Its late but I just have to put this down. I have a friend who always goes out exploring alone. We were to go to the sand dunes today, But he had been MIA since friday. He showed up this evening with a chilling tale. He left after work friday around 4:00 PM and went driving up a canyon that leads to the uncompahgre plateau. where he got his 4x4 chevy van stuck in four feet of snow. He spent friday nite in the van. He ran the heater off and on during the night till it ran out of gas. then he started walking out at 7:00 in the morning. he walked all day until about 5:30 PM when he was found by a group of snowmobile riders cold wet and hungry. They gave him a ride 20 miles back to thier truck. If they had not come upon him when they did, I am sure he would not have survived another night.Sometimes people put to much trust in thier rigs, And think that they can go anywhere at any time.

I think being prepared is more the key here. I have done alot of solo wheeling over the years, but with proper wilderness gear, well equipped rig, tools, winch, ect. A 4x4 van in winter in Colorado, breaking trail? Does not sound like a good idea. As another note, 2 people just died in the Escalante of exposure, after becoming stuck on a side trail around Feb 28th. They had little supplies, and were even wearing dress shoes and such. I think people figure they have a vehicle, so take alot less precautions sometimes.

I agree with you lloyd about being prepared. If he had things that he needed for survival packed in his Van he would have been better off.As far as a 4x4 van goes that is probably why he was so far out in the wilderness. His rig is a monster that sits on 38 inch tires and does have a winch. I am not really sure why or how the van became stuck.But it is there now.He and I both have friends with Unimogs, so we are working on a recovery plan now. So its more the old boy scout motto BE PREPARED.

I'm glad to hear your friend made it back ok. He's pretty lucky. As Lloyd mentioned, a couple of out-of-towners got their rental Jeep stuck along the Cottonwood Wash road near Grosverners Arch.
They broker the first rule of getting stranded as did your buddy. Never ever ever ever leave your vehicle. 1) It provides good shelter, certainly better that you would have outside. 2) Your vehicle is much more likely to be found than you are.
Anyway, good luck and be careful. Springtime can be deceiving and bad weather can creep up on you when you least expect it.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by highmtndesert:
<strong>Its late but I just have to put this down. I have a friend who always goes out exploring alone. We were to go to the sand dunes today, But he had been MIA since friday. He showed up this evening with a chilling tale. He left after work friday around 4:00 PM and went driving up a canyon that leads to the uncompahgre plateau. where he got his 4x4 chevy van stuck in four feet of snow. He spent friday nite in the van. He ran the heater off and on during the night till it ran out of gas. then he started walking out at 7:00 in the morning. he walked all day until about 5:30 PM when he was found by a group of snowmobile riders cold wet and hungry. They gave him a ride 20 miles back to thier truck. If they had not come upon him when they did, I am sure he would not have survived another night.Sometimes people put to much trust in thier rigs, And think that they can go anywhere at any time.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">

http://pics.montypics.com/Jeepir/2003-03-10/pajeromedsteinar.jpg <img src="http://pics.montypics.com/jeppir/2003-03-10/pajeromedsteinar.jpg" alt=" - " />

The only thing I`m happy to read and see, is when I somehow see in the new`s that some are lost up in the mountains, and they suddenly comes safe and healthy back home. Up here in north there is a few every winter that get lost, and even a few are rather well prepered as well. The thing I know about the mountains is that you could drive in a increddible clear weather and with a brigth clear sky, and nothing beats a mountain adventure like that. And the sad part is that this nice adventure suddenly could be like a nightmare, even well prepared. So basic line for me is: Never go alone if the other option is possible, tell where you are suppose to go, and when you are planning to get back. Ask the mountain people that lives up there what you could face on your adventure..

But as I said, I get very happy when I can read that the lost people came suddenly safe and healty back.. Ride safe on those happy trails..

In the Blizzard of '93, I got stranded at a Cloudland Canyon State Park (on top of Lookout Mtn) cabin with 3/4 of my family and 3/4 of friend's family - we listened on the ranger's scanner to the search party try to get in to a jeep full of teenagers (about 8 of them in one Heep) 5 miles up a Jeep trail in northwest GA on top of John Jones Mtn one ridgeline to the SE - pine tress down like Pic-up-Stiks across the road from the 60mph winds and 2'snow/ice loads. Two of the party started trying to walk out when the jeep ran out of gas to run the heater and the CB - had CB wired to a relay that only worked with the engine running - some kind of electric fan relay with an ignition sense circuit - and the two walkers were found dead of hypothermia about 1 mile from the jeep 2 days later when the cutting/dozer crew got in that far, and the kids who stayed in the heep were fine when they got to them the next day - hungry, cold, and VERY tired of being stuffed in the jeep with somebody's halitosis and left foot in their face, but alive... the two who tried to walk out were football linemen types... "I fear nothing but a cold wind".

We get similar problems here but they generally occur in the desert. A couple of years ago 2 European tourists headed off into the bush, during summer, on a little used track in a Toyota Troopy campervan. They got bogged in sand and couldn't get it out. He stayed with the van which had 40litres of water, shade, food etc. She decided to walk for help. He was found alive and well she died not very far from where she started. This was a case of people who didn't understand the conditions and didn't listen to the advice that was given before they headed out. This is not an isolated incident, there have been heaps of people who have perished in the same circumstances purely because they did not listen to advice and did not prepare themselves for the areas they were heading into.
I have even come across some local aboriginal people in Arnhem Land whos car had broken down and they had no water, no food and had a very tiny baby. It was summer and there had been no rain for ages, and there was no local water for miles. We gave them a heap of water and helped fix their car. I suppose familiarity can breed contempt.

I believe that a lot of the campervan hire companies are now fitting EPIRBs to the vehicles for use in case of disaster, and they are sitting customers down and giving them a lecture about safety before letting them drive away from the shop.

Where I'm building a new house is line-of-sight to the U. Plateau. An experienced pal has told me that there are some canyons therein so deep that you wind up with marginal/no GPS Sat signals that cannot be relied upon to get you home. Them's some deep canyons.

Irrespective of that, I'm wondering about this... I just drove up a back road toward the Grand Mesa, and dry-to-wet-to-slime-to-snow roads developed quickly - within 2 miles - but developed in a "linear" way. I.e., I knew it was getting worse, so me and a buddy backed out and down in my Sport. Plus, we listen religiously, on FM radio rebroadcasts, to the NOAA weather/avalanche forecasts from Montrose CO.

Encountering 4' of snow doesn't happen typically at the drop of a hat. With all due respect, did your pal just keep plowing ahead, ignoring the obvious signs [roadside snow buildup/snow on vegetation] that he was driving into an irreversible situation???

We just had avalanche death #3 this season here in CO. Snow/slab buildup on sloped surfaces w/wind can be thought of as the same type of buildup that your pal encountered on what I assume were more level surfaces. In either case, knowledge [about conditions] is power...

Toting Survival gear makes sense. Not KNOWINGLY getting into situations where that gear has to be deployed also makes sense.

What's the whole story? As with everyone, I'm glad - along with CO Search and Rescue - that the story had a happy ending...

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> Encountering 4' of snow doesn't happen typically at the drop of a hat. With all due respect, did your pal just keep plowing ahead, ignoring the obvious signs [roadside snow buildup/snow on vegetation] that he was driving into an irreversible situation???

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">This is exactly what he did. plus bad directions. And I think he left his brain at home in a box.On top of that a CB that will not transmit.