Paiute Pass Jan 12, 2013

[Phimosis]

After getting a late start, I met up with Mike, Lime_Green_Rubi on the trail. When the snow got deep, he didn't want to go further on his own, so he stopped at a wide spot and lit a fire in a rock firepit to cook up some ribs and chicken.

He told me to go up on my own and if I wasn't back by dark that he'd come looking for me. After a few steep hills with some old tracks in the snow and everyone else having turned around, it was all virgin snow, without a track in sight.

After a 10 minute run at 6,500 rpm I started to overheat, even running the heater on full blast. The computer started dropping my rpm incrementally, 6,000, 5,500, 5,000 and when I was down to about 4,500 rpm, I got to a spot that was flat enough that I could get my rig moving again, so I stopped and let it idle until it was cool again.

After a few stops to cut out fallen trees across the road and more 6,500 rpm runs, I made it to the top and started to go down the backside towards Weldon. When I got to the signs that pointed towards Bodfish and Lake Isabella, I realized I missed the fire trail that goes to the Peak of Paiute Mountain, so I headed back.

On that last fire trail, about a quater mile from the peak, the snow was so deep that my bumper was plowing snow and I could't make it all the way to the top. My last tracks were 30" from the snow surface to tread marks, but it was still packed snow without any dirt to be seen.

I headed back down and met up with Mike again and asked him to come back up with me. After going less than a half a mile at full air pressure his progress was stopped. He was a little reluctant, but I offered to help him air down so it would be quick. At 6 psi, we were up and running again and we both made it back to the top.

That was an AWESOME run. No damage. No fuss, no muss!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij3wi5hyNkg][/youtube]


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf75g8exSI4][/youtube]


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e6fYA1H4A0][/youtube]

Goodyear Wrangler MTR's clogged up with snow. He did eventually get himself out of this mess. What you can't see is that it's at the edge of the trail with a scary downhill slope. I was very impressed by his skills!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfddg2Ps-SY][/youtube]



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The peak of Paiute Mountain is more like a mound. But what a beautiful mound it is!
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PS. To embed Youtube videos to the IOR forum, click "share this video" then turn this:

http://youtu.be/sf75g8exSI4

into this: [y o u t u b e=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf75g8exSI4][/youtube]
but without the spaces in the word youtube. :-)

[munepit]

Damm that looked fun!

[Beck*A*Poo]

lots of snow and a naked ass appears lol

[munepit]

That is a nice ass!!!!! Send pictures to my cell!

[abendx]

Beautiful pics.... and thanks for showing us your girl's ass.

Luckily for you, it is only slightly nicer than mine, otherwise I'd have to put up a pic to prove it was better.

I'd have been worried to have that low fuel light go on when it was only 23 degrees!

[Desert Dog]

Beautiful ass pic!!!!!!!!! DAMMMMM, I wanna spank it

Love that snow run. The last time I cut the trail to the top of Piute, I burned 3/4 tank of fuel from the trailhead; I ran the whole thing at about 5000 RPMs! Spare fuel is a must when cutting a trail in the snow.

[Ben H.]

That looked like a killer snow wheeling trip. Snow looked just right for driving too. And the white JK in the snow is badass. Reminds me of Empire Strikes Back.

[rockyjk07]

Badass jk!!!
lol

[Phimosis]

[quote="Desert Dog"]Beautiful ass pic!!!!!!!!! DAMMMMM, I wanna spank it

Love that snow run. The last time I cut the trail to the top of Piute, I burned 3/4 tank of fuel from the trailhead; I ran the whole thing at about 5000 RPMs! Spare fuel is a must when cutting a trail in the snow.[/quote]

That's the key, "cutting the trail". There's no gas stations after Weedpatch. I'm guessing with 285 hp the new engine is even thirstier. On long, steep pulls, in 4 lo, it didn't have enough power and would bog to around 4,500. In 3 lo, it just sits on the rev limiter at 6,500. Even then, when it gets traction it will still bog to 5,500 or so. Snow is like a blend between mud and sand, where mud is slick and you don't get traction and where sand has so much rolling resistance that it just sucks all of your power.

When I got to the top the first time, I was about 3/8's tank. Then I followed Mike the second time up and the fuel light came on before we got to the top. Mike said He would tow me back to town if need be, so we blazed on. Coming back to Weedpatch I was really gentle with the throttle and speed and got to the gas station well under the empty mark! :-0

[Phimosis]

[quote="abendx"]Beautiful pics.... and thanks for showing us your girl's ass.

Luckily for you, it is only slightly nicer than mine, otherwise I'd have to put up a pic to prove it was better.

I'd have been worried to have that low fuel light go on when it was only 23 degrees![/quote]


Mike said he would tow me if I ran out. That's why I pushed it as far as I did. :-)

[Phimosis]

[quote="Ben H."]That looked like a killer snow wheeling trip. Snow looked just right for driving too. And the white JK in the snow is badass. Reminds me of Empire Strikes Back.[/quote]

Indeed it was awesome! You see the video with the camera over the tire? When I come to a stand still, I have to get hard on the brake because I have over 500 lbs of tire and wheel spinning at 30 mph. If I just let off the throttle, they keep digging for a few more seconds and it will put me on the frame and potentially get me stuck. Even when there was only 6" of tire sticking out of the snow, I wasn't down in to mud yet.

My differentials are 12.8". Tie rod is 15". My lowest skid plate is 19". The bottom of my front bumper is 24". Once I go deeper than 24" is when it starts to lose speed. When it got to 30", at roughly 10% incline, I couldnt develop enough momentum uphill to keep plowing forward. Fricking fantastic!

[Desert Dog]

[quote="Phimosis"][quote="Desert Dog"]Beautiful ass pic!!!!!!!!! DAMMMMM, I wanna spank it

Love that snow run. The last time I cut the trail to the top of Piute, I burned 3/4 tank of fuel from the trailhead; I ran the whole thing at about 5000 RPMs! Spare fuel is a must when cutting a trail in the snow.[/quote]

That's the key, "cutting the trail". There's no gas stations after Weedpatch. I'm guessing with 285 hp the new engine is even thirstier. On long, steep pulls, in 4 lo, it didn't have enough power and would bog to around 4,500. In 3 lo, it just sits on the rev limiter at 6,500. Even then, when it gets traction it will still bog to 5,500 or so. Snow is like a blend between mud and sand, where mud is slick and you don't get traction and where sand has so much rolling resistance that it just sucks all of your power.

When I got to the top the first time, I was about 3/8's tank. Then I followed Mike the second time up and the fuel light came on before we got to the top. Mike said He would tow me back to town if need be, so we blazed on. Coming back to Weedpatch I was really gentle with the throttle and speed and got to the gas station well under the empty mark! :-0[/quote]

I carry spare fuel on snow runs now. I had a really close call on a Piute run with the trailblazers where I was cutting the trail, and had to siphon a little gas from a CJ. So now, I ALWAYS carry spare fuel and a chainsaw on snow trips. Of course, 40+" tires help a lot too!

[Uncle Cracker]

fantastic pics****** nice ass****** that's it, nothing else to say

[Lime_Green_Rubi]

[b][size=150][color=#80FF40]What Larry said. I went as far as I cared to solo. This is not the place to have no back up. You could easily become a statistic. We made a fire and cooked some food and it was great. About the time the coals were right Larry comes tooling up the road with his extremely state of the art bad ass JK in commando white! I was not ready to abandon the food and Larry was eager so we collected enough information with a time datum to go retrieve Larry and friend. Around seventy-five minutes later Larry and friend returned and we both set out to duplicate his effort. I stayed in the tracks he had layed down with his 38's. When we got stopped by conditions we would have needed a snowkat to go any further. Larry and his friend were both very nice and gracious. I am happy they were able to add to our experience on the "Peak". [/color][/size][/b] http://youtu.be/3XEbju5xkdg

[krahsh]

looks like an awesome run! nice pictures and nice scenery.

[Phimosis]

Instead of making a go from the Caliente side, we did an impromptu Paiute run from the Weldon side today and actually made it to the weather station at 8,380 feet elevation and then hiked to the top, where there was no trail. It was all virgin snow, but not new snow. The custy, hard to break through kind with an icy base, where the base is super slippery with no traction. It rained for 3 days in Bakersfield, but only the top 1/2 inch was powder. Disappointing, but fun, none the less. I'll post up pics soon.