January 4th 2025. David In his JKU, Joe in his TJ, and myself in my JKU met up at the Sultan Chevron in the morning. We jaw jacked about the typical stuff, and the shenanigans to come for the day. After about 30 min or so we mounted up and attempted to merge on to US-2 100 yards east of the roundabout.
When I say attempt, I mean wait for the very rare space in the train of ski traffic heading east. Luckily, we were able to do so with out to much delay. Sometimes the journey to the trail is almost as entertaining as the trail itself. I was lead so I got a clear view of the different driving styles ahead of me. Some folks think driving is like a 3 yo working a color book struggling to keep it within the lines, and others think this is 90’s NASCAR where they have to draft, or bump to pass. In the rear Joe had his own driving reality TV show staring a slow/not paying attention Prius. This is a great example of why good radio communications is important. We were all able to communicate and keep optimum situational awareness on the way to the trail.
After a short but interesting drive along US-2 with great banter, and awesome views we arrived to our destination. We exited the highway on to Beckler river road, and moseyed on. Beckler is one of those places that can be a mixed bag of awesome snow or no snow depending on the storm track and elevation changes. Its around 1300ft above sea level at right off of US-2, and in some areas go above 3000ft or more above sea level. Well on this day the snowline was higher than normal, and we were snow free thus far. We crossed the river, and before the first major decent up we found a pull off to air down. This is were I realized I had no clue where my deflator was at. Somehow since the last trip it didn’t get put back in its normal spot. I did however have my Amazon spaghetti monster 4 way inflator. Well you do with what you have. After a few mins of untangling this thing, and a few course words I was hooked up,and airing down. 8 PSI is typically my starting point unless we are already in deep snow. I packed up the now named Junk monster ,and we were back on the trail. It wasn’t long tell we were hitting tracked out snow on our way up to jacks pass. That was fine. We had views of the rivers, water falls, and nature. The snow progressively got deeper as we gain elevation on the way to Jacks pass.
Once we got to Jack’s Pass we stopped for a posser shot, chatted for a bit, and decided out next move. The snow here was approximately a foot of backed down wet snow. Wasn’t the best lets be honest, but we were having fun. I wasn’t expecting deep snow or a recovery fest by any means, and honestly I really didn’t want one. Joe with his wealth of knowledge of the area suggested we head up one of the spur roads. We mounted up, headed on our way. I was still in the lead at this point. Along the spur road the tracks in the snow were getting deeper with fresh snow ontop. We reached a point where were could trade positions, and Dave too the lead in his Green JKU on 37’s. He made short work of the fresh stuff in the deep tracks. Our group was treated with partial break in the clouds, and we could see across the valley which is rare because the clouds do like to pack into this area. We stopped for some photos, and then carried on. Eventually we reached a point where whom ever was up last could not make it in the at the time I assume deep powder. It was literally just a wall of snow. Dave gave it a few good attempts, but was unable to get on top of the snow wall. We switch spots, and I gave it a shot. I made very slight progress being on 40’s, but the snow was layered with soft underneath, some ice, sugar snow, and then decent stuff on top. It was deep. Enough to bury 40’s with snow under them. After my couple of lame attmepts where I made maybe 10ft – 20ft of progress. Part of the problem was the snow we were driving on was becoming compact ice, and there was no real way to gain momentum needed to break the wall, and float. With my last attempt I said why not, and tried giving it a little more beans. This caused me to become stuck. We all dismounted, walked around to the front of my Jeep to assess the situation. The snow was over my hood, we were post holing just to walk around.
Now With my Jeep buried we decided to get me recovered, and head back downhill. Easier said than done. Dave got jockeyed around into position to give my Jeep a tug, but with each attempt my Jeep slipped further into the ditch which was filled with soft uncompacted 5ft – 6ft + snow. Needless to say It took more than a few shots. Eventually with multiple recovery techniques I was righted, and pointed down hill. On the way down uphill we ran into two unrelated groups. I was in the lead again, so I hopped out/spoke with the closest group. They were next to a god spot to get off to the side. We got right next to them,and this is where the 2nd uphill group showed up. After a few mins we decided we could pull off to the side, and allow the 2nd stock is group go in front. Right as all three of us get off to the side that 2nd group then decided to back down hill, and turn around. We got out group out of the deep stuff off the side, and back on trail heading out. This is when Joe realized his mud flap got wonky, and needed to be removed. This gave the 2nd group backing down hill time to get turned around,and we all were onward down hill. On the way down the traffic had make the once decent snow into a slick compacted slickness. It also began to rain. With temps forecasted to drop we knew it was time to get off the mountain before the evening freeze. This is always something to consider. There has been in the past random groups either stuck having to stay overnight, or slid into one another on the way down hill. About a quarter mile from getting back to Jacks pass on the way out there was a couple randomly “hiking”…some of the weird stuff we run into out in to the woods.
We eventually made it down to a good spot to air up, and got out of the woods with good times, and memories. (Disclaimer I wrote this before my coffee this morning, and my kids were bouncing off the walls so bear with any writing/spelling mistakes.)
Scott
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