On Saturday, my son and I met up with Simon in his B74 at Martins Lake just outside of Princeton. The intent was to do a bit of ice fishing but the fall-back was of course a bit of wheeling if the fishing was bad - which it was. Before departing the lake we got some light entertainment from a guy trying to make the little hill out of the lake in his V8 Dodge 4by. He must have taken 8-10 runs at it before getting himself stuck. We waited enough time for his ego to settle down before I drove down and offered him a tug out. Funny thing, there wasn't one tow hook on that rig.
After another 5 minute of pure hp, he managed to get out of the hole he had dug and took the easy way out. Where I turned to Simon and said, perhaps we should have a go at it. We both promptly climbed the hill without spinning a wheel. 
To be fair, we both were running studded snow tires while the Dodge had ATs on.
It was a nice climb to the top of Baldy Mountain with a few of the steeper switch back causing me to take a couple runs to break a trail. Once on the open top we found the road was pretty much drifted in with drifts of over 3 feet deep. Most of the road on top sits lower than the serrounding terrain. The top of the drifts had about 3 inches of crust which made the going tough. After getting momentarily stuck in one drift, we decided it was best to go cross country to the radio tower at the summit.
Normally, we would stay on the road to not cause erosion. However, as everything was well frozen, the only danger would be running our difs into a boulder. Simon cut the cross country trail to the top and I followed. Man did he ever pick a bumpy line! My kidneys are still hurting. At the top we got a great view of Princeton. On a clear day, the view of the Three Brothers to the SW is excellent. There are some more pics here: Baldy Mountain Jan 05 2008 - a photoset on Flickr
Simon and I got talking about the possibility of doing a club run into the Ashnola via hwy 3 from the Friday Creek (Placer Lake) road Placer Lake Camping Trip mixed with some wheeling up in the Sterling Creek area when the worst of the snow is gone - maybe late June or July. Scalp, perhaps we can see if there is any interest at the club meeting?
After another 5 minute of pure hp, he managed to get out of the hole he had dug and took the easy way out. Where I turned to Simon and said, perhaps we should have a go at it. We both promptly climbed the hill without spinning a wheel.
To be fair, we both were running studded snow tires while the Dodge had ATs on.
It was a nice climb to the top of Baldy Mountain with a few of the steeper switch back causing me to take a couple runs to break a trail. Once on the open top we found the road was pretty much drifted in with drifts of over 3 feet deep. Most of the road on top sits lower than the serrounding terrain. The top of the drifts had about 3 inches of crust which made the going tough. After getting momentarily stuck in one drift, we decided it was best to go cross country to the radio tower at the summit.
Normally, we would stay on the road to not cause erosion. However, as everything was well frozen, the only danger would be running our difs into a boulder. Simon cut the cross country trail to the top and I followed. Man did he ever pick a bumpy line! My kidneys are still hurting. At the top we got a great view of Princeton. On a clear day, the view of the Three Brothers to the SW is excellent. There are some more pics here: Baldy Mountain Jan 05 2008 - a photoset on Flickr
Simon and I got talking about the possibility of doing a club run into the Ashnola via hwy 3 from the Friday Creek (Placer Lake) road Placer Lake Camping Trip mixed with some wheeling up in the Sterling Creek area when the worst of the snow is gone - maybe late June or July. Scalp, perhaps we can see if there is any interest at the club meeting?
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