Mission Report: Chinns Lake

Colorado 4×4 Rescue and Recovery spent the day winching a F150 back onto the road leading to Chinns Lake after it slid off due to the snow bank that was covering the trail. 

Note: the snow was receding fast now with recent temps from the time the incident occurred to recovery.

The 1st team that arrived on site began rigging the vehicle and once winching began, realized backup assistance would be required to safely complete the mission. A 2nd standby team was deployed to the scene to help with anchoring winching vehicles, and manpower onsite to work with all the rigging required to pull this back onto the trail.

Teams in the field endured the rainy and windy storm front that passed overhead in the afternoon, and pushed through to recover the vehicle for the owners.

Multiple pulley blocks were used for line redirects and winch reduction (mechanical advantage), and the recovery loads were shared across multiple anchor points and trees on the uphill side of the operation. 2 straps were used around the frame rails of the truck for extra strength (vs pulling on the tow hitch) and another winch was attached to the front of the truck to assist in swinging it around once on the road.

Safety officers were placed high side behind cover to observe the rigging and winching, and cease operations should anything not look right.

Operation concluded near 6 PM and team members began demobilizing and heading home. Some of the backup team broke off to assist with another recovery nearby on Hamlin Gulch.