How deep is At Se GaT ?
Posted: 28 Dec 2014 18:00
I have young Alex and my daughter visiting from the Cape and he brought his lifted 4.5 and a lot of enthusiasm.
At the first sign of rain , we are off to the local quarry and play like small children. Patrols are too good for the obstacles and we return victorious.
Next day we go to At se Gat to see if we can unsettle these beasts. ....Little did we know.
First onto the mountain. It is already tricky because of all the rain. He tries the z turn first without success. I tell him that I will reverse the first steep part and then go forward over the second bit. Then I will be on top to pull him up if he gets into trouble. I reverse up without too much effort , but park too closely against a rock with back bumper...eina. Then easy forward movement up the z...noooo. I slide into an akward angle that leaves two wheels in the air and me going nowhere. Had to use my winch just to get the car straight enough to safely reverse down,tail between the legs. STRIKE 1.
We take the landrover friendly route up the mountain and find nothing else to beat the two wounded beasts. Lots of fun trying the difficult routes a few times.
It is getting close to beer time and we decide to take a quick easy detour along the muddy river edge to at least put some telltale mud on the cars.
The river is very high and the mud is all hidden with lush green vegetation. I tell Alex that we must keep at least one car unstuck for recovery.
We both have 33 muds on and his car is lifted very high. Wheels at one bar and face it: These are Patrols! we can not get stuck.
I go in front and choose a safe easy route with some unexpected deep holes hidden in the grass. Very wet with standing water everywhere. It is the easy marked track and should pose no problem.
One or two hairy moments but I get through.
And then one catches me and I have to "pause momentarily" and look back to see if Alex can help with a towstrap. All I see is his vehicle growing shorter in the mud bog 20 meters behind me. Another temporary pause. SH!t and curses. Two cars immobile and cold beer waiting in the bar. STRIKE 2 and 3.
Out comes the winch again and true to form starts acting up and working erratically. A loose wire in the control relay box. I get unpaused and then attend to the quick and easy recovery of the other now very low slung Patrol. I do not like kinetic straps and use the normal strap. It is like pulling against a granite mountain. No traction on the wet cotton soil and the other car has both diffs below ground level in the mud.
Some high lift jack exercise and rock carrying mixed with spicy language , and the self confidence returns.
After improving our confidence some more in the pub , we head home only to find out that the auto box in my car now only had 2 gears. First and second. Maybe third fell into that mud bog.
That car can drive at 120 in second and it can go like that for 100 kms. Next morning we wash them with power washer and drive to the shop. The gearbox is back to normal and shifts like always.
Two things saved our bacon. We had a good combination of equipment and kept calm and applied the basics including safety rules.
Be Aware: That gat can bite back.
At the first sign of rain , we are off to the local quarry and play like small children. Patrols are too good for the obstacles and we return victorious.
Next day we go to At se Gat to see if we can unsettle these beasts. ....Little did we know.
First onto the mountain. It is already tricky because of all the rain. He tries the z turn first without success. I tell him that I will reverse the first steep part and then go forward over the second bit. Then I will be on top to pull him up if he gets into trouble. I reverse up without too much effort , but park too closely against a rock with back bumper...eina. Then easy forward movement up the z...noooo. I slide into an akward angle that leaves two wheels in the air and me going nowhere. Had to use my winch just to get the car straight enough to safely reverse down,tail between the legs. STRIKE 1.
We take the landrover friendly route up the mountain and find nothing else to beat the two wounded beasts. Lots of fun trying the difficult routes a few times.
It is getting close to beer time and we decide to take a quick easy detour along the muddy river edge to at least put some telltale mud on the cars.
The river is very high and the mud is all hidden with lush green vegetation. I tell Alex that we must keep at least one car unstuck for recovery.
We both have 33 muds on and his car is lifted very high. Wheels at one bar and face it: These are Patrols! we can not get stuck.
I go in front and choose a safe easy route with some unexpected deep holes hidden in the grass. Very wet with standing water everywhere. It is the easy marked track and should pose no problem.
One or two hairy moments but I get through.
And then one catches me and I have to "pause momentarily" and look back to see if Alex can help with a towstrap. All I see is his vehicle growing shorter in the mud bog 20 meters behind me. Another temporary pause. SH!t and curses. Two cars immobile and cold beer waiting in the bar. STRIKE 2 and 3.
Out comes the winch again and true to form starts acting up and working erratically. A loose wire in the control relay box. I get unpaused and then attend to the quick and easy recovery of the other now very low slung Patrol. I do not like kinetic straps and use the normal strap. It is like pulling against a granite mountain. No traction on the wet cotton soil and the other car has both diffs below ground level in the mud.
Some high lift jack exercise and rock carrying mixed with spicy language , and the self confidence returns.
After improving our confidence some more in the pub , we head home only to find out that the auto box in my car now only had 2 gears. First and second. Maybe third fell into that mud bog.
That car can drive at 120 in second and it can go like that for 100 kms. Next morning we wash them with power washer and drive to the shop. The gearbox is back to normal and shifts like always.
Two things saved our bacon. We had a good combination of equipment and kept calm and applied the basics including safety rules.
Be Aware: That gat can bite back.
