Mark (antpile), Mark (Freeburg) and I met and hit the farthest northwest start of Switzerland trail and were turned back very quickly by huge snow drifts. So we decided to go to the Gold Hill trailhead and head north from there in the hopes of busting thru and down the spot we started. That was not to be the case, way too much snow and large drifts blown over the trail. Just a half mile or so in I got stuck and had to shovel a bit to power thru the rest of the way. Mark and mark had no problem following me..... I had another spot that needed a little work to get thru as there were a few sections of deep drifts that we had to shovel a bit but we kept on pushing! When we got to the little hill overlooking the Cliffhanger 2.0 road and the rest of our trail, it was obvious we were turning around here.... huge drifts of snow covering the trail. We had fun running up the hill to the start of Cliffhanger and that was fun! Then we headed back and decided to run south on Switzerland trail at the Gold Hill Road trailhead.
Right away we found a stuck Suburu Outback and this lady was going nowhere in the thick icy snow-cement. We shoveled and then pushed her out and she headed back home..... we continued on and got to this cool hill (road 456.1 on the mvum) that was fun to climb.... and climb... and then the tracks ended and I kept pushing up the road with thick, deep snow.... somehow I was able to float and paddle up the hill for a ways, very fun and satisfying (instead of just getting stuck right away). Then the road got steeper and I started sliding into a tree, but was able to zig-zag thru the deep snow and turn my Jeep around and we headed down... but right away I got stuck going down a way that we couldn't get up. It was deep and I needed Mark Freeburg to pull me out, which he did easily.
We headed back onto the main Switzerland trail road and made our way all the way down to Sunset without any traffic (which I was a little worried about on the narrow shelf road). The snow was manageable on this sunny side, but going up the Sugarloaf mountain side (shade side) the snow was deeper but still manageable. A few sections were a little hairy, and Mark (anthpile) had a couple areas where he was spinning and getting a little nervous. All good though, and we made it up to the Sugarloaf trailhead without issue. I even got to climb that cool rock formation just a 1/4 mile from the trailhead.... that was fun!
Since Switzerland trail continues to Peak-to-Peak Highway and is closer for me I decided to keep going and the Mark's went home from here. I drove almost the whole way to the Gordon Gulch area and the snow got deeper and deeper and I was getting a little nervous. Then I reached a spot that had very deep snow and a wall left by the truck that turned around here. I drove up on a spur road but turned out to be a dead end according to the mvum. DAMN..... so I had no choice than to turn around because I was by myself and didn't want to risk getting in over my head in snow!
So I was heading down and went thru the deep snow sections without an issue.... about 2/3 of the way back to the Sugarloaf trailhead I hit a road block. A Yukon was stuck right in the middle of the trail at one of the snowy sections, and he broke an axle shaft or something in the front end so he wasn't going anywhere on his more bald than not mud tires. I offered to help pull him or something but he wanted to winch himself out and he did just that.... I had to wait around around 45 minutes until he turned the truck around and then put chains on and got to the side so I could get thru. I motored out to the trailhead and aired up.
Turned out to be a longer day than I originally planned but, it was worth it.... I had a great time. I hope both Marks had as much fun as I did! Thanks for coming out guys, heres a couple videos of you guys following me to the Cliffhanger 2.0 spot and then antpile climbing one of the hills we ran up, you did great Mark!
Finally the picture is the Yukon that was the road block at the end of my day
Switzerland trail 1.27.19 - snowy, windy and FUN
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