This post is a thing of beauty.
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Earlier this year a buddy and I went on a 3 day overland trip to the white mountains, but got stuck in snow day 1. Buried axle deep without any recovery gear (unprepared) And not enough cold weather gear. We ended up staying the night on that pile of snow as the snow had turned to ice as soon as the shade hit us. (Im not used to overlanding or camping in snow, usually just desert camping here in AZ) and yes we spent all day digging
Towards the end of day 2 of being stuck and digging all day, potentially getting ready to sleep on that snow again, we heard something… it was a 4 wheeler. Old Guy was turkey hunting.
He helped us dig for 4 hours…. He was on his hands and knees and he wouldn’t stop digging. Eventually his dad showed up who he radioed with some short straps. Him and his dad pulled my truck out with 2 tiny 4 wheelers in mud ice and snow!
The mental battle finally ended. I’ll never forget that experience, the feeling I had while we were stuck, and the feeling afterwards. Relief and Pure joy. I’ll never forget those 2 guys.
They were a great example to me. They didn’t need to help, he could’ve seen us and turned around. But he saw us digging and saw how bad it was, and still chose to try and help.
In the picture he’s wearing NODs and $150 tactical pants.
They are driving a $70,000 Ford Raptor.
They had the finest in tactical gear and flashy goon squad Instagram gun influencer shit money could buy.
They didn’t have food, water, blankets, cold weather gear, good shovels, a winch, tow straps, or any of the gear necessary to not die of the elements.
In WWI, there were more combat casualties from frostbite, trench foot, and disease than bombs or bullets.
These guys were going to get wiped out like the German army in Russia. Not from enemy action but snow.
I’m absolutely going to dump shit on them for this because this is exactly what I expect from tactical influencers.
If the shit ever hits the fan, it’s good to know that if I want NODs and an HCAR, all I have to do it wait for the rich influencers with them to freeze to death, and I can take their Gucci gear off their corpseicles.
…but did they pack spare batteries?
Ages ago, in the dive shop, I watched a guy spend about 30 minutes checking out knives. Held this one, put that one on his calf and practiced drawing it, etc… etc… Then he bought the cheapest regulator the shop sold. It was, perhaps the worst one available throughout the entire diving market.
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These guys are no different. Spends no end of money on the “cool” stuff, and the life saving stuff is a secondary thought.
Glad they had that scare, hope they learned something from it.
Hahahahahahaha hahahahahaha.. stop!! I dam near pissed myself.. I LIVE here and even tho I am not fully prepared (yet) (about spring I will be) I DO have some oh shiite stuff in my truck.
Biggest thing I have is my brain..
there are tons of “tacticool” idiots out there who can’t find thier ass with a mirror on a stick.. bare minimum in my truck is warm clothes water 30 foot chain and a 6 ton comealong.. and a shiitload of ammo, and the brains not to go camping in the fukkin mountains in fukkin December.those ol boys probably helped em out cause the idiots were scarin the game animals.. it aint the tools, its the nut job holdin em..
I read the list of gear, did a mental inventory, started adding in the other required stuff, and stopped. The truck is ready.
Seeing this one and all the memelord/s**tposters getting hold of these guys has been my source of both schadenfreude and a bit of rage for the last day or so since I first saw it. They’ve gone and blocked anyone who has been remotely critical of them being morons. My take:
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1) These idiots didn’t pack any gear for recovering themselves? No shovel/traction aids? No warm clothes/snivel gear? Really? F**k me, a new 16 y/o driver in my midwestern town were better prepared just for their daily drive to school in the winter than these idiots were to go “overlanding” in the wilderness. Then there plan was just stay there and wallow in self pity?
2) Prioritizing cool-guy stuff over just basic preparedness and knowledge, sounds about right for “influencers”. I can say for a fact I’ve needed to use recovery equipment and appropriate clothing for more times than I’ve needed five-figures worth of NODS.
2A) This seems to be the embodiment of “goon” culture. All show, no practical experience. Then anyone who calls them on being dumb is a “hater” and blocked. There’s no chamber like an echo chamber.
3) Just my opinion, but any jackass posing with/wearing NODS during daylight is just a larping/poser jackass. That photo of dude in the camp chair holding an unopened Coke with his Vans, Crye Pants, and $12k NODS (again, while it’s light out) is just pure, staged cancer and cringe mixed with AIDS.
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Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my leaving the firearms industry . . . and that it was the right move.
The truck’s in the snow but where he’s sitting there is no snow at all. In fact, it looks kinda spring-like. Interesting…
I get coming from az maybe not knowing what you need without research, but yea that’s where it ends. You research before doing in that case. Says he’s familiar with over landing, that should mean he should be smart enough to research gear for each particular location or outing. And in mt washington of all places! The place famous for the worst weather in the USA if not world!
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I spent 3 weeks driving around the desert recently, guess what I did? Research the gear to bring before going without a second thought! I didn’t want to end up a dessicated corpse!
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Dudes are super lucky!
I would hope someone who lives a place where your car breaking down could mean death might have that idea in their head when they go other places.
AZ is no picnic. It goes from blistering heat in the south to sudden snow storms bordering in blizzards further north. Not just the cute little “snow on cacti” pics you see all the time. The mountains in AZ can and do get nasty.
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Anyone who lives there knows that, or should. These guys went from the desert area of AZ to the White Mountains, up to a two mile vertical change, but did not think to bring any cold weather gear? Even if they did not get snowed in they were going to be near freezing for most of the trip? Even if they kept to the foothills, the temp change would be in the 40-50° range.
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I do not even live in (or near) AZ, and I know to pack warm clothing just in case snow comes in at higher elevations.
These guys are not exactly the cream of the tacticool crop…
Zarquon! I carry more useful gear in my car than these guys, Especially when I’m going into the mountains and have my pack with me. I live in the part of Oregon where it snows and signs say chains required. So my car has a tow strap, snow shovel, clothes, food, water, emergency radio, stove space blanket, compass, first aid kit etc.
Then again I have the lesson of people getting stranded and dying here in the winter.
Ditto, but Washington, and I regularly travel the Cascades.
We always look at it like this:
Snow slides. You’re stuck in between several, or worse, trapped in one. Do we have enough stuff to stay warm, have something to drink and snack on for 48 hours?
Extra food, water, Sorel Snow boots, insulated coveralls, folding snow shovel, tow strap, half a dozen black garbage sacks, (the big ones,) a propane torch, (and a few other fire starters,) axe, Lifestraw, extra gloves, extra ammo, (I NEVER go ‘over the hill’ without being armed,) ‘space blanket’, couple of head lamps and a flashlight or two, phone amplifier with a roof top antenna, and I used to carry a radio from work before I retired. (The pass I usually go over was part of the area our repeater system covered.)
Always have a set of tools, including a voltmeter, electrical tape, wire, etc. in the car all the time anyway.
As far as first aid, we put a kit together for my wife who has a history of GI troubles, so it has diapers, pads, exam gloves, wipes, etc. Menstrual pads are GREAT for emergency bleeds that need to be stopped up quickly.. That reminds me, now where the heck did I put that stethoscope and blood pressure cuff…
One other point…
I came across a traffic accident just past a curve on one trip, and they hadn’t yet put out flares. I tried using a flashlight to warn oncoming cars to slow down, but I was pretty much ignored, EVEN WITH my 4 ways flashing away….
Got some actual road flares from one of the fire guys a bit later, and THAT worked. From then on, I always carry the good ‘ol basic red Fusees, and they double as another fire starting method.
There’s a key element that belongs in the required gear list and appears to be missing: a functioning brain.
I don’t believe a word of this. It’s not even pure fiction.
Betcha they can’t start a campfire without that fancy propane torch too.
There are always tools, water, MREs spare bulbs, fire starting stuff, flashlights, rain gear, space blankets, 30 ft tow strap, 1 qt spare oil, comms, and 2 shovels (round and square nose) in the truck. Plano makes 56 qt chests, the “marine” version has a gasketed lid so it can sit in the rain and keep stuff dry inside. I have a “winter box”, a “summer box”, an “unstuck box”, and a “large tools” box, each containing the appropriate stuff, including more food and water. There’s a sheet of 3/4 plywood on the bed floor that can go on top of the chests to make a sleeping platform. If I go farther than the grocery store the proper boxes go in the bed (there’s a cab-height shell over the bed), I add the “non-box” stuff – 60″ high lift jack, 100 ft 3/8″ coated cable, 4-ton come along, the proper projectile expeller, etc. I learned decades ago the value of good V-bar chains in the mud on the grandparents’ farm, even with 4WD they can save the day.
And for @&%$ sake, wear the right clothing and footwear.
A military signal panel is handy during daylight (I have one always in the truck, 24″ X 72″, orange on one side, pink on the other), and wholesale outfits that sell supplies to sign shops often have “roll end” vinyl and reflective sheeting, it comes in 12″ and 24″ widths. I picked up a roll-end with 10 feet of 12″ wide white reflective sheeting for about $20 that if I’m ever hard stuck “way out there” I’ll put on top of the cab and shell, or someplace nearby that’s clearly visible from the air; at night from 2000-2500 feet a floodlight on the bottom of a helicopter or fixed wing aircraft a 10 foot long, foot-wide bright white reflective strip will stand out in darkness.
Which also means when you venture out to the middle of nowhere you should tell someone where you’re going, by roughly what route, and when you expect to be back. If no one knows you’re stuck, missing or lost there won’t be anyone looking for you. And don’t forget your compass and maps (assuming you know how they work….telling someone on the radio that “I’m near the big rock that’s next to the large tree” isn’t very helpful).
Compass and maps, yes indeed — plus the knowledge to use them. Can you go on a day hike, or longer (say, in the White Mountains or AZ back country) with map and compass but not GPS, and know where you are at all times? If not, learn how, it’s not hard at all — it’s something most Boy Scouts could do, back in the days before smartphones. I continue to be amazed at the many stories of people who go hiking — on trails, no less — and get lost simply by taking a wrong turn somewhere. With a map and a compass and some elementary skills that won’t happen to you.