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Glacier trip/Jeep Rescue

yellowK20

yellowK20

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Wasilla AK,
Dokwatson and I took a group of friends out to the Glacier for some mild wheeling and some shooting. Along the way we had a slight lug nut malfunction on the burb mostlikely caused by someone drinking beer while using a a 4-way to change tires on 3 trucks :doah: we robbed 2 lugs of the other 3 tires ( and made sure they were torqued) and proceeded to re-install the tire but all we had was a highlift and it was being a pain in the ass but just then a Guy pulled up in a bitching 87 Blazer with a chalet camper on it. he let me use his stock jack . we got the tire back on and then BS'd a little and we exchanged info and went on our way.

Once we got out to the Glacier we ate some grub and did a little shooting. we noticed a Helicopter flying around the area ( not uncommon in the area ) we noted that he touched down for a few minutes and then took off again and head directly towards us. He landed next to us and ran up and told me that there was a black jeep stuck in "metal creek" and that he was stuck on his roof.

We hauled ass up there and found a very wet and cold guy stuck in the river on top of 4 door Jeep JK we threw him a rope and then used it to send over over a winch line and my 50ft strap.

We got him pulled out and into dry clothes and stuck him in the burb with a dry sleeping bag and the heater cranked ( hypothermia had begun to set in )

Then we pulled all the plugs out and tried to roll the engine over but the damage was already done . We hooked up the strap and headed 30 rough miles back to the trailhead . anyways on to the pics

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was that a subwrangler? Or a jeepmarine? I always get those two mixed up. :)

was it saveable? I should say, start-able.
 
almost by 7 & 3/4 lug nuts had that happen years ago with my 38" tsl swampers on my first truck i built.

oh ya mine was on the left front and i was in the middle of a bridge when it started banging around ready to fall off. :doah:

boy did i learn a lesson that day :eek1:
 
Beautiful...and at the same time scary. WTF was he thinking?
 
AJMBLAZER said:
Beautiful...and at the same time scary. WTF was he thinking?
Click to expand...

It literally happens all the time out there. Its usually military guys that are new to the area and don't know any better.

He would have died if the helicopter had not seen him and notified us.
another 15-20 minutes and the jeep would have been completly submerged and the water was moving to fast and to cold ( about 36 degrees ) for him to try to swim to shore. And even if he had made it to shore,hypothermia had already set in and the chances of him getting a fire lit are slim at best as he was nearly a mile from any fuel source and would have to cross multiple creeks just as cold as this one to get there.
 
This is in nearly the exact same spot a few years ago

[YOUTUBE]<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Rlqy5ZYJAI4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/YOUTUBE]


http://youtu.be/Rlqy5ZYJAI4
 
Can't see the vid but I have heard and seen heaps of videos over the years of people and vehicles just stuck as hell out in crazy places up your way. Most of the time it seems to involve someone who just "got in over their heads".

The Nissan pickup and Jeep YJ in the glacial runoff dirt/ash/general crap/etc flow thing a good 5-10 years ago comes to mind.
 
I put a link up to that video since the embeding isn't working
 
That might be what I was thinking of. Didn't they pull a Nissan pickup out at the same time?

When was that? I swear I saw it and read about it years and years ago.
 
its been a few years ago now.

it happens almost every weekend out there during the summer some not so bad as this
 
NEVER wheel or play alone.

and if me that far out i would have one of those emergancy help becon units ski people/ snow mobilers have to alert for help.
 
AJMBLAZER said:
That might be what I was thinking of. Didn't they pull a Nissan pickup out at the same time?

When was that? I swear I saw it and read about it years and years ago.
Click to expand...

I remember reading a big write up on that somewhere and it had pictures as well. Now if only I could remember where:sign18:


Back on topic, nice pics:waytogo:
 
I guess "trail rated" only applies to the lower 48

The more I see of stuff up there, the better of an idea it becomes.
 
Bowtie85 said:
I remember reading a big write up on that somewhere and it had pictures as well. Now if only I could remember where:sign18:


Back on topic, nice pics:waytogo:
Click to expand...

Was probably on bgreen's forum alaska4x4network.com. There was a 30-some page thread that Josh (the guy with the dodge on boggers in the video) made during the events.

That's why I don't mess with Glacier Fork after say mid-April. The water is so silty that you can't see the bottom after 2.5 or so feet of depth, and it's damn-near impossible to read the channels in that thing. Not to mention, the bed is so unstable that the braids will change throughout the day. I've made it across in the morning during the summer, only to turn around a few hours later and it's a foot deeper where we crossed, and you can't really figure out exactly where your line was. You just cross in to the current and hope you can drift to the other river bank if everything goes to ****.

Glacier rivers are just plain scary.
 
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