Winter Overlanding Overnighter Disaster

I'm not questioning that, I just don't think it's worth the trouble for a weekend trip in those conditions. I think you set yourself up for disappointment. I always stress over everything being just like I want it, whenever I host a dinner party. We used to host at least monthly for a group of our friends, but I almost never enjoyed myself. I was always too busy with the cooking to join the party. The thing is, that no one notices all the little things that are driving you crazy, you are the only one that knows something didn't turn out like you wanted.

I try to live by the kiss method. The simpler you keep things, the less that can go wrong.

Worrying about shopping instead of making sure that your chainsaw was working could have ended badly.

Like I have said before, I'll just stay down here in the subtropics, where I have very little chance of dying from exposure.

 

food , esp fresh , grass fed free range meat, dairy etc is extremely expensive up here.

I spend about $1500 CAD a month just on my food . Nothing pre-made , just fresh ingredients , bulk dry foods , cheese, breads
etc .

Pure extra virgin olive oil from Italy tuna about $55 CAD per 4 litres. I got thru 2 to 3 jugs a month lol

 

And Skippy peanut butter... lots of Skippy. Most popular guy with the neighborhood dogs too for some unrelated weird coincidence

On the real , food In the lower mainland is ridiculous like many other places right now. Even cheap crap ingredients will set you back into triple digit shopping bills just to get by

 

yep lotta could have / should have involved….

chainsaw is newer , used it without issue the day before we left, cutting down a timber deck for my older neighbour.

Ran flawlessly cutting decades old Douglas fir 10x10 Timbers and big 2x6 deck boards.

cleaned it oiled it, refueled it, bar oil , greased the bar etc.


next day on the FSR , little pin in the clutch sprag decided to fail .


No way I would be able to foresee that , or foresee the dull as as a spoon hardware store axe my buddy brought.

def gonna order a couple of clutch’s for the saw, as well as bring my own GB and ILTIS axes next time

 

I was really stoked at how well the heating system I cobbled together worked. Bunch of old wood stove chimney pipes, 15 mins with a big spike nail to punch a ton of holes in the chimney pipe, propane tiger torch set inside, insane amounts of heat spread out under the engine bay .

tarped the front of the Jeep, banked up snow to keep the heat in .

The wind chill wasnt helping temp wise, flowing from the Arctic , down the mountain valleys and right thru us at the cabin , where the valley narrows a lot.

I may buy a larger canvas tarp for next outing , and completely cover the Jeep , pack snow onto the tarp edges and use a low temp propane heater under the Jeep all weekend .

 

You need a air cooled two stroke and not two stroke diesel, in those temps.

 

I was looking at it this way:

the 6 hour delay caused by the logging crews , saved us six hours of firewood being burned. (Buddy had truck, rear seat, upper shelf filled with seasoned douglas fir and some birch)

So that’s 6 hours that we were not using any firewood .
Yea the outdoor fire while we waited for the FSR to open was not a great fire, it was warm standing over it, we warmed up gathering tons of dead dry branches readily available .

the log across the road was a non issue . Frozen solid and easy to crack in half with some basic logging rigging skills, 7500 lb WLL grade 80 choker chain and diesel torque

would have been faster to cut with the saw but ….

cabin did awhile to warm up, but once warm we only used a couple firewood pieces an hour. (Although buddy has this idea that smaller pieces burn better…. I tried to tell him that larger chunks will burn slower and LONGER, and got him to stop splitting firewood chunks into kindling……)

I did the math and calculated that we were using max 3 chunks of wood per hour. We had 22 hours to go before leaving. That’s 66 firewood 1/4 sized pieces of wood. We had double that left , plus 15 x10” thick cedar rounds outside the cabin.

So warmth wouldn’t be an issue… (well technically….. if the Jeep didn’t start we would have about 3 - 5 hours of firewood left…. )

we had 40 litres propane , I had 20 litres kerosene, plus 120 litres extra diesel in Jerry cans.

Food for 4 days , a solid week the way those two ate…….

couple homeowners up the FSR, they are there year round. If we needed help badly



so I don’t think turning around at the first mishap (FSR delay due to logging / chainsaw clutch failure) was warranted.

I did forget my parka and moose mitt gloves mind you.

and to be honest , while we were freezing a bit at first , it was just living in the kootenays as a kid. -30 C was normal in winter.

I did keep an eye on my buddy and the kid , we had tons of hot chocolate thanks to the Ghillie kettle , when needed.

I would have turned around if there was no access to the Ranger cabin , or no access to the trapper cabin way further up the FSR. No way I’m sleeping in the snow without a wall tent and barrel stove .

but the FSR opened up , the tree on the road was easily dealt with, the cabin was accessible, and we had plenty of firewood despite the chainsaw failure earlier in the day. Plus that logging closure delay saved us from using a log of firewood buddy brought.

the Jeep issue, well, yeah , frustrating . But it was dealt with in an improvised manner, and to be honest - we do the same thing with the big diesel rigs at work in winter. Tiger torch under the engine to warm the fluids and engine bay up. So it wasn’t really that big of a disaster looking back. Yea old battery, yea not enough anti-gel additive in the fuel …. But I did have a spare fuel filter element, and enough propane t run the torch for 24 hours solid .

had buddy said to me - this is too much… I’d have turned around immediately, esp with the kid with us. But despite his annoying traits sometimes, he didnt want to go back . lol

I’ll be heading up again in a couple weeks, new battery , big tarp for the Jeep . Repaired chainsaw and my OWN axes

it was a trying trip at times, but a learning experience, and my buddy was actually really impressed by the steps I took to get the Jeep going. He was explaining everything I was doing to his kid. Why / how etc

 

I’d LOVE a big Russian ZIL 6x6 air cooled diesel



hand cranked starter .

 

I meant to ask about the Subaru, I didn't see any mention of it. I can't fault you on the chainsaw. That just plain sucks . How could you not take your own ax to play with?

I would have to travel nearly 60 miles into Tallahassee to be able to buy the groceries that you buy. I'm sometimes happily surprised by the local $10.99us/lb ribeyes.

 

true. But I’m not the kids dad …. Had he said turn around , let’s go back 350 KM’s to my shop and drink Reebs,,I would have. He is quite experienced outdoors , normally drives a massive Unimog expedition vehicle . He camps all the time 4 seasons . But he’s cheap when it comes to gear (axes etc ) . I did tell him if he wants to go back , let me know.

shrug?

Technically , I could have cut the chainsaw chain , added wood handles and used it as a hand saw if we needed more wood.

but we had wood leftover when we left. Buddy actually took it back with him instead of leaving it at the cabin


Not to sound callous , but I’m actually glad the Jeep failed like it did….. now I can upgrade it to prevent those issues.

We do learn thru mistakes, and events technically

 

I don't blame him, he probably thought he would need it on the way home.

 

So, was it just your jeep that did start? And you weren't actually stranded without it? Because the story reads like if the jeep didn't start, y'all were going to freeze to death.

 

its a boxer engine AWD , Ice / snow tires, weird auto tranny with snow/ice modes .

Enough room in the trunk for 1/4 cord firewood . buddy had rear seats / rear window shelf filled with insane amounts of firewood

but it’s a gasser PATOOEY!!!!!

 

i was blocking in the Subaru

Had it not started , I would have broke out the recovery kit and manually winched the Jeep up the slope to the FSR . So buddy could get his Subaru out

 

I think it was more he was trying to help and suggest stuff to do . Cuz he knew I was frustrated . But when I’m cold and issues arise , I’m cranky as heck . And when I’m in that zone , I’m not pleasant to be around. Sometimes in those situations, I need my space to think. Like Father Like Son pretty much. Dad was same way when I was a kid…. I’d try to help but he would be “surly” so to speak . Not sure if that makes sense?
The overnighter was no different. I just needed space to think , get warm and then act . I rarely actually talk much anyways in daily life , very much less so when in a critical situation. Can make for interesting uncomfortable situations . Not selective mutism by any stretch , but I just don’t talk a lot , if at all during the day

i know he was trying to help , he was uncomfortable with my non comms the initial part of the Jeep issues .