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Winter - It's Official

So when's the winter trip getting organised?
Well I've got a route planned, through the hall, up the stairs and into bed, I'm hibernating, see you in the spring. cool-045.GIF
 
Well cold it is here, these last weeks.

Some 5 cm of dry powder snow overnight and today had a high of -4C (now) and -22C forecast for tonight. Brrr...


That is cold!! Anyway should have looked at the forecast for the end of the week - looks like this area is due a bit of snow after all :))
 
Here we go again...

Sh!tty photos, sorry, but I haven't seen a tracked Bobcat in a while.
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Loading snow into trucks taking it out of town...

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And here it comes again, expecting another 20 to 30 cm by morning....

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Ahh now hold your horses there mister! It's by no means guaranteed. A hamster may fire off a particularly large fart in Outer Mongolia and the whole jet stream will shift again and we'll get none of it. :pray:
On the other hand I am warming up my ear plugs just in case we do get some. :icon-biggrin:
 
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So with another 30-40 cm falling overnight, my truck looked suitably snug, if not smug, smiling to itself "bring it on" :lol:

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It was an interesting drive to work, only hampered by mere mortals of "cars" getting in my way... but I had no bother finding a parking place when I got to the office...

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Others weren't going anywhere it seems...

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Our "Jobber" Cris was tasked with the job of clearing the driveway down the side of the building so he asked me to drive a swathe through the snow...

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A mix of other photos...

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Easy-peasy :dance:
 
Funny, I showed this to Lynn and on seeing the first pics she said 'Clive won't be going anywhere today then' which was swiftly followed as she scrolled down by 'oh…he did!'
Made me chuckle. :)
 
Funny, I showed this to Lynn and on seeing the first pics she said 'Clive won't be going anywhere today then' which was swiftly followed as she scrolled down by 'oh…he did!'
Made me chuckle. :)

Easy-Peasy tell her Rich, the truck didn't even blink. You should see the stuff I've been through today. A car was blocking a side road junction and the snow plough had raised a pile on the corner just about level with the top of my bonnet.

So I steered at it being ready to reverse if it was solid, Aura said "you'll have to stop... won't you?" and the "won't you" became a question as she said it and as the truck just breezed through it. :lol:

I love this weather, pulled two people out this morning and one on the way home :thumbup:
 
I love it too. The first time I encountered snow with a 4x4 was in my Mk1 Shogun. It was only 4" but that's quite a bit for round here. Out I went thinking I was invincible- until I got to the first roundabout and found I had the same 4 wheels and brakes as everyone else. Took my then other half into work and each hill I came to had a pile of cars at the bottom so I went to the next, Arundel, no go, Slindon, no go with a police car going down sideways. On to Duncton hill which is fairly well sheltered with trees so I got through easily. Coming back home I pulled out a Sierra Cosworth with fat tyres on belonging to the muppet son of the local AA man, that slid into the kerb and got stuck. Visited my parents and the milk float slid off the camber and got stuck so I pulled him out. Then went to do a job up a slope behind the local shops and when I went to leave there was a 7.5 tonner with its rear bar wedged into the wall so I pulled him out backwards.
Then I went along to Emsworth along the A27 a day or two later and came across a load of abandoned cars at various odd angles with a thawing patch of ice and an AA van trying to pull one of them up the embankment. I pulled into the lay by in front of him and hitched on and pulled him along to pull the car back up into the lay by. It turned out to be the local AA man who said 'ere you pulled my boy out the other day'.

Love it.
Can't wait to do a bit with the 'Cruiser. Every time it's snowed I've been stuck at home or been away.
 
I would imagine mud tyres are good in the new stuff but I expect it gets slippy when compacted. Hopefully my winter tyres will be ok. I've not had the chance to compare grip in snow. I expect the winters will be good on ice but I'm not sure that snow wouldn't be better dealt with on muds such as my Cooper Discoverer STTs.

Drove back from Bruges in Lynn's Space Star and made it up the ramp from the channel tunnel platform through about 6" of virgin snow with no bother at all then just followed trucks until I got home. Road tyres and no dramas.
 
I would imagine mud tyres are good in the new stuff but I expect it gets slippy when compacted. Hopefully my winter tyres will be ok. I've not had the chance to compare grip in snow. I expect the winters will be good on ice but I'm not sure that snow wouldn't be better dealt with on muds such as my Cooper Discoverer STTs.

Drove back from Bruges in Lynn's Space Star and made it up the ramp from the channel tunnel platform through about 6" of virgin snow with no bother at all then just followed trucks until I got home. Road tyres and no dramas.

As far as tyres go, I'm of the opinion that there's no such thing as snow, meaning no single thing.

Snow, as a material, comes in all shapes, sizes and characteristics as well as the further variables of depth and temperature.

Today, the snow had fallen at about -4C overnight, and it was medium sized flakes, making it cohesive, soft and light and it compacted without going too solid. This meant that my KM2s were ideal, whether in virgin or compacted snow. The weight of the truck helps compared with a car on the same type of tyre.

Last week the snow had fallen at about -18C and it was dry, very small flakes and behaved more like dry flour than any other substance. The KM2s dealt with it OK, but where there was ice underneath (and at -18C that was highly likely) the KM2s just skated. They have almost no grip at all on sheet ice. If the ice has a texture, frosted or if there's some sand on it, then they're OK.

I still haven't managed to get any KO2s (all terrains) but I'm getting a bit closer with the enquiries I'm making, it looks like they may be coming from Holland.

They will behave much like the GGs I had before, and they were quite good on ice, but of course not so good as the KM2s in the deeper soft stuff.

There's no one tyre that fits all, so the secret is to keep plenty of braking distance in front, easy on the pedals and take your time.

A BMW X5 came past me this morning when the traffic was fairly congested and everyone was taking it easy. Snow was streaming of its roof and he was pushing about 80 kph in the outside lane (this is in the city). I just thought "good luck to ya" as he went by. 10 minutes later, he was parked up on the side of the road with another parked car in front of him. as I went past, his front end was stoved-in and the the other car its rear end was the same. What a clown.

No excuse for that at all, pure stupidity.

Have fun guys, but take it easy (if you're lucky enough to get a blanket).
 
So am I the only one not bothered if we get no snow over here then? :lol: Roll on the :sunglasses:!
 
I'm no killjoy. Snow's OK when you have time to play in it but I have two good reasons for not wanting any:
1. I work outside in all weathers and 2. As Starcruiser has hinted above we get a couple of inches and the entire country is on it's arse. :angry-screaming:
 
That's it, it's started. We haven't got snow (yet) but 4x4 response have put us on standby so Lynn has started moaning. It was only a tiny one, hardly noticible, but there it was, just after I mentioned the standby. Easy to miss but it was there.

Now, where did I put those earplugs. :whistle:

Stop press, it's on the news, snow. Big sigh! It's coming, I tell you it's coming!

Earplugs, earplugs!!
 
4x4 Response is one aspect I miss out on here because of my inadequacy in the language. My bad I know, but there are response units but I'd be more of a hindrance not being able to understand instructions and cross-talk.

It's a shame, I would like to be involved. :icon-cry:
 
Just take a native speaker with you maybe? I expect there's a way round it. Go and see them (with Aura to translate what you don't understand maybe) and see what they say. I bet they'll welcome you with open arms and work something out. Your Romanian will improve because of it. I find different situations add different sets of words.
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Go for it.
 
Just take a native speaker with you maybe? I expect there's a way round it. Go and see them (with Aura to translate what you don't understand maybe) and see what they say. I bet they'll welcome you with open arms and work something out. Your Romanian will improve because of it. I find different situations add different sets of words.
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Go for it.

The next hurdle is time availability, but that hits almost all of us, I guess...
 
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