Saturday, December 21st, 2024, at 6:41 p.m. (MT), we received a request for help with a Snow offroad recovery in Colorado. The requester, Jackson Minick, submitted the following information: “Vehicle is 2021 Toyota 4Runner 4×4. The vehicle is beached on a snow bank on the side of a hill. The location is approx 1.7 miles down Parachute Hill Road. Became stuck at approx. 1630, now very dark at 1738. Temperature is 34 and falling. Enough supplies to hold out overnight, but we would greatly appreciate assistance soon. / I’m with the vehicle / I can help cover the cost of fuel.”
Our administrator, David Mrak, contacted the requester and verified the contact information provided, GPS location, and current situation before sending the request to local volunteers. In this particular recovery, we contacted volunteers within a 30-mile radius.
From the group of contacted volunteers, Curt Boyle and Josh Bales responded within the first five minutes of the request. They teamed up for the recovery, both being 45 miles away—approximately a 90-minute drive.
To streamline coordination, David, our administrator, invited the requester to the chatroom (Lobby).
Due to very limited cell reception in the area, the first update came in at 12:30 a.m. Curt later clarified that the recovery had been completed by 11 p.m., but he was unable to provide an update until he returned to the city.
A few days later we received from Curt a quick note and some photos and diagrams. Pretty cool.
From Curt
“We had to rig an Uphill Double Redirect in combination with a Double Line pull. This used all three of my Winch Rings (pulleys), all of the winch line, two 50 ft winch line extensions, three tree savers, two additional recovery straps, a receiver tow point and 8 or 9 soft shackles. The Saf-Xtract App said it would take 7,000 lbs of pull (~5,800 lb vehicle, 14 deg slope, 2 tires buried, shallow snow) but my winch was getting too hot with just a single-line attempt.
The location was very difficult to find. Josh and his friend were almost there when Jackson and I were driving out. They would have helped if it had taken Jackson and I another ten minutes.
The photo that Jackson provided is nice, but it was well after dark when I got there at 8 PM. It seems that Josh was almost there at about 9:30 PM. I got home back in Boulder at about midnight.”
This recovery was a good example of how the lack of a person along just for photographing/videoing means no photos of the recovery are produced. 🙁 “
This was a great example of teamwork in this snow offroad recovery in Colorado. Awesome job guys. Much appreciated.
If you would like to receive a text message when we get a request near you, create your account here: offroadportal.org/signup