2013 Eastern Washington Adventures Top Member Challenge

2013 Eastern Washington Adventures Top Member Challenge
Report by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Adventures
Photo by Clay Graham & Ron Dunn Jr. / Eastern Washington Adventures

On Saturday March 2nd, 2013 Eastern Washington Adventures Club members met up at Curly’s II in Kittitas Washington for the annual Top Member Challenge. We lined up and headed to Colockum Road for the Eastern Washington Adventures Top Member Challenge up Colockum Pass.

Once on Colockum Road we aired down and headed up to find a good starting point. We hit snow not to far into the trees. Once on top of the ridge the snow got challenging. We found a wide area near the power lines to start the snow wheeling challenge to the Halfway Station Marker.

We lined up the challenge member rigs. TJ40 – TJ, Foxracer – TJ, Jepscum – TJ and in the second row was Guido -TJ. The judge rigs were Ceg & Ron the Parts Guy – JK and AlwayswrenchN & Jeep Wife – YJ. Rangerat – YJ watched from the back of the pack.

This was a close race. Everyone was in the lead one time or another. Even the JK Judge rig. LOL

There was a lot of stucks along the way. Only rigs competing could help each other out and being good sports they did. The JK judge rig had to get help from the judges in the YJ a few times.

Since the snow was so challenging and it was getting late, we moved the finish line up to a Green Dot cross road we knew. The problem was the Green Dot markers were missing and some at the finish line did not remember the land marks. Foxracer stumbled across the finish line looking for the Green Dot markers so he is the 2013 Top Member. He would have had it sooner if the Green Dot markers were there. The only other competing rig close to the finish line was Guido. We were there in the JK to call the winner.

We all turned around to head back out. Leaving was a challenge for my low riding JK since the ruts were deep in areas and the snow got slushy from the warm day. I got pulled out by many rigs on the way out. I dropped the tire pressure down to 5 PSI but that did not help much. The last bad part I just broke trail around the ruts and it worked well. As we came out of the snow we could hear one of my tires was all the way flat. We had to add air before the airing up area and then added more to all the tires down the road.

Around 6:30 PM we met back up at Curly’s II in Kittitas for the award dinner. J T Parts & Accessories / JustDifferentials.com donated a Nitro Gear & Axle FlexFit hat to the winner and had decals for everyone. Foxracer will get a trophy with his name on it from Eastern Washington Adventures.

This was a very fun day thanks to who all came. Thank you J T Parts & Accessories / JustDifferentials.com for donating the Nitro Gear & Axle FlexFit hat to the winner and for all the decals.

Event sponsored by:

Below are the pictures of our TMC Snow Wheeling adventure:

Waiting in Kittitas for everyone to show up.

The line up of Jeeps in Kittitas Washington.

Colockum Road.

Airing down on Colockum Road.

Doc picking up trash a long the road as we air down.

Looking back from the starting line of everyone getting ready.

The Top Member Challenge rigs lined up.

TJ40 – TJ, Foxracer – TJ, Jepscum – TJ and in the second row was Guido -TJ.

And they’re off!

Foxracer in the lead.

Running back to the rig to judge the challenge. Rangerat waiting for us.

My co-pilot “Ron the Parts Guy”.

Judges “AlwayswrenchN” & “Jeep Wife” following the pack.

TJ40 stuck.

Foxracer passing on the outside.

TJ40 dropping more pressure.

Judges “Jeep Wife” & “AlwayswrenchN”.

Making the turn at the power lines.

You can tell it’s not that cold by the water from the melting snow.

JK judge rig passing challenge rigs.

Foxracer out in the lead stopping to take pictures.

Foxracer loving being out front.

Guido coming out of no where.

The challenge gets tense.

It’s a close race other than TJ40 stuck a long way back.

Jeepscum gets stuck.

Guido in the lead.

Foxracer making the pass.

Maybe not. Guido still in the lead.

Foxracer got around and is moving good. Jeepscum stuck.

About time TJ40 gets back into the race.

Rangerat still following the group.

Here I get the JK stuck breaking trail beside the lead challenge rigs. Jeep Wife gives my rig a few pulls but the JK got deeper into the snow.

Jeep Wife pulls my rig from the front and both rigs get stuck. Time to test out the new 12,000 lbs. Mile Marker winch and Rough Country Hybrid Stubby bumper from 4WheelingPlus.com.

The winch and bumper worked so well I found another place to use it.

We finally caught up with the challenge rigs.

Here is where most missed the way to the finish line. TJ40 knew it but got suck.

I drove on out toward the finish line telling the challenger over the CB they went the wrong way. Foxracer caught up to me real fast and took the lead.

As Foxracer looked for the missing Green Dot Markers I took this picture of most of the rest of the pack way back there. Guido pulled up right after this picture.

The winner of the 2013 Eastern Washington Adventures Top Member Challenge is Foxracer.

On the way back I got stuck in the ruts others made with taller tires.

“Ron the Parts Guy” using AlwayswrenchN’s OBA to air up our flat tire.

On down the road airing up all the tires. Doc on one side and “Ron the Parts Guy” airing up the other side. Thanks for the help guys and for the air AlwayswrenchN!