The day started out with a safety inspection by California Association of 4WD Clubs Representatives. All rigs had to pass the safety inspection before being allowed out on the trails in this well run event. Participants in the extreme runs, like the Avalanche Express had to have extra equipment and emergency supplies. These measures insured that all rigs were well prepared and that most emergencies could be handled on the trail.
Before hitting the trail on the Avalanche Express run, all of the rigs stopped and aired down. For this extreme run tire pressures of less than 10lbs were recommended. Some rigs did not want to air down to this low of a tire pressure to start with, and this resulted in some delays later on the trail as just about everybody who did not air down adequately had to stop later and let more air out of their tires. While we were airing down and getting lined up to hit the trail the kids enjoyed the opportunity for the first good snowball fight of the day. There was plenty of fresh powder on the ground from a good snow storm that had moved through the area the day before.
This was the same run that was covered last year by ESPN2. This year the rigs made it all the way to the summit. Although it looks like we are driving on just a snow covered road, by the time we reached the summit the snow had gotten very deep. In places we could look down and see just the tops of 6' sign posts sticking up through the snow. Adequate flotation was critical on this trail.
As always the beautiful winter Sierra scenery proved to be one of the outstanding features on these trail runs.
Having made good time on the trail with only a few mechanical mishaps, our group running the Avalanche Express had reached the summit were we stopped and enjoyed the lunch provided by the CA4WDC. During this time the kids again enjoyed the time to play in the snow, while groups of the bigger kids took off down some of the side trails to play in the snow with their bigger toys.
Tom Grancey, our excellent trail leader and one of the owners of Foothill OffRoad can be seen in his new Jeep TJ in the foreground. After a couple of hours of play on the summit we all headed back down the trail so we could make it back to the Grass Valley Fairgrounds in time for that evenings excellent dinner, festivities, games and live entertainment.
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