Originally Posted by
Drewboyaus
To the guys who went on this trip, I've been carefully considering whether to post but feel I should set the record straight as it has been bothering me.
It was a good effort by everyone to run the trip with the last minute withdrawal of Jonathan however I'm very concerned about people turning around on a steep hill climb and I believe I should point out the danger involved. I'm not having a go at anyone here by the way, just feel I should point out to the novices on that trip that there is a correct way to approach that situation.
Steep and challenging hill climbs should only be approached and attempted one car at a time and either straight up or straight back and that particular hill is probably on the "significantly challenging" side of things for a novice 4WDer because of how loose it is together with the steep gradient. Those cars that were stuck on the hill should have winched to the top (if it couldn't be driven) as one or two did or reversed the entire way back to the beginning. The opportunity for a roll-over on that hill was huge particularly with a number of inexperienced (relatively) people there. Being on such a slope particularly one with such an unstable base means it takes such a small amount to put a vehicle out of balance. Many people here commented on the Range Rover roll over video that is posted in another thread and if you haven't seen it you should check it out as it really shows how little it takes to totally shift the balance of a vehicle and send it back down a hill in a hurry. The (significantly) lesser risk was to proceed forward to the top.
It was a great opportunity to set up a vehicle to winch or snatch those who needed help up that hill for some good old fashioned recovery technique practise.
Anyway, like I said before I'm not having a go at anyone, I really just wanted to highlight just how dangerous turning around on a steep climb is and perhaps what an appropriate alternative course of action could have been.
Cheers,
Drew
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