This should give you a bit of an idea of how deep the snow is – and this will be a bit low due to the flowing water. The hardest part about taking pictures at Winter Camp can be the blowing snow and trying to get someone to slow down enough to get a worthy picture.

Written/Photography by Albert V
& Rob Bryce

A little event happens each year about an hour away and 5000 feet in elevation in the forest behind my house. I can honestly say an event like this doesn't take place anywhere else. Even trying to describe what the four wheeling is like can be very difficult.

When you say snow wheeling, many cringe, some get excited and "think" they go snow wheeling, but the truth is very few get into it quite like the Kelowna boys. You may envision being out in the snow pushing through the deep white stuff at a snail's pace, spinning along on flat roads that would be drivable with a pickup truck in the summer.

But not these guys.

Then pictures may come into your mind of Iceland and Arctic Trucks - probably because they get TV airtime. I can say they are wimps in comparison.

Mason is one of the few guys who come up early with tires smaller than 44s. His 40 inch equipped mini-truck does reasonably well but he tends to get stuck more than anyone else. You may notice in many of the pictures that not every vehicle has a winch. Over four days we winched only a couple of times. Most drivers would rather rely on tug straps, because they don't like to add any more weight than needed, especially on the front.

I also think you may make a trip into Kelowna in the summer thinking you may see a big 4x4 or two, but the trucks these guys build rarely see the road or even a trail in the summer for that matter, even though they would work excellent. These vehicles are considered by their owners to be snowmobiles with tires, and get stowed away in the summer. When most 4x4 owners are getting ready to put their vehicle away for the winter, snow wheelers are staring at the hills waiting for the white stuff and a chance to roll their machines out of the garage. The owners of these "trucks" use them all winter long for trail runs into the snowy hills around the valley.

Winter Camp is an annual outing dating back to the late 70's. Back then more people were leaving little towns like Kelowna for jobs elsewhere and Winter Camp was a way for a bunch of just out of high-schoolers to get together for some fun. They started with small trucks just like you and I then as bigger tires came available the trucks grew too. Back when a 33-inch tire was 'big' to most of us, these guys were running 44" Boggers wondering what the hell the rest of us where doing on those little things under our 4x4s. 2005 would be the first year I have driven at Winter Camp, and it's the real reason you have seen those giant Baja Claws mounted on our Krawler.

      

Around town, you can pick out the guys heading for Winter Camp. They are the guys with 10 jerry cans strapped to the back of their 44" tire-equipped Land Cruisers, Jeeps and the odd Chevy or Ford. You can imagine how stomping on the gas pedal all day with big tires aired down to 1-2 psi can consume a bit of gas. Our Krawler used almost 280 liters for the trip - and we don't even have a big block!

Getting days like these up in the mountains is amazing. In the background is Jubilee Mountain, at close to 7000 ft in elevation. Normally we make it to the top but the soft snow conditions were too much for many of the trucks and we fell a bit short this year.

The Camp is located in the hills behind Kelowna. The first wheelers head up mid-week to set up base camp. Many more drift in each day with the largest number coming up on Friday. In the weeks before the event Geby & Bruce take their snowmobiles up and pick a meadow with lots of dead trees around the edge. You can imagine we build a wee bit of a campfire to keep fifty drivers and passengers warm in the cool early spring nights, so we need a lot of firewood for the week-long trip. Camping on top of six feet of snow can get a bit chilly if you don't do it right.

Yes, tires do come off below 2 psi. Actually, in all my years wheeling, this was the first tire I have lost off a rim! As I was blasting along I thought to myself, "I wonder if I would feel a tire come off at 1 psi at 60 mph?" Now I know – the answer is yes! The snow saved the tire and we used a tug strap bundled up under the base of a hi-lift to jack up the Jeep. Then we dug the snow out from under the tire and pushed it back on the rim and re-inflated it – back up and running in 5 minutes and we didn't get run over!

This year we had a large contingent of trucks heading up early on Wednesday. After meeting a few of our crew at Aqualu to pick up Todd and the newest independent truck to the fleet – a red YJ, we headed for the gravel road and met up with another group. A line of twelve vehicles (packed with jerry cans, of course, and all sporting at least 44-inch rubber) headed up towards the camping area early that morning.

If I had to sum up Winter Camp, it is a balls-to-the-wall drag race in the snow. The destination for the past few years has been the Grey Stokes Plateau between Kelowna and Big White Ski Resort. The Plateau averages 4000-5000 feet with two mountains that approach 7000 feet. Even though spring is almost sprung in town, where some folks are already wearing their shorts, winter is still in full force at this altitude (Kelowna is only 800 feet above sea level). Spring also brings the largest accumulations of snow to the mountains in this region. There was concern early this year with the low snow levels that we might not have enough snow for the event, but in a matter of three weeks, four feet of fresh snow fell to give us a snow pack around six feet where we set up our tents. It was deeper still the higher we climbed. This created its own problems as the hard pack was now four feet down.

Tree wells can jump out and bite you if you are going too slowly. They are great to use to sling shot your way around a corner like a banked curve at Indy, but go too slow and they will swallow you whole. Remember, the ground is at least 6 feet down! A tug is usually all it takes to get going again as long as you are not in too far.

The trick to this type of wheeling is staying on top of the snow, using maximum floatation. Our Krawler weighs 5600 lbs, which is quite heavy for one of these snow trucks. We use a 46 Baja Claw. When aired down to between 1 and 1-1/2 psi we have four square feet of tire on the snow at each corner. That works out to 2.4 lbs per square inch! In comparison, the average 200 lb man puts 3 lbs per square inch on the ground when standing up.

Besides putting a big stupid smile on my face as I mash the gas pedal in the snow, I have a hard time explaining what it is like to rip through the forest in 6 feet of snow at more than 50+ miles per hour, bouncing off the rev limiter in high range second gear (faster if you have a big block engine). I'll let Rob - my passenger this year try to explain.

Winter 'Wheeling 101 Kelowna StyleA Re-Initiation and Re-Vitalization Into The Hobby

By Robert W. Bryce

The date is December of 1999. A few of us planned and executed a winter camping trip to Clear Creek hot springs. Although we didn't encounter as much snow as we hoped, Geby Wager had a chance to show me what a large-tired 4x4 could do in snow. But stories around campfires tend to be exaggerated so given my experience to date with a (relatively) small-shoed 4x4, I thought I knew what winter 'wheeling was, could be, and that's when I decided it was time for a bigger, better 4x4.

Fast forward to February, 2002. The "Hulk", a full-size Blazer with a big block, Unimog axles, and 44" tires, was ready for its maiden run. The truck was a culmination of experiences and lessons learned with my previous 4x4, a Jeep Comanche on 36" tires. I figured the truck was designed and built to handle the type of winter 'wheeling that Geby does, so I could have that kind of fun too. And it worked amazingly well for what it was and how it was built. I was ready to play with the Big Boys, I thought!

Boy, was I wrong.

Fast forward to the spring of 2005. After a decade of seeing new dents and fixing broken parts on both 4x4's, I had honestly grown weary of many aspects of the 4x4 hobby. I was burned out. A trip to the 2005 Easter Jeep Safari with Al Vandervelde helped a bit, but I still wasn't ready to start a new project. They were the same experiences with different trucks, twists, and people.

Then I got an invite to Winter Camp 2005. I had heard the stories, received the invites, and was intrigued, but could never actually attend for one reason or another. So this time, I had to go. After a few phone calls and a trip to the interior, I climbed into Al Vandervelde's Jeep mid-way up a mountain. You see, I don't even own a trail 4x4 any more, and the first lesson about Winter Camp is that the average pick-up won't make it there. Hell, the average 4x4 won't even make it to camp!

Why? The camp itself it perched on top of 6 feet of snow! I didn't believe it either. Until I saw the fire pit. You're tenting too. And you pack differently because many liquids tend to freeze. You can too.

This is a different world. This is a different kind of 'wheeling. This is a 4x4'ing experience like no other.

Really.

My first hint that something was different here was noticing that there was no tire smaller than 40". Other events - club runs, etc. - seem to attract an average tire size in the mid-30's. Unless, of course, you're playing in mud.

My second hint came after hearing the 8th big block engine start up. That happened to be a 632 monster whose exhaust note was capable of shaking the snow out of the trees. There were also 3 crate Chevy 502 big blocks in camp. Each truck will use a minimum of 100 litres of fuel in a regular day.

The 3rd hint was the last I needed. Stories - legends - that I had been told five years prior were true. Only 10 minutes out of camp and we're already going faster than I had ever been in snow. And the snow was deeper than I had ever been in before, too.

Picture this: I'm riding passenger (quite happily). Looking in front of us, the only sight is a man-made snow blizzard from the truck (that you can't see) in front of you. And your pilot ('driver' doesn't quite fit) - the owner/editor of this fine magazine - has got his right foot planted on the floor and he's grabbing the next gear up - and we're in high range! His perma-grin doesn't change and you can't suggest slowing down because you know there's a truck going just as fast somewhere behind you. It wouldn't matter anyway, you just cannot speak easily over top of an AMC 401 screaming at 6000 RPM!

Really.

Then, you hear a rumble. You glance out the window to right and you see Geby's white beast go by you like you're stopped. Your jaw drops.

That kind of experience will forever alter your perception of winter 'wheeling, snow 'wheeling, and offroading/4x4'ing in general.

Then again, so will hearing that 632 Chevy big block roar by you. No word of a lie - I was looking for the helicopter coming in on us until I associated that noise with the Land Cruiser that just flew by.

All Al can say to me is. "I need more power."

All I can say to Al is "You need more power".

You see, 400 hp simply isn't enough. Turning 44" tires at 2psi which are settled 18 inches into soft snow (and another 5-10 feet of snow under that) to an RPM capable of moving your 5500 lb 4x4 to speeds approaching those which would be illegal on highways - takes a LOT of power! 500 hp seems to be a comfortable compromise - yes, a compromise.

Unfortunately, this is also why you won't see many pictures of vehicles approaching you. If you want to be in front to take good pictures, you have to out-run everyone else and earn that spot. And Al needs more power. We discussed this quite a bit.

That said, it isn't all high-speed full-throttle racing across snow dunes, using tree-wells to sling-shot you in front of the guy you're trying to pass. There are times when you have to go slower. Some hills are just best climbed at idle. We were able to out-run some trucks up a hill using this technique. The entertaining twist there is watching the looks on the pilots from the revving 4x4's that had engines that didn't care to idle.

And trucks do get stuck. But I never saw a winch cable get pulled. That's too slow. And it's just easier and quicker to use a long tug strap to jerk out the immobile vehicle and carry on.

Another uncanny thing is these guys know where they are going! There are no trails - only snow - or frozen lakes. There are no trail markers. They've been buried by 6 feet of snow. There are snowmobile trail markers. But because the daylong goal is to reach the head of the pack - and stay there - guys are often breaking new paths - away from the snowmobile markers - then later re-merging with the group. Yet, everybody makes it to the next check-stop (such as a snowmobile cabin) kilometers away!

CB's aren't used. Short wave is. A regular CB doesn't have enough range for when things do go wrong with someone somewhere behind you going as fast or faster than you.

There is no environmental impact to choosing a new route, either. 6+ feet of snow acts as a nice insulator for the natural vegetation.

I must share one final memory. At the end of the day, Al and I happened to find ourselves (finally, for once) at the head of the pack. It was getting dark. We had a good 2-minute lead (estimated) over the next two vehicles. I couldn't see headlights for a good mile behind us. We were on the home stretch to camp, a well-traveled trail by now (from previous days' 'wheeling). Al was pitching his Jeep sideways into corners, staying on the throttle and going faster that I would have gone in ideal conditions (without snow)!   I honestly could not imagine going any faster, period!

"No prob", I thought. Finally, we get to wait for them, and we'll be able to tease them in camp about going too slow. Then, after about nine miles, as he grabs 3rd gear high-range again, plants the throttle and the tach again climbs past 3500 rpm, Al shouts to me "you aren't going to believe this". What?   "Look behind us." You see, 2 other vehicles had caught up to us. Why? The answer is simple: we were in the lead and they were not.

I've been accused of exaggerating stories before. The rocks are always bigger, the hills are always steeper. That's part of the fun. But truth here hasn't been stretched. It truly is a different world. It's an experience like no other in the hobby, one which everyone should do at least once. And if you need to be revitalized - to re-experience that excitement when you first entered the hobby - something like this is the best prescription one can offer. You see, I didn't even drive 100 feet at Winter Camp - and I'm still revitalized.

Happy trails!

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