Stuck in snow in 4x4 at the end of the year

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unicornleather

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Did anyone else get stuck in their 4x4 in last years snow?
I have never been stuck before in any of the several 4x4's I have owned over the years,however I did do a stupid thing last year in the snow and thought I'd share it with you.
I had been out all over the place giving lifts to people who were stuck as well as taking elderly ladies home for Dial a Ride who rang me in desperation as they had a few ladies stuck and couldn't get them home.One day I took my mum up to our local graveyard to visit my Dad's grave as it would have been his birthday last December, he died in February last year so I thought it would be poignant to go there it was when we had the bad snow, my sister and our 3 dogs came too.
I went right down the graveyard in my 4x4 (7 seater Ford Maverick with good snow tryes on)so my mum didn't have to struggle in the snow as she can't walk far.
Put some candles on his grave for him, lit them, then we all piled back in 4x4 and I realised that I couldn't back out of the graveyard as I couldn't really see where the road was as the snow was about 8" there, so I went down the hill to turn round, yes you have guessed I couldn't get back up the hill as it was sliding on ice and compacted snow!
Started digging the ice out with my towing pole as I didn't have a spade, no luck, mum and sister managed to walk up the hill and went down the local cottage hospital next to the church and stayed in the warm, I even got the dogs out to help me dig but they preferred to play in the snow instead!
It was much deeper at the bottom of the hill (about 30") that is why I couldn't get a grip.
My sister phoned me and said she had asked a guy with a tractor she had seen driving past to come down to tow me out, so I carried on digging as best as I could.
It was getting dark and I saw lights at the top of the hill the tractor's arrived I thought, no it was my mate (my sister's other half) in his Shogun coming to see if he could help, I couldn't stop him in time and he got stuck just in front of my car!
I had managed to get half way up before I stopped and he was sliding down the hill sideways straight towards mine!
I was waiting for the crunch as he would have hit my bull bars but he managed to stop about 6 feet away.
SO, I had to BACK down the hill again out of his way, he came down, went past me and off round the corner to try getting back up further round, result BOTH of us were now stuck!
I made one last effort and got half way up and bounced off a gravestone in the process, (no damage to either me or stone) I gave up and walked home with the dogs, in the meantime the tractor turned up and pulled my mate up the hill, I missed it of course!
I went back up with a shovel and spent 1 and half hours digging it out, quite peaceful in the middle of a graveyard at night and the term "The Graveyard Shift" takes on a whole new meaning when I'm involved!
I dug 25 feet x 8 feet track up the hill, got in the car and she went straight up, I'd let my tyres down a bit to grip better too.
As I went round the corner still in the graveyard a couple of teenagers were "canoodling" on a gravestone totally unaware of there being anyone else around, next thing is a large 4x4 with spotlights bearing down on them, I haven't seen anyone move so fast for a long time, the young lad ended up laying on a grave after falling backwards trying to do something with his trousers and was covered in snow, the girl just froze in my headlights and didn't know what to do!
I chugged past them as if it was normal to be driving round a graveyard at 7.30 pm in the dark!
Oz
 
thanks for that, your story has soo cheered me up, as my 4x4 is currently undergoing surgery in the garage for the 2nd time in as many months :( normally love the beast but it's seriously pushing it's luck!
 
YES I can Sanolly and on all the flippin hills making it more difficult for people who can move still to get around!
I went down Tithpitshaw lane (it was shut but I went down anyway) and the amount of cars stuck on that one had to be seen to be believed!
I went up Westhall Road to take the old ladies back home in Warlingham and even big 4x4's were turning round and coming back down as it was ice. I managed it ok.I think it's just sheer determination sometimes that gets you up!
 
I know, and the wallys who see the 4x4's chugging through roads that are really bad and think their 2wd cars will be fine. After swiftly getting hold of an Isuzu after my car got stuck, I had my only snow accident after a guy in a peugot came down Chalkpit Lane and slid into me, sending me into someone else!
ETA: Until then I was using Chalkpit regularly! Although by the end of it there was the peugot, me, another car, a jeep, a BT van and another car all piled up, up there!
 
Frustrating isn't it.
Ironicallly one of the ladies I "delivered" lives opposite the top of chalkpit lane so I know what it is like round there, it's a nasty hill at the best of times!
 
Hmm, well I never managed to get stuck in my 4x4 I had (Suzuki Vitara) and the lane to our field is ultra steep and never gets gritted or cleared. I have to say I think having the low ratio gearbox and diff lock helped enormously - I think in just normal 4WD mode it would have struggled though.
 
The Suzukis are good aren't they, I had a Suzuki SJ413 years ago, used to get out of places landrovers got stuck in.
I think I got stuck becuase it was an very steep hill, was sheer ice so nothing could grip and if I went off the path I hit soft snow over grass!
I learnt my lesson though DONT drive in graveyards in the snow!
Oz :)
 
Must admit, your post gave me a giggle reading that - and I think you were very brave being in the graveyard on your own digging! Poor couple - you must have given them a heart attack.

I wrote my 4x4 off at the end of last year on ice (finally got paid out on Saturday). Couldn't do a thing about it - a whole stretch of road was pure ice. I was hardly moving, went around the bend (speedo not even registering really), hit the ice, slid along for what seemed an eternity, spun round and went nose first down a ditch. Since my car went down the ditch, others went for a spin too!!

Just about to collect Mitsubishi Shogun next week - hope this one does better on the ice.
 
Never had a problem with my Disco, was also doing Dial A Lift as we live at the bottom of a hill.

I also was doing runs for the local GP surgery, helping out the District Nurses on their rounds.

As already said I think it makes a lot of difference if you have low ratio and Diff Lock. Mine also has Traction Control and Hill Decent Control.
 
My Mitzi L200 pick-up saved my life in all that snow, as we had to cart 150 litre barrels of water then bucket it out to the horses everyday...as well as hay and feed....and we had almost 4ft drifts in the field!

Normal road tyres too, we only got stuck once for about 5 minutes, then continued over our bumpy hills to get to the troughs!

I wasn't liking her much for some reason last year, but she saved her bacon by being so reliable and a real-workhorse!

It was so easy just to fill the barrels from a short hosepipe from the tap (main pipe forzen solid of course) and just reverse up to the troughs, take out the ice we broke, then bucket the water in.....

Thankgod for pick-ups!
 
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