winter wheeling trip dates are February 1,2, and 3

[cahilc]

Open house trip for CLCC members with no need to pre-register. I run a ski house in Canaan, WV during the winter and this where we'll be staying. Co-ed dorm accommodations with plenty of floor space so pack sleeping bags and cushy sleeping pads as needed. Guest rate at the house is a flat rate of $25 per night per guest. This is the house guest rate for the entire winter season. Trust me, this is a non-profit venture and propane to heat the house does add up. Other accommodations are available in Canaan Valley. (One year waiting list for real nice stuff.) Plan on arriving Thursday, Jan. 31st afternoon to evening. Highly recommend planning to arrive at the house with plenty of daylight left. We'll wheel Friday and Saturday, and maybe a pinch on Sunday.

House Access Roads: Interestingly WV DOT *grooms* or should i say manicures their roads in the winter. The house is located off a public school bus route. ( The road will be maintained immaculate through Friday day for school bus pickup and drop-off.) Friday evening the roads may deteriorate quickly, hence arrive on Thursday.

Food: Breakfast at the house, pack lunch, and dinners will be out at the local restaurants in the evenings. If you know me you know I'm not a slight build. I know where the good eats are. Never ask the skinny kid in the group for a dinner recommendation.

Note: This trip is *very* weather dependent. I past years I've had great snow @ this time and other winters I've been completely wiped out (i.e. no snow) in the high country. Have even had rain. We'll figure conditions out as we get closer.

Trailers: Plenty of space at the house to drop trailers, etc. There is only one small catch. There's a hair pin uphill turn on the approach road to the house. If conditions are real bad we'll have to have a backup plan on where to stash trailers.

Cell phone: Phone coverage is phenomenal at the house. I have Cingular and have perfect reception.

Vehicles: Be prepared for plenty of deep, slick, treacherous, snow conditions. The trails I'm planning to wheel are unmaintained, enter at your own risk in winter, fire roads (easy) to unmaintained access roads (harder). Vehicles should have good ground clearance. Lockers recommended. Chance of vehicle damage should be at a minimum. There are side gulley's along the road for drainage and most likely somebody will go exploring. When this happens the vehicles usually goes in with a full commit. Side fender damage may occur but is usually very minimal. Scrapes and a little bit of pushed sheet metal are common. I'll be wheeling my FJ60 for this trip.

Tires: More sipes the better. For snow, big lugs for show, sipes for go.

Let's have some fun !!!



Cahil

[H2o]

count me in with the pickup!

[Blue77FJ40]

If I go, it'll be in the Taco, and I'll probably grab a ride with someone.

[Riad]

It is starting to look like that I might be able to go. Should have my 35s on by then .

[cahilc]

Canaan Valley had 21 inches of snow last week in two days (Tues/Wed). Right now they have no snow. See how freaky the weather is.

Think snow !!!
Cahil

[Riad]

Dag!! 21" . So does that mean I can use my almost 31" tires?

[cahilc]

I'll be running a 235/75/15R tires with studs. These are very aggressive, dedicated snow tires. With lockers front and rear its amazing where you can go with this setup. If the going gets dicey I toss on chains. It's a lot cheaper to to find chains in the 235 size range. Big tires can be a disadvantage if not suited for snow. They can provide to much float and just let you spin and slip sideways. Need to get through the top layer of snow down to some packed snow for grip. Don't confuse this with some extreme alpine trips where they do want float so they run hugely big tires almost like donuts on rims. Very different conditions.

Cahil

[cahilc]

Here's the link to levels of snow in the high backcountry @ Dolly Sods.

Cross Country XC Ski White Grass

Scroll down just a bit and on the left blue box there's a line for snow level or base.

Current conditions: 4000' stake:12"

This is a good start but we need more for a really good trip. So think snow!!!

Early next week will post directions *here* to the ski house.

I will be leaving DC on Thursday (1/31) ~ noon and taking a southern route through Front Royal. All those who which to caravan are welcome to join.

Think Snow!!!

Cahil

[cahilc]

no longer needed ...

[John Smith]

Due to my work screwing me, I am out for this trip. You all have fun and I hope you get some snow!

[cahilc]

Ah, bummer, sorry to hear that.

Gonna be an interesting weekend. It could either rain a bunch or blow snow all over the place. A few degrees either way is all it would take.

Will miss ya',
Cahil

[76FJ40]

We want pics!

[fjman]

So was there snow?

[jmvar]

pics coming soon, was a great time and I want to thank Cahil for his hospitality.

[fjman]

Who's got some pictures.....

[jmvar]

Sorry it took so long for me to get these up, had a crazy week last week and went to snowshoe over the weekend.

Now, I would like to start out by thanking Cahil for his hospitality and for taking the time to set up the trip. It really was a great time.

I headed out on Thurs. afternoon from Germantown and got to the cabin at about 5 pm. The place was really nice and the group of people staying there were really friendly. We went out to dinner Thurs. night and waited to see what Fri. had for us weather wise. Woke up Fri. morning and it was raining, ended up raining all day.

We set out to do our first trail and about 100 yards into the trail I started slipping and sliding all over the place. Luckily it was in a pretty open area and at about 8 mph. I turned into the slide, didn't touch the brakes, and let the truck come to a stop on it's own. Needless to say I was pretty freaked out, I knew we were on ice but I figured the 1-2" of snow on top would at least give me a little bit of traction. I haven't owned the truck for long, I haven't ever driven on MTs (they are new), and the biggest car I have owned before the 80 is a VW jetta so I really didn't feel comfortable once we started getting into tight spots that were off camber, and with a cliff to the left. I ended up parking my truck and I jumped in Cahil's 60.

This is were I parked the 80.




We proceeded on and I had a blast watching Cahil maneuver through icy off camber declines and inclines, frozen stream crossings and amazing views.

Drop off on the left freaked me out with all the ice.



Half frozen waterfall.



The 60 with snow tires and studs was great.



Stream crossing, can't see how off camber it is in the pic but the 60 definitely started sliding towards the right approaching the stream due to lack of traction.



On the way up



After the run we went and picked up my truck, stopped by a local outdoor store where the owner was a cruiser head. Talked cruisers, trails, and outdoor gear for a while. We then headed off to a local auto parts store where I picked up some tire chains for the next days run.



We had dinner that night at a local spot with live music and really good home cooked food.

My new chains....yes, the cabin has a 2.5 car garage complete with epoxied floors, a pit, and workbench. We added some links to the chains so that they fit my 33s better and Cahil taught me how to put them on.



Next morning we set out to do another run, it snowed some on Fri. but nothing considerable.

Weather on Sat. was amazing, blue skies, and it probably hit close to 50 deg. at one point. We chained up right before the trail, Cahil checked my newbie chain mounting just to make sure I mounted them correctly, and we were off.

Once I got a feel for how much traction the chains provided I was really comfortable.











This is what is under the snow....SOLID ICE!!!!!!!!



Unfortunately I had to leave Sat. afternoon and didn't get a chance to ride in Cahil's blue 60 with the 6BT in it which I was really looking forward to. Hopefully next time.

The trip was tons of fun and a great learning experience for me. I am really glad I made it out and would jump on another trip in a second if another one is planned (hint hint Cahil!!!!)

On top of that, Cahil knows all the good eating spots!!!!!

Thanks again Cahil of the great times and hope we can hang out again soon!!!!

[fjman]

Cool pics! Thanks for sharing them.

[76FJ40]

Looks like a fun time!

[cahilc]

Superb trip report !!!

The picture are great but really don't show the altitude changes (fairly common happening with pictures). The pic of the one stream crossing is super steep ( ~ 20 ft change in height from top to bottom). The ice was very thick and super slick from all the rain.







Cahil

[Blue77FJ40]

Nice pics.

So Cahill, did you bring two '60's to the cabin? I guess on your auto hauler?

How do you add links to a snow chain, in the center to widen?

Thanks, Dan

[jmvar]

Added links to the ends to increase the circumference of the chains. One link on each end just to make it easier to put them on.

[Blue77FJ40]

Do the chains come with spare links, or does any hardware store stock them? Are they just spread open and squeeze shut to add, or are they welded on?

[jmvar]

We just got some links that are open and have a threaded section. Opened them up, put loctite on the threads, closed them up and let them set up. I just needed one link to get the chains to the perfect circumference. The replacement links end up on the sidewall of the tire, they don't see any contact with the contact patch of the tire and the road surface.

Exactly like this.

Grainger Industrial Supply: Quick Link,5/16 In,5000 LB 1XUC1

I will probably remove these in the future, add a link and tack it. The replacement link is thicker material than the rest of the links on the chains but I don't know how comfortable I am with that threaded section.

Any input?

[Blue77FJ40]

Thanks for the feedback. I obviously have zero tirechain knowledge and seek enlightenment. From other tirechain threads I've seen, they aren't cheap for decent ones.