I finally had time to get the new (new to me ) tucker to the mountain last week. The plan was for my wife to drop me of with the cat in Hyattville Wy. and I was to take the cat the 39 mile trip on the road to the Shell creek pullout on Hyw 14. This involves a climb from 4400 ft up 22 miles to the forest service road and groomed trail at 8500 ft. Then the 17 mile trip down the forest service road to the highway. For this maiden trip and first time in the cat I was going to stay on the road the entire way and leave playing in the deep snow for another day. This was a good idea until I was a half mile from groomed trail (21 miles out ) and ran in to the forest service gate that had been open 3 weeks earlier but now was locked tight. (I should have backed up with the dosser and pushed an pile of snow over the gate and went on, but I didn't want to get on the forest service's bad side this early in the deal.) So I backed down the road 1/4 mile with a 1/1 slope below and a 1/1 slope on the high side. It was a little nail biting but nothing compared to was was to come. I though that I could bypass the gate by climbing over to the next valley and then climb that valley to the road. I left the road and climbed to the 2/1 slope to the top of the hill between the 2 valleys with not to much trouble I was sinking in the snow about 1 ft and though this is great fun. As I came over the top I could see a 2/1 slope 1/2 mile long down to a creek (but the creek was in a canyon 20 ft deep and straight off.) The route to bypass the creek and the canyon below looked simple just head down the slope at a 45 degree angle to the bottom and cross the creek on a livestock dam to the other side then climb the 2/1 slope back to the road. So over the edge I went with no idea what was to happen next. (all of you experienced snocat people have probably already guessed) I went about 50 ft with no problems other than leaning heavy against the door because of the slope. Then with all the weight of the cat on the down hill track it broke through, the top of the dosser went 1 ft below the snow and the snow on the down hill side came half way up the door pinning it shut. Needless to say I was stuck and in a big way. In a half heart effort I reached over and put the cat in reverse and it spun backward but the cat didn't even quiver. My heart sank out the bottom of my boots as I pondered what my friend were going to say when they got there 4 hours latter. I had told my wife that if I did not show up at the highway by 1 pm I was broke down and get the snowmobiles and some friends to rescue me. ( I had driven the tucker all over the ranch, over big drifts and through ditches, never breaking through so I had figured if I was to get stopped it would have been because of mechanical problems not getting stuck.) I crawled out the passenger side and on to the high side track and looked things over. ( In my hurry to get on the road early in the morning I had forgotten my camera ) I wish that I had a picture of this because none of you could believe how bad this looked. Here I sit with my hand on the key getting ready to kill the engine and begin my wait. But then I had a thought, run the blade up and down back and forth and side to side and maybe I could make some space down hill for some movement. I did this then raised the dosser as high as it would go and angled it down hill. then slipped the cat into drive and gave it a little fuel. It moved down the hill about 6 inches. reverse 12 inches, forward 2ft, back 2ft. and what happened next was unbelievable it climbed up out of 6ft deep hole that it was in and I was back on top with all 4 tracks. I needed to turn down hill to take the weight off that down hill track and if I did I could go, but this was just getting me closer to the creek below and a certain inevitability of leaving the tucker on the mountain till spring thaw. It was time to start sidehilling which was not working to well because every time I would try to dose the cat would spin and start to go down again. That is when I found that if I let the snow set up for a few minutes I could back up to where I had been and then I would have some traction to push some snow. The dosser on the tucker angles 8 ways but when all the way tilted it was only half of the 2/1 slope that I was trying to cut in to. After 30 minutes of back and forth I got the cat sitting flat and perpendicular to the hill. ( this was a really good feeling ) I started to make road by dosing ahead 1 length of the cat and then back to the safety of the packed snow behind me. I could then get another bite and push on another length. I did this for the next 1 hr and was making such good progress that I abandoned the idea of the dike and the other side of the valley. I only had 1/2 mile to go along with crossing a couple fences ( which I did what I should have done to the forest service gate 2 1/2 hrs earlier, I dosed a couple loads of snow up over them and continued on.) and I would be to the groomed trail. When I reached the road I was about 100yds away (and above) when I decided to make the 90 degree turn from sidehilling down the hill to the road. I lifted the dosser and started to make my turn down hill, this is where I made the last mistake of the day, as before the lower track took all the weight, broke through and I found my self in the same mess that I had started with. I was in a 6 ft deep hole, with the dosser buried and could not move at all. But as before after the snow had set for 10 minutes or so and with some up and down packing with the dosser it started to move back and forth and finally climbed right back to the top. Just as I got to the road it started to snow. This is the first time that i could relax and enjoy the rolls and soda that I had bought 6 hrs earlier. The trip back to the highway was not uneventful however It included using my new found skill of making road to clear the snow off a steep switch back hill so that 3 snowmobiles from Minnesota with no riding skills could get back to the lodge they were staying at. I arrived at the highway just as my wife and friends pulled in to the parking lot to come rescue me!!!!!! 7 1/2 hrs after I set out.
