In Part 1 of Squamish Snow Wheeling I was lamenting the lack of snow that our region has had this winter. Well, how quickly things can change. Now, in late March, huge amounts of mountain snow have fallen thanks to the crazy Pacific Coast weather. Cold air from the north mixed with heavy precipitation coming off the the Pacific Ocean can make for incredible amounts of snowfall in very short periods of time. With a constant eye on the local mountains and ski reports during the week we were happy to find that the local mountains were indeed getting a lot of snow. When we finally hit the trail we couldn't believe how much there actually was.

With the weekend upon us I rounded up my usual snow wheeling crew for some fresh tracks in powder. At our usual meeting spot we unloaded our rigs and set off up the mountain road. The rain at our tow rig parking spot quickly turned into snow as we climbed up the mountain, eventually turning into a full blown winter blizzard. This was looking good! Initially the fresh snow amounted to about 12-18" of powdery goodness. With the tire size we are running this allows full throttle blasting at about 30-40 MPH without any bogging down. Needless to say this is a LOT OF FUN! As we ran higher into the mountains the fresh snow was getting very deep, about 40-48" deep and we could no longer float through it. With the wet, cement-like snow we have here on the coast it was time for full on bulldozer action. Build up a big pile of snow in front of the rig, back up and plow through, get about 20' and repeat. With snow this deep and heavy there was no other choice. Floating on top was just not happening. We were making good progress alternating this procedure between a few of the rigs. Every once in a while a rig would get stuck or the front end would be so clogged with snow that air flow to the rad would be stopped and overheating would creep in.

Due to the incredibly heavy snow storm we were in the light was extremely flat and visibility was really poor. During one of the backup and plow forward attempts the Landcruiser managed to back right off the road. Luckily there was so much fresh snow that the rig only flopped on to its side but it happened on a very steep slope and could have been way worse. After that little adventure we continued on making decent progress until the snow got too deep and we could proceed no further. At that point we setup a lunch camp and had a bbq and enjoyed the absolutely miserable weather.

As I left home that day I had no idea how much snow we would run into. It was just incredible that four feet of fresh snow had fallen and we were lucky enough to place the first and only tracks in it. To top it off what better way to commemorate a great snow wheeling trip than with a bad weather bbq.