Vehicle Recovery Question

[Master-Pull]

What I have done when I got myself in a similar situation last winter. My driver side slid out around a corner on a trail and leaned me hard into some trees. So we used my winch off a tree at about a 45 degree angle from the front and then someone behind me with a winch at a similar angle. Then I spun my tires while being winched both forwards and backwards at the same time. Because of the reduced friction under the tires and the angle of the winchlines I moved laterally up and back onto the trail.

Here is a before picture:



-Alex

[jscusmcvet]

My story of a "similar" situation will make you smile. Just a sidebar from the impressive recovery techniques discussed here.

A few years ago, we had snow/ice mix storm. Since in this part of NC we don't get too much of this kind of thing, I wound up pulling several folks out of the side of the road with my Jeep and Warn HS9500. I was headed back into work and came across a little old lady standing beside her Honda mini van which had slid off the road. The van was sitting in fine condition on a sloped side of the road. No damage, no drop off, nothing complicated. I stopped, introduced myself and asked her if whe would like me to pull her out. She was very kind and appreciative.

As I was hooking up the winch to her vehicle (Honda's usually have factory points, not sure if they are for recovery or tie down, but....) A gentleman pulled up. He was obviously very.... ummmm.... "important". He nearly stormed out of his car and approached the woman. He began fussing at her that she should not allow me to pull out the van becasue "if he breaks anything he or your insurance won't pay for it... blah.... blah... blah". All during his tirade she just looked at him, with a slight smile on her face and said nothing... not a word.

I stopped what I was doing and looked to the woman for direction. She locked eyes with me, smiled and nodded in the affirmative. About the time I started winching, the "gentleman" got in his car and left.

The van slid easily across the snow/ice and when I got it back on level ground I respooled the winch and started her van for her. I asked her if she knew the man, she said no. I smiled and said, that dealing with the public every day in my job, I was impressed with her handling of the situation. Her reply made me laugh out loud. She said, "I am sure your mother taught you the same thing mine did me... If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all!"

Score one for nice people!

John