Stuck in the Snow at 12,000 ft, alone

[jrp]

Since I'm retired, I get to ride almost every day. Unfortunately its hard to find others available to ride everyday during the week, so I do a lot of solo rides. The Forest Service just opened their winter gate across the road up the mountain behind my summer home here in CO. It was a beautiful sunny day, so off I go for a 30 mile ride into the mtns to a familiar destination. After a great 30 mile ride up to 12,000 ft, just 100 ft before my destination & turn around point, I ran into snow covering the road. I stopped & tested the snow for depth & stability and it looked good to cover that last 100 ft to the clear open field. After crossing 60 ft of the snow with good traction, the bottom fell out and the ATV dropped about 4 ft into a hole. It was now high centered with so much snow packed under the frame, all 4 wheels just spinning freely in mid air. No trees or rocks close enough to use my winch cable, so I started digging. After an hour I was exhausted and soaked from the wet snow, but the machine couldn't be budged forward or backward. I was ready to start walking out the 30 miles back to civilization. I had my cell phone but didnt expect a signal up here 2000 ft above the closest tower. Luckily I got through to someone who sent help and showed up with some critical items, a shovel, 100 ft of rope, and an extra set of hands & lungs. With a combination of digging & winching we finally got the machine out of the hole and back on solid ground, just before sunset.

[Bruce!]

DAMN I'm glad it wasn't me!

[weedy]

Cool ride. Glad everything worked out. Traveling alone can be a little risky 30 miles out.

[racer37l]

Glad everything worked out ok!

I do the same thing here! And have gotten in trouble several times.

The bad part here is that cell phones have sporadic coverage.

Let the fun begin when you retire!!

[jayhkr]

Glad you and your ride made it back ok! Does snow stay up there year round?

[cadpat]

Same thing happened to me this winter, alone in the woods... but I had a tree to winch off. Thank god for that tree.

YouTube - Stuck in the snow

YouTube - Stuck in the snow

[Action]

Glad you made it out with out having to walk out or spend the night.

Action

[Dbez1]

On the positive side, you will have a memory to talk about for the rest of your life. Glad you made it out ok. We can learn...even at our age.

[Smoothbassman]

That's a story!! Glad your ok! I never go out that far alone and try to never ride by myself if I can help it.

[ACLakey]

Glad you made it out ok! If I ride alone I bring enough gear and supplies to spend a night or two, you never know when riding out west.