Late-Night Snowy F-150 Recovery in Washington Turns into an All-Night Battle

On the evening of Wednesday, April 1st, 2026, Offroad Portal received a call for help from the snowy trails of Washington.

Henry Pellham was navigating the area in his black stock F-150. While he made it up the trail without issue, the descent proved treacherous in the slushy conditions, and his truck slid sideways, firmly burying itself into a massive snowbank. With a winch being his only way out and cell service dropping in and out, Henry submitted a ticket for recovery.

Offroad Portal administrator Al Fontan immediately took the case. Working around Henry’s spotty cell coverage, Al quickly pinpointed the exact location using the What3Words app (rank.hikers.smudges) and blasted the request out to local volunteers within a 35-mile radius. Recognizing the severe conditions, Al also looped in Benjamin Thompson to rally the Washington Off Road Recovery Network (WORN).

Benjamin quickly found a volunteer out of Sultan but, adhering to strict safety protocols, held off on dispatching until a second rig could join the mission. By 9:45 PM, a two-rig WORN team was assembled and dispatched, fighting their way toward Skykomish with an estimated arrival time of 90 minutes.

The mountain didn’t give up easily. The deep, heavy, wet snow took its toll on the responding team, causing one of the recovery vehicles to get stuck and suffer a tire problem mid-trail. The delay was significant enough that the mission briefly bordered on becoming a rescue operation. Fellow volunteer Jeff Zika, stationed two hours away, monitored the chat and placed himself on standby in case the first team needed emergency backup.

Despite the heavy snow and equipment setbacks, the WORN volunteers pushed through the night. They managed to resolve the tire issue, reach Henry, and successfully winch his F-150 out of the snowbank. By 6:45 AM the following morning, the crews reported they were finally airing their tires back up and rolling safely back to the pavement.

A massive thank you to Al Fontan for coordinating the communication through the night, Benjamin Thompson and the WORN team for battling the elements to get Henry home safely, and Jeff Zika for keeping a watchful eye on standby. This is a perfect example of the offroad community looking out for each other when the conditions get rough!

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