Our attempt to go to Placitas......FAIL!!!

[alia176]

Jessica and I attempted to go to Placitas via the back way and failed hugely!!! We made it a whopping 350 yards from the top before spending couple of hours turning around and heading back up the hill. The snow was deep and even with four chains, traction was just about non existent.

I was beating on the mighty 1FZFE pretty hard when the EFI fuse started to blow. At this time, I put out an APB to Terrill, Jon, Larry and Steve L. that I'm gonna need help one way or the other. The EFI fuse would blow when the engine is torquing under severe load so I bet a wire is frayed near the EGR valve. It could also be a mouse chewing through the wire issue too, who knows. In any case, we needed to winch ourselves 180 deg around and then winch up the hill.

Some of you might recall that there is a guard rail using thick wire rope along the road. We used the short posts as winch anchor, which is about every ten feet or so, to slowly turn ourselves around. Right about the time we were completely turned around, we hear this two stroke motor sounding engine running at WOT. Jessica goes, who is trying to ride a motorcycle down here? Well, it turns out to be Jon whose hamsters were running as fast as they could! He pulls up and yells through the window "Ash, how the am I gonna get back up that hill?"

So, I hook the winch on to Jon's rear bumper and pull him around so that we're both now pointing up hill. We were making progress until we came across a Ford Escape who is buried. Couple of snowboarders were wanting to go to Bernalillo after a full day of skiing. They're both physically wasted as they were shoveling the snow with their snowboards. Jon and I made a plan to snatch block the Escape out of our way so that we can go past. After that, Jon towed me while I towed the Escape.

As the convoy proceeds toward the parking lot, we passed Terrill!

A big thanks to Jon and Terrill for showing up. Even though we were close to civilization, the thought of leaving my rig overnight wasn't too appealing.

We still made it to SF to meet friends for dinner by 6:30

 

[alia176]

Moe pics

 

[pappy]

As Ali said, I was hammer-down going DOWN HILL, and crawling. That stuff was soft.

 

[alia176]

As Ali said, I was hammer-down going DOWN HILL, and crawling. That stuff was soft.

Somebody is getting chains for the front!!!!!

 

[juane]

Years ago, no, decades ago, I got suckered into driving off the highway in an attempt to take the back road to Placitas. Snowmobile tracks fooled me into thinking the deep snow would support my 1972 Super Beetle. This was after attending a Ritchie Havens concert at the Golden Inn (any one here remember that place?). After a couple hundred yards we were buried and going nowhere. Late in the day, middle of winter...we slogged back to the highway and started walking down the mountain knowing our chances of a ride were slim. In the hopes of finding a payphone we checked out the closed ski area lodge. No pay phone but we discovered an open window at the ticket booth. Climbed in and called my buddy's girl friend who drove all the way from Albuquerque to pick us up, abandoning my beloved VW for the night. Next day another friend and I came back with a number of rolls of snow fence - wooden pickets wired together and worked all afternoon moving the car, segment by segment of fence back to the highway. Whew.
By the way, that myth about a couple of guys just lifting a VW bug by hand is, well, just that, a myth.

 

[jstncse]

I left an 86 blazer on the powerline road between the placitas cutoff and the top of the crest for 3 days. With a broken rear diff and a burned up winch we didn't have any choice. We had to walk to the top of the crest and call a friend from there.
Came back each day to try and pull it out, each time we broke another vehicle.

 

[Desert100]

Snow depth looks like 2 feet?

We set out to drive down from the Santa Fe ski area yesterday at 4pm, with my daughter Vickie driving. A Jeep immediately sat on our rear bumper, so Vickie pulled over and let him pass. The next thing we saw up ahead was said Jeep executing an unexpected 90 degree turn to the right. We thought he was stopping for some reason, but then the Land Cruiser's back end swayed left a couple of yards. Even studded snow tires have their limits on ice, I guess.

 

[alia176]

Yikes!!! Glad you didn't fly off the road.

Sent from my XT1080

 

[Desert100]

Fortunately it was the very wide part of the road they use for parking on both sides on busy days and, being a Monday, it was completely empty.

I had been concerned that my studded tires, which were thrown in along with their wheels for free when I bought the rig, were missing quite a few of their 'spikes' (the remaining part of the studs are still in there). I had asked the guys at Discount Tire about this just a couple of weeks ago and they told me not to be concerned, this happens to studded tires and they continue to work just fine like that. Now I'm wondering whether I should have asked more questions.

 

[98WhiteT4R]

I used to live in Placitas and that place (and Sandia in general) is no joke after some good snow

 

[marcfj60]

My worst experience on snow/ice was in my '99 LC. I thought being all wheel drive would be better but I think it just gives you 4 options for finding the least amount of traction since it's too old to have any traction control or stability control features. I spun around 360 degrees on an icy road after gently touching the brakes, losing it, trying to recover and just making it worse. I was probably only going 10 mph when it happened. Once the truck stopped moving, I locked the center diff and shifted into 4 low.

 

[OGBeno]

Didn't we leave Rory's 80 up in Jemez area a number of years back?

 

[alia176]

yup we sure did. Another FJC spent the night up there too on that xmas run.

 

[evanz80]

It didn't look like it would be any big deal to hook up a strap and pull that silver FJC out of the ditch, until we realized it had sat there overnight and had melted all the frozen snow and ground underneath it, and then had refrozen itself into place. It wasn't going anywhere without a lot of work, hence that crazy guy underneath it with a butt hanging from his mouth!

 

[OGBeno]

Oh yeah. I remember that FJC as well.

I don't think they ever went wheeling again after that experience.

Rory sold his truck after that as well.

Cool pics.

 

[lurch]

Wow glad I didn't try to come up from Placitas! With no chains or winch I probably would need to be rescued but on the bottom end there is no cell service.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

...I'm just saying....

But it is a bit like cheating. And, it would take a while to get it up there, even from the house.

Good story though. Dad has been sending me pics of all the vehicles getting stuck on Placates Road this winter. I have to live vicariously through him, as we've got almost no snow in CO. There is seriously more in the yard in Sandia Park than on my property at 9,000 feet! What good is a track loader and a massive snow plow when there's no snow????

Dan

 

[barrys]

I've been snow shoeing and yak-traxing Placitas Road from the top this past month. Each time I've gone, there's been one vehicle or more stuck - some with their owners inside, others abandoned. The first one stuck was a Honda Ridgeline. He got out by getting a NM DOT plow truck to open the road down to his truck. That was after a two wheel drive tow truck got stuck attempting a recovery. A week later, two vehicles stuck at the first hairpin turn. By this weekend, the gate is shut and locked - which they used to do on Nov. 1, back in the days when we regularly got big snow in the Sandias.

Years ago (before the Golden Inn burned down), it wasn't uncommon to find vehicles a few miles down the road completely stripped or heavily vandalized by springtime. You guys were smart to get your vehicles out right away. FYI, most of the tow truck operators up here in the East Mountains will NOT work Placitas Road in the winter.

Love the courage you all showed to give it go - and the write up is great!! The Power Wagon will stay chained up until el Nino is finished this winter.

Barry (Dan's dad)

 

[slimbuddha]

...I'm just saying....
View attachment 1199137

But it is a bit like cheating. And, it would take a while to get it up there, even from the house.

Good story though. Dad has been sending me pics of all the vehicles getting stuck on Placates Road this winter. I have to live vicariously through him, as we've got almost no snow in CO. There is seriously more in the yard in Sandia Park than on my property at 9,000 feet! What good is a track loader and a massive snow plow when there's no snow????

Dan

I love that truck