Mt Herman today, recoveries x 2

**Pathrat** · January 30th, 2010

We have been working on the house for the last month and decided we needed to get out. However, Eagle Rock is not something for me and my rig in the winter. We went down to Monument and headed out on Mt Herman Road. About four miles in, we came across a Dodge nose down off the road with two built Jeeps and a stock Cherokee trying to fix the situation. Some kid got caught on the slope side, and from what I hear, a full size truck tried to pull him out and ended up "making it worse". Initially, the winch was not providing a solution and the kid's tires were spinning. The Jeep was getting pulled and the Dodge was threatening to tip. So the people with the Jeep anchored to a tree, I let some air out of the tires, and the winch line was first attached to the right side of the axle. Then, when a little bit of ground and traction was gained, the line was put on the driver's side of the axle, and out he popped. The Jeep was pulled half way up the slope where they were anchored, but everyone got out just fine.

**Pathrat** · January 30th, 2010

We were not present for the second recovery, but saw the before and after. Guy says he was going slow and just slid right off the road. He called his friend with the Jeep and two hours later he was out. This was at the west end of Mt Herman.

**Pathrat** · January 30th, 2010

Despite the warm weather, there is snow on the ground in this network of roads and trails. Rampart Range IS CLOSED 10 MILES NORTH OF MT HERMAN RD (west end). We headed up Balanced Rock Road. Those of you who know me know I am not a fan of snow nor snow covered roads. However, this road was like a trench, a bit wide, and fun to zoom up. Snow Baja. I like that. Then, while I was busy yakking with Gatemonkey, I drifted into the trench on the side of the trail. A few inches of snow on a trail and I drive into the deep spot. Powered out. The last shot is Cheesman Resevior. It was hard to take a decent picture which did not include fencing and construction equipment.
It was good to go for a ride a ride.

January 31st, 2010

Always nice to see people finding the limits to what their rigs will do on snowy roads!

Glad that you got out and had a good time. That is a nice area down there. We have been putting up new rock climbing routes in that whole area sine that late 1980s..

That is the standard closer for Rampart Range road, BTW. It has been like that since 1986 or 1987. The road gains altitude up by Devil's Head and so holds a bunch of snow. From what I was able to gather to my 1988 South Platte Climbers Guide is that the FS simply got tired of rescuing people and installed the gates..It closed off a lot of winter rock climbing access..

You wouldn't have liked Eagle Rock...

January 31st, 2010

Looks fun!

January 31st, 2010

Pathrat previously posted:

**KnuckleHead** · January 31st, 2010

Glad to hear that you stopped and helped out, good job... nice pics BTW,

**Pathrat** · January 31st, 2010

SubaCool previously posted:

**Pathrat** · January 31st, 2010

Brody previously posted:

CR · January 31st, 2010

Looks like a fun time.

**Pathrat** · January 31st, 2010

85fsbronco previously posted:

January 31st, 2010

Wow... hope the owners of that Dodge were thankful.

Just FYI for the masses who don't already know: You should never use an axle housing as a recovery point. Having said that

do it only as a last resort. That housing is attached to springs and other moving parts - it's not firmly bolted to the frame. So, you risk damaging the suspension, bending the housing, having the suspension unload/bounce/move unexpectedly... the list goes on.

January 31st, 2010

Jimmy previously posted:

**Pathrat** · January 31st, 2010

I don't think there was much to hook onto. The kid looked young enough to be on his parents' insurance still. Of course, I think everyone under 30 looks like a young kid.

**Funrover** · January 31st, 2010

WOW... I bet there are stains on the seat of that dodge. Glad you got out!

January 31st, 2010

Pathrat previously posted:

February 1st, 2010

Mt Herman Road is one of those roads I don't mind driving up, but I hate driving down, no matter the conditions. People tend to go slow going down it and very fast going up. I have helped recover many rigs on this road, have almost been forced off the road, have had friends who were hit on curves and went off the road, etc. I have driven that road for over 30 years. It never seems to get better or worse, neither do the people driving it.

I usually will go up it and return either via Woodland Park, or go north on Rampart Range...usually the former. We have been putting up climbing routes on all of the rock formations that you see from the top of Mt Herman looking north since the late 1980s. Lots of good rock climbing and not in any books (with a couple of minor exceptions, mainly in north Monument Creek, the next drainage north), including my own...

Looking straight across at the a point above the largest bunch of rocks is where the picnic table in Wells book from the Balanced Rock description is...the picnic table I built and put there probably in 1991 or 1992....This is an area we called LaLa Land and the note in the picture showing "campsite" is where the picnic table is.

The blue line designates South Monument Creek and the yellow dotted lines show the trai we had to cut to gain access to the rocks. The blue dotted lines show the alternate approach to the lower rocks that requires a couple of rappels. The "Eastern Slabs" also have a couple of routes we put up and are approached from the campsite. FR 322 is in the background and drops down to Palmer Reservoir.

We have put up climbs in this area ranging from low end 5.7 to high end 5.12+, so there is a wide variety of climbs here. Don't expect the campsite spot to be clean. We have had to remove garbage from it every time we have gone. The terrain off the ridge, especially to the east side is what one can only call brutal. The taril we made going down into the valley from the camp is 'reasonable' and is sometime flagged. It is approached from the mini ridge just before the campsite and drops down off the west side following the line of least resistance. Not a bad area if you aren't fond of paved pedestrian type trails. It is pretty neat down on the valley floor, too.

February 1st, 2010

Jimmy previously posted:

February 1st, 2010

I usually let the owners of the needed recovery hook up their own vehicle. If they ask for suggestions, I'll offer them. That way, if something breaks or goes wrong, it's on them rather than me. Going around an axle housing is OK as long as you keep the hard tugging to a minimum. Something more solid on the frame is a better choice though!

**Pathrat** · February 1st, 2010

The Dodge did have leaf springs in the back.

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