-time and work with your partner to get through / over / up / around safely and without damage, all while an instructor was supervising and offering tips and encouragement.
And the obstacles were no joke – we practiced side hill, cross axle with wheels in the air (A-TRAC to the rescue!), slippery obstacles (locker!) and even some mild trail building (like, moving a rock to help a bit when even my locker + A-TRAC wouldn’t get me over something slippery).
To finish off the day we all hit the trails for a beautiful (and slightly hair-raising) drive up some steep, rocky, narrow “blue” trails to the top of the park looking down on the valley and hills beyond. Amazing view, amazing day.
Day 2: Recovery Day. Sunday was all about recovery, and began with more classroom time than the first day. The instructors led us through all the major pieces of recovery equipment that you might consider carrying, their pros and cons, different examples, tips on how to spot poor quality, how to inspect for safety issues, and most importantly, how to use them. A lot of time was spent on principles of mechanical advantage, and how they apply to winching. There was math!
The instructors were extremely good at breaking everything down so even the kids (and numbers-challenged people like me) got it. It was far more technical that I had expected this stuff to be, but now I see why. We covered pulleys, leverage, working load limit, break strength, friction, all of that. The point being: how to go, safely, from “this vehicle is stuck” to hatching a plan, to executing the plan.
Then we went outside to practice hands-on. Part I was practicing winching operations on flat ground. There was a very strong emphasis on safety, with lots of real-world stories of how things have gone wrong people did not use proper techniques and protocols. All the most common ways people maim themselves or others when winching were covered in great detail, as were techniques and processes to minimize the risk, much like rock climbers have.
For each exercise, one person would be the winch operator, and the other would be the rigger. I only messed up about three times (very embarrassing) but I had never even been near a winch before and going through the experience in a controlled environment with an instructor seared into my brain lots of key things about winching that I’ll never forget. (That said, this is clearly something that you need to practice regularly.) Now of course I’m shopping for a bumper and a winch . . .
For Part II, we split into small teams and headed back to the obstacle course to try and tackle a real-world recovery problem. A “disabled” car was put somewhere awkward, a recovery vehicle was placed nearby, and our job was to safely extract the stuck vehicle up a hill and around a corner. Roles were assigned, a pile of gear was laid out, and . . . a lot of head scratching and debating began.
I’ll skip the details, but suffice it to say, the problem and solution were NOT easy! We used multiple vehicles, a winch, a winch line extension, D-rings, soft shackles, pulleys, dampeners, and even a grade 70 chain. It was crazy and took a lot of thinking and cooperation. But in the end, we succeeded. I learned a TON.
Part III was also rad: learning how to safely do, and then practicing, a “hill abort.” This meant parking on a steep, loose, rutted uphill slope with an instructor riding shotgun, then pretending you need to back out. This was the first time I have used Crawl Control to back down something, and I have to say the experience of taking my foot off the brake (are you serious??) and crawling backwards was both harrowing and amazing.
Last part of the day was, to me, one of the coolest: Snatching! (I wish I had a video of this.) It was done on flat dirt, again in a controlled environment with no safety compromises. Vehicles paired off and were connected with a kinetic rope, so each could practice snatching the other. Lots of engine revs and burned rubber! It was so cool to see a Tacoma dragged 20 feet backwards by a Jeep and vice-versa. It was awesome but I was too chicken to try it with my 4Runner and its hitch-mounted shackle.
And then . . . handshakes and goodbyes, and off we all drove into the sunset, dusty and exhausted and (at least for me) with a long shopping list. Can’t wait to hit the trails again.