Thanks Phizinza & Ratbag for a nice day trip.
Sure it was cold, it hailed on us
several times, & despite my assertion to Ratbag we werent going to do anything too dramatic, it was exactly a dramatic situation I found myself in as I watched Ratbag ahead of me sliding off to the side of a steep, uber-slippery section of clay track, only to gain control at the last second. I was on this same section & had no way of stopping. As I started slipping, I came off the brakes & waited for the fronts to grip again so I could steer around the corner.
It didn't happen!
The car slid smoothly off the side into a nice big clay bog. I tried reversing but not a chance. With advice from Phizinza I aired down to 15PSI & followed his directions. With the other 2 pushing & me revving like crazy I reversed back up the track enough & with a frantic burst of power in 1st low steered around the corner.
Thanks Phizinza for helping me get out with your wise advice
We went down a little further where the convoy came to a stop.
We walked down a few sections (the track was divided into sections from 30m to 60m long by humps used to divert water off the track but which also served to arrest our barely controlled slides, lol) to find Phizinza had slid into a tree
Fortunately damage wasn't too bad, mostly just the number plate bent.
At this point we knew we were in trouble! The track was
VERY steep, smooth clay with not even enough grip to stand on!
There was no way we could drive back up, yet to continue seemed risky. I knew we had only one choice...down
We met some dirt bikers, one said turn around, the other continue!
We continued.
After some discussion, various methods were aired till we decided on uber slow, with the clutch in, hard on the brakes & creep, slide, slip down until just before the hump gun it in 1st low to pull back onto the track. As we went further it got slightly better with small stones in the clay, but then we hit some ruts. A little massage on the belly later & we were down...phew!
The day had started easily enough, one long climb up the ridge track. Poor athsmatic Oswina decided she needed to be in 1st low for most of it. But nothing too hard, just take it easy over the drainage humps.
Lunch at the top (700m+), more hail reminded us it was time to go. Then the ill-fated 3 sisters track
Ratbag & Phizinza both had some damage (I was actually more worried bout Ratbags ticker than car!) but considering the conditions not too bad. It certainly wasnt something we had planned. Just a combination of a very steep track, solid clay & rain.
Once again I was on a very steep learning curve. We now have some more memories (& I have some new skills). I'm grateful we all made it down ok.
Ratbag got a scratch on his brand new ('06) Foz & we all had a bit of a slide on our respective bellies, but overall damage was minimal
