(also posted in yotatech forum)
here they are...

for those of you who weren't there, this happened when a some of us from the forum decided to head out to In Ko Pah, about 4000 ft directly above the anza borrego desert out here in san diego. we were driving on a shelf road , I was following rob when the edge of the road gave out and his 4runner was left hanging with the back end teetering off of the edge, over part of an old mine. Lance, who was in front, hooked his ’03 4runner to the front of rob’s and tried to pull him out. As soon as they did this, the ground under the front tire gave out and left the whole left side of rob’s truck hanging off the edge, only supported by the tow strap an lance’s 4runner. At this point we found a border patrol agent who gave us another tow strap. rob’s truck looked like it was going to fall at any second and there was nothing to stop it until about 25’ down the edge. At this point I brought my 4runner up behind him, did a 50-point turn on the shelf road until I was able to back into a mine. Using my truck as an anchor in the mine to help keep the truck from falling, and lance’s pulling from the other end, we tried pulling rob’s truck out in neutral with no one in it, expecting the worst. We couldn’t move it, so rob got some balls and got in his truck. We gave it one last try, lance pulling up front, me following behind, and another rope though the back windows and over the roof to a bunch of people up on the mountain trying to pull some of the weight from the top over toward the mountain. Lance started pulling I started following once I felt lance pulling both of us, and next thing I remember, everyone was cheering. as far as I know, there was no damage to any of the rigs, except for a banged up running board from the mine on the side of my truck (an excuse for sliders).

Thanks again to the border patrol agent, the hikers in the 4runner that came to help, and everyone else there that was able to help.

Just glad no one was hurt!

here's a link to the pics:
http://community.webshots.com/album/66029437YFRLge

<img src="http://pics.montypics.com/monkeynuts/2003-03-10/im000663.jpg" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://pics.montypics.com/monkeynuts/2003-03-10/im000658.jpg" alt=" - " />IMG]

<small>[ March 10, 2003, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: monkeynuts ]</small>

WOW!!! Great pictures and a great experience. It is always fun taking/pulling someone's rig out of trouble the owner puts it in. I remeber having lots of fun digging my 4Runner out of mud. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Wow amazing story and even better pics (though quite large, I'm glad I'm not on dial-up <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> ) So am I correct in assuming he did not have a rear locker? Those first pics of where he is stuck look he could've just crawled on out if he had a locker. I really like the pics of the batmobile coming out of the batcave <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

he does have a locker, he did lock it, could not cawl out because the outside was too soft and just crumbled below him

No, he did have a rear locker, but any movement of the truck would have sent it down the hill.

Any news of what happened to the guy's pants? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Seriously, awesome pics!

</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 Hugo:
<strong>Any news of what happened to the guy's pants? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Seriously, awesome pics!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">'Ya, I'm just reading from here and got that "tightening feeling" just looking at the pics. Very cool to see a 4th Gen out there wheeling AND recovering!

Good to see no one got hurt and all smiles in the end!

Mike

Very interesting pics, and story, glad noone was hurt. This is for Lance: How did your '03 Handle the offroad?
THanks

My pants were ok,(I made sure to take a leak before getting back behind the wheel the last time we tried to pull it out!)
Just wanted to give a BIG Thank you to everyone that helped recover my Runner. It was very scary for awhile there. One more thing that Scott didn't mention was the fact that I had NO SEATBELT on the last pull!! It was locked up from the original impact of the ledge giving way and I couldn't get it to release. So, expecting to roll I jumped behind the wheel and gave it a go. Big thanks to Lance for the V8 assistance and getting the Border Patrol on the radio, he was also determined to pull my truck out even when I was not so confident. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Holy crap guys! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" />

That is unreal! Major off-camber stuff going on, even with Lance on the 3rd picture. That is the one thing I am not a big fan of. <img border="0" alt="[Chicken]" title="" src="graemlins/chicken.gif" />

Rob, I'm glad your 4Runner, and more importantly, yourself got out of there safely. Good job to those that assisted.

Now, that being said, and please don't take this the wrong way, but was that the best line going that far to the outside? Just curious. (Okay, I just read monkey's description on YotaTech, but it still looks like a lot more room to the right!)

Overall, great pics and incredible story. That'll get the heart going a little bit.

<small>[ March 10, 2003, 04:50 PM: Message edited by: Darren ]</small>