El Nino. Two words that can strike fear into a snow wheeler. The winter of 2009/2010 has been pretty much a complete wipeout. Warm temperatures, high freezing levels and very little snow has made for some very unhappy local snow wheelers. El Nino has definitely been in full effect this winter and even in early January it was looking like we would have to resign ourselves to a winter season without a lot of snow. Desperation lead to my posting a complaint thread on the BC4x4 Bulletin Board, crying about the lack of snow. Levi, one of the bulletin board members from Squamish, posted up that there was plenty of snow in the mountains there and that we should come up and run one of the trails. I was feeling pretty skeptical about how much snow would actually be up there but I was desperate for a snow wheeling fix so a plan was hatched to do a snow run that weekend. Before the Saturday meet up Levi posted up some pictures showing that it was definitely snowing in the mountains around Squamish. Things were definitely looking up.

Saturday rolled around and I drove up to Squamish to meet with Levi and his crew riding in a cool XJ on 37" MTR's. Joining up with us was Matt and Curtis in a 2nd gen 4Runner on brand new 39" IROK's. This was my third run on 42" Pitbull Rockers and the first time they would be used in snow. I was really looking forward to testing them out. After the traditional meet and greet everyone aired down and headed up the road at the base of the Stawamus Chief Mtn. As we climbed the old logging road and the kilometers rolled by we still weren't hitting snow. At the 6 km mark I was seriously beginning to wonder where the snow was. My doubts were erased when we started hitting ice patches and eventually the road was covered in deep snow and I had to lock in my hubs.

With the front hubs locked in I started hearing a serious knocking sound coming from the front of my rig. I had to stop and take a look and unfortunately found my front driveshaft had lost five of the eight bolts and the remaining three were very loose. It looked like my day was ending before it really began. Luckily this same thing had happened to me many years previously so I always keep spare bolts in my glove box. After a little delay in digging out tools and parts we were back on our way. I was relieved not to have to turn around and go home.

Immediately after my little mishap the snow started to get deep, exactly what we were searching for. It was time to air the tires down even further, below 5 PSI was just about right. Heading up a beautiful canyon with brilliant sunshine and deep snow really reminded me of what makes 4wheeling so great. The mountain tops surrounding this trail are particularily beautiful and it was hard not to stare at them. As we continued on the trail the snow conditions were absolutely perfect for snow wheeling. Deep but driveable. Having tires in the 39" + range was a necessity in order to break trail. Proceeding higher on the trail eventually brought us to an awesome bowl area which turned out to be a snow wheeling paradise. Lots of time was spent shredding fresh powder, a great time was had by all.

What was looking like a mediocre day with low expectations turned into a fantastic day of deep fresh powder. Moral of the story: better to get out and enjoy yourself than sit at home and miss a great day!