Recovery Mission

[Big John]

Scotty got a call yesterday to go rescue a customer who's rig was in a very bad position on a trail near Boulder. It is truly a miracle that this guy is still alive. His rig was holding on by a thread.

To all you guys that wheel on this board, I firmly believe in never wheeling alone. Bad things can happen when you least expect it and having another rig with you can literally be the difference between life and death. The trail that this guy was on had several butt puckering, tire lifting off camber spots that could send you hundreds of feet to the bottom if things didn't go right, so I felt like he was in way over his head especially by himself.

I don't have a problem running a simple road in the back country by myself. But, I usually will have enough food, drinks, and clothing to survive a few days anyhow if I'm going to do such a thing. I will not run anything even moderately difficult by myself as I've seen the results of this and it's not fun.

This guy cheated death and was able to take a short cut (about 3 miles versus 5 on the trail he was on) hiking trail to the main road to get out. The extraction of the rig was a little bit of a challenge but we got er done with the help of a couple straps, snatch block, winch, and a deeply rooted tree.

What kept this rig from falling is beyond me.

 

[the great him]

what a re****

 

[Dous]

what a re****

Oh be easy....I am sure he has done smarter things, but sometimes things just go sour.

 

[brian2sun]

Good job on the recovery! I agree completely with everything you said about wheeling alone.

 

[steezemcqueen]

Left hand canyon?

 

[Big John]

I think it's one of the ways up to Miller Rock. It's up St. Vrain canyon and you enter the trail between houses. I'd never had found it in a million years if he hadn't shown us.

 

[steezemcqueen]

I think it's one of the ways up to Miller Rock. It's up St. Vrain canyon and you enter the trail between houses. I'd never had found it in a million years if he hadn't shown us.

Yeah i remember driving through what seemed like someones yard to get to Miller Rock. Nice job on the recovery. :thumb3:

 

[t4r4life]

i wheeled along once, got stuck and had to hike 2 miles of steep hills to get rescued my a taco

 

[Singtoe]

i wheeled along once, got stuck and had to hike 2 miles of steep hills to get rescued my a taco

That is better then having a bolder fall on your hand and you have to self amputate.

PSA - Don't wheel or go hiking by yourself:driving:.

 

[bikerjosh]

"PSA - Don't wheel or go hiking by yourself."

Good advice but sometimes one else is available when you are. Most of my DV moto trips I'm doing loops by myself, with prearranged check in times (usually end of day), but I also use a SPOT beacon with tracking so my brother and GF can see where I am when the transmitter pings my location every ten minutes and updates my position on google maps. They know enough that if they see a bunch of check in points all in the same spot (as in not moving) w/o another message from me to send help.
Josh

 

[Nelsonmd]

"PSA - Don't wheel or go hiking by yourself."

Good advice but sometimes one else is available when you are. Most of my DV moto trips I'm doing loops by myself, with prearranged check in times (usually end of day), but I also use a SPOT beacon with tracking so my brother and GF can see where I am when the transmitter pings my location every ten minutes and updates my position on google maps. They know enough that if they see a bunch of check in points all in the same spot (as in not moving) w/o another message from me to send help.
Josh

Yeah, there are lots of things you can do to be safe by yourself out in the wilderness. I think the point here is that he shouldn't have been going on a dangerous trail by himself. As John said, if you go it alone, don't push your limits, and be prepared to spend a few days out there. And always tell people where you are going. Otherwise you might end up like that wad that cut his own arm off then got a movie deal. Or that wad that died in a bus in Alaska, then they made a book and movie about him.

 

[theizzardking]

Yeah, there are lots of things you can do to be safe by yourself out in the wilderness. I think the point here is that he shouldn't have been going on a dangerous trail by himself. As John said, if you go it alone, don't push your limits, and be prepared to spend a few days out there. And always tell people where you are going. Otherwise you might end up like that wad that cut his own arm off then got a movie deal. Or that wad that died in a bus in Alaska, then they made a book and movie about him.

meh, being alone hiking isn't a big deal if your experienced, ever year i do a 20-30 mile solo trip just to get away from people, but i let people know where i'm going when i'll be back and what route i'm taking, wheeling alone is the same thing, a little bit of common sense can go a long way, i don;t know the trail the guy was on so i can't comment on how big of a re**** he was or not, but if it was something he's run a few times before and was comfortable on the trail i see no reason to start bashing the guy, i mean yeah he could have no f'ing clue what he's doing or where he's at and be by himself, and yes that is full on re****, but doing things by yourself doesn't automatically make you an idiot, i call it self reliant, and to give this guy some credit you knew when he was in trouble and went and got help, to me that shows he had at least enough sense to know when to call it quits and ask for help, i did SAR here in washington for a bit and that's where most people get in trouble is not knowing when to just stop and get help or over estimation of their abilities, they get lost and just keep going and going and going, and it turns into this game where your chasing some idiot through the woods for a day or 2.

but again even a pro can have something go wrong, heck on a bad day even if that guy had someone with him it could have gone over the edge and killed him, i don;t think it's all that bad, no harm no foul really, he was at least smart enough to know he was fubar'd.

and yes, 99% of the time always wheel with a buddy or in a pack, but without knowing the guy or if he's knows what's up and just had a bad day i'm not going to jump on the he's an idiot band wagon just yet.

risk vs reward is a very subjective thing...

 

[Big John]

My intention of this thread was to bring to light how things can go south in a hurry when wheeling. Making the guy out to be a "re****" was never on my agenda.
He, like many here, was fairly new to wheeling. He had already made it through a few tough obstacles so I guess he thought this one would go well too.
Izzard is right though. Would it have made a damn bit of difference if anyone was with him aside from possibly talking sense into him? Nobody will ever know. I also agree with self reliance, as long as one knows one's limits. This guy clearly did not and it came so close to possibly costing him his life it's not even funny.
There are many people that take on the outdoors in many different ways such as hiking, hunting, skiing, wheeling, etc... by themselves just to get away from people and that's great. Each if these have their own inherent dangers. I personally feel the chances for something to go really wrong go way up when you're by yourself though.

Bottom line. A lot of the rigs I see will go places that would challenge a mountain goat. Know your rig's limits. More importantly, know your own limits. Be prepared and get home safe.:hatsoff: