Chasing the Ghost of the Shasta Snow Trip

[bad dog racing]

Chapter 3 of our account of the 2008 Shasta Snow Trip.

22 Buses had gathered at the Rampaging spot to take on the rigors of the 2008 Shasta Snow Trip. Our fearless leader, "kombisutra" addressed the group in an impromtu drivers meeting that took place around 4:30am on Friday morning. No maps were avaliable and the instructions were to run the same route as last year.
Since this was our first year, we were already at a disadvantage. We made some quick notes and hoped for the best. Our plan was to stick with the more experienced veterans of the event and hope we don't lag too far behind and possibly get lost.
After taking much ridicule in regard to being the only Bus in the line up at the LeMans start already fitted with chains, we patiently made our way along Bartlett Springs Road in about the 18th position.
It seems that we weren't more than 20 minutes into the trek and the front runners were already getting stuck. This is were the long line of Buses in front of us completely blocked the road on an uphill climb. Everyone in front of us were now forced to put on their chains while we patiently waited and watched.
It was now very evident that our choice to start the event with chains already mounted was a brilliant move. We took pictures of those who struggled with chain installation.... those same people that were relentless on criticising us and calling us pussies for chaining up so early.
Rather than make an attempt to squeeze by the long line of disabled Buses, we decided to maintain position and help any others as needed. We hiked up and down the line of bogged down vehicles and lent a hand in recovering stuck vehicles.
A short time later our fearless leader hiked up the hill to survey the situation. He encouraged us to make a move past the stuck vehicles and to get this trip rolling. We re-evaluated the situation and decided to move as far out of the way as possible so he could make his way through. We hoped to fall in line behind him if he cleared a path.
Steering from one side of the trail to the other, he blasted his way through clearing all the stranded vehicles. We hoped to follow in his foot prints. A couple more Type 2's blasted through and then another log jam started to take place.
We were stuck here for about 2 hours.
Eventually a lane was opened up and the next set of Type 2's blasted through and stopped up at the front of the line. Athough it was a bit sketchy, more vehicles took the opportunity and made their move. Some got through the rough spots and moved on while others only went a few feet before getting stuck again.
The Chaos seemed to have a life of it's own and was perpetuating on itself. We needed to get out of this mess. We were under the impression that collectively we were to stick together as a group and the front runners were up ahead waiting for the pack. After a brief conversation with the others at the front of the pack who were in a holding pattern, they told us that the front runners were off and running and waiting for no one. We were told that they had at least an hours head start on the rest of us.
At this point we conversed with the few vehicles in front of us that seemed to be ready to move on. Most would decide to pull to the side and let us crawl by. One other Crew from DefVolks decided to join us and go for it too.
Once we had cleared the last stranded vehicle we set flight to catch the 2 packs of Buses that we believed raced on ahead of us. It was now on! We started to roll along at a brisk pace. The road ahead of us although challenging, we took on with a good head of steam. We needed to make good time if we were to catch the groups that were miles ahead of us.
Moving along at a rally pace the Bus seemed to float along, unfazed by the rough terrain that rushed past us. Along the way we came across 2 haggered looking individuals that were walking along. They shared their story of walking all night after rolling their Samari about 20 miles up the road. It was below freezing during the night, I can't imagine walking all night in those conditions. They climbed in with another vehicle for a ride out to get help.
Further down the road we passed a rolled Ford Explorer. It looked like it had been there for a while with the amount of snow that was piling up on it. It appears that the owners of that vehicle had also abandoned it in favor of a later recovery.
We continued our fast pace, sliding through turns and plowing through deep snow and ruts. Eventually we had pulled far enough ahead from the Buses running behind us that we were now running alone.
As we continued to Moto-X our way trying to make time on the teams still ahead of us, we broke a chain and had to stop and make a repair. Our team work is well practiced from our drag racing experience. Together we work in a well choreographed motion of effecting repairs. Not much more than a pit stop, and we are back in the chase.
The demanding roads ultimately led us to a fuel stop at Kettenpom. We spent about 20 minutes here refueling and repairing another broken tire chain. As we started to wrap up, the next group of Buses pulled in. They caught us and needed to make their refueling stop. I was amazed that this group was so close behind us. I was sure we put major distance on them. I imagine the tire chain repairs we made really slowed us down.
We quickly checked our mapping notes and directions and were back on the road still focused on catching the teams ahead of us.
As we traversed down the mountain, we leap-frogged past the group that had been ahead of us. They found a place to stop and pull their chains off. We decided to press on believing our choice to run chains thus far has paid off handsomely.
The undeveloped road soon ended and we eventually pulled into the parking lot of a business at the base of the mountain to switch back to road tires. As we were fitting the last tire on, the second group had again passed us and was turning onto our next junction, Hwy 101. One of the teams from Idaho "Captian America Bus" radioed to us to check on our well being. We told them we were fine and would soon be back on the road behind them.
Once back on the road we made another pit stop at a local Vallero station. We heard chatter on the CB that the next large group behind us was going to make the same stop. We used the facilities, re-arranged some of our belongings and made our way back onto the road. It was just at that time that one of the Single Cabs from Missouri blew past us.
We now had a short term goal.....catch and pass the Single Cab.
Well this was not as easy as it sounded. The Single Cab was motoring along at a good clip. He would definately pull away from us on the hills. We imagined he was running a warmed up engine. We comforted ourselves by just being able to stay within eye sight of the Single. Along the way many other vehicles on the road weaved their way in and out of between us. The Single managed to stay about a mile ahead of us and we figured this was a good team to hook up with. We figured they knew the route so we wouldn't get lost if we could hang with them. A few more miles down the road and the Single made a quick move to the shoulder of the road and stopped. We got on the CB and radioed a message to him concerned about his well being. He responded that he was stopping to refuel and that all was well. We wished them the best and pressed on. There were still teams in front of us, and we wanted to catch them.....we wanted to catch them bad!
As we motored along alone we started to question our next junction. It had been many miles and we found ourselves unsure of the next turnoff. We started to radio out our postion and awaited a response. It seemed that we were out of radio contact. As we closed in on the next possible turnoff, we again radioed out for assitance in navigation. We were within a mile of the next route change and low and behold Team Idaho's "Captain America Bus" once again made contact with us and confirmed our direction.
We met up with this group of Trekkers that we had played leap-frog with earlier. A short break to compare mapping notes and to take some pictures and we motored on taking a postion to the rear of this confident group from Idaho along with Team Surf City, and the DeafVolks team. We were impressed with the driving ability of each pilot. We needed to work a bit to stay with this group. They definately had it going on!
They were hardcore and were showing it.
As we gained altitude and started to hit more snow, the leader of the pack pulled over to see if others wanted to chain up. Reluctant at first, still feeling the embarassment of previous redicule about going to chains too early, we waited to see what the rest of the pack was going to decide.
As soon as one team decided to chain up, we quickly went into action to change our tires. This group again impressed the heck out of us with their ability to change over so quickly. They Rocked! We were happy to be running with this pack.
Once we got rolling again we quickly found that the choice for chains was the right one at the right time. We motored up and over the mountian and after a long leg of challenging road conditions we came to the next landmark, a bridge crossing one of the rivers. The group leader again pulled over to converse about going back to rubber. We heard the chatter on the CB and the group as a whole decided to change back.
We had a quick conversation ourselves and decided to press on with chains. We were still sure there was at least 2 Buses well ahead of us that we wanted to catch.

***As close as I can figure this is where we became the lead team. Apparently the Ghosts we have been chasing were off in another direction. Maybe they had come this way and were forced to take another route. We had no idea.***

After a few miles rolling with the chains on pavement, we started to climb back up again and found ourselves in deep snow. Once again our decision to run the chains paid off handsomely. The road was starting to get real gnarly. It didn't look like a vehicle had been down this road in a very long time. It was getting real hairy! Here we were all by ourselves in the most trecherous terrain that we have encountered so far. Chatter on the CB confirmed that the group we had been running with only went about 5 miles down the road before they decided to go back to chains.
We guessed to be about 5 miles ahead of them when we heard the info on the CB. We continued on going deeper and deeper into the unknown. I was thinking to myself, how could the front runners have possibly got through this? It was getting harder and harder to make way in this deep stuff. We came to a long and challenging uphill climb. Our Bus chugged on as hard as it could bouncing up and down with the chains digging in trying to find some traction. We eventually stopped making progress and could hear and smell burning rubber. The tires dug all the way down to the pavement deep below the snow and we broke another chain. The tire was just spinning and burning rubber. It was time to re-evaluate the situation.
I was bummed thinking that if we had only jumped out and ran with the front runners we would be beyond this mess.
We managed to back down the mountain to somewhat of a flat spot to once again make chain repairs. We figured that the group behind us would catch up and at that point we would let someone else take the lead. I was convinced this road was impassable and that another route would be considered. At this point we had been traveling for hours and the snowfall was a constent. At times the snow flurries created near whiteout conditions. As we waited for the group trailing us to get to us, we ventured ahead on foot to see just how bad the road really got. We hiked about a 1/2 mile up the mountain and turned back thinking we had gone as far as this road would allow. We monitiored the CB and waited patiently.
Off in the distance we could hear a motor of somekind. It seemed to be coming our way from the other direction. We laughed and kidded each other "Wouldn't it be funny if it was a Snow Plow cutting a path for us??"
We listened intently and heard the distinct sound of a hydralic motor working.
We watched ahead as the noise grew louder as it closed in on us. We errupted into uncontrolled laughter as we spotted the heavy Snow Plow trudgging it's way down the mountain. Not only was there one Snow Plow, but a second plow was carefully manicuring a safe lane behind the first.
The Heavy Snow Plow driver gave us some instructions to follow as he cut a turnout to enable us to maneuver around him. He told us that he freed up the road earlier in the day for 3 Buses to make their way.
It was on again! We were sure that there was a least 3 Buses ahead of us.
We radioed to the Buses below us that the Snow Plow was on it's way down the mountian, and we set sail again.
Our competitive nature was taking over again, WE WANTED TO CATCH THE BUSES STILL WELL AHEAD OF US!
We stepped up our speed and raced on with a new goal. We needed to make good time if we were to catch the front runners. We wanted to roll with the best teams the Shasta Snow Trip brought out in 2008.
We clicked off hundreds of miles and unknowingly continued to distance ourselves from the rest of the Teams. The CB chatter went silent as we were now beyond the range of contact.
The weather varied from heavy snowfall to rain, wind, and just overall slushy and demanding conditions. We again broke a tire chain and decided that we should pickup another set of chains somewhere along the way. It was beggining to get dark and we still had over a hundred miles to go.
We pulled off to refuel and get a bite to eat. We then looked around for a place that might sell chains. We started to worry that most places close around 6 or 7pm. We made a plan to backtrack and head towards Redding. We figured it was our best bet to find a place that would be open and actually have chains.
Eventhough we wanted to catch the lead teams, we felt it neccesary to re-evaluate our situation. To err on the safe side is far better than getting ourselves into a position of being stuck with no way out. We still have not heard from any other SST teams on the CB for many hours.
There was no guarrantee that if we did get stuck, that another team would find us. We eventually found an Auto Zone that was moments from closing. Fortunatly for us they did have chains in our size. We would have bought 2 sets if they had them. We felt lucky that they had a least one set.
We were now well into nightfall and continued our way to Shasta. Confident with the new chains we continued to blaze a path to our distination. At this point we were sure that the others we were hoping to catch were tipping cocktails and enjoying o'rdevours around a warm fire.
As we approached Shasta, we were a bit bummed that we weren't in the first pack to arrive. We began to radio in our position hoping to hear from some of the other teams. Since we got no response, we figured that the first teams were inside the "houses" and away from the CB.
It was after 9pm, we had been on the road for over 16 hours. We were tired, hungry, and wanted to start in with our livations. After a loop around town we found our way to the Cold Creek Lodge. Surprised that we saw no other Buses in the parking lot, we figured the first team of SST veterans are probably at the houses and we have no idea where they are.
We unpacked and got comfortable in our room and thought about getting some chow. We unwinded for a bit and watched the TV looking for news and weather forecasts. About an hour later we heard the distinct sound of a VW motor pulling into the parking lot.
It was Lou and a couple of other Teams. It was at this time that it dawned on us, we were the first ones in. For the last 300 miles we had been chasing a Ghost.
They shared what limited information they had about some of the other teams. We were saddened and concerned to hear the Bullet Bus with the team from Ireland had rolled onto the passenger side. Little more was known about everyones condition. Apparently the occupants of the Bullet Bus were OK.
Throughout the night teams rolled in, some arriving at 4am.

It had been a long and trying day. We were pushed to the limits of physical, emotional, and mental capacities. The challenges were endless and huge. The weather did everything it could to trap some of the teams. Regardless of the obstacles most of the teams accomplished the mission with little more than minor set-backs.
At the end of the journey there is no fanfare....no celebration....and no welcoming committee.
What there is for each of us, is our own sense of accomplishment, our own sense that we completed a trek that only a few will ever even consider. A sense that we took on mother nature in a 40 year old VW Type 2, and became one with it. We took our beloved Transporters and put it through a test, pushing it to the limits of performance that few others will ever experience.
These Type 2's are amazing vehicles. I have a new fondness for their unrelenting performance.
In closing this chapter of our SST Journal, I'd like to thank the Ghost(s) of the Shasta Snow Trip personally, wherever they may be.
You made us believe that you existed....You made us work hard trying to catch you......BUT

....you were never there to begin with.






I have more chapters to our SST saga.

Chapter 1 includes all the prep for our trip now at:
http://deutschstahl.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2604&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Chapter 2 A Four Wheel Adventure Will Soon Bring You Much Happiness
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=278655

Chapter 3 Chasing the Ghost of The Shasta Snow Trip
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=278271

Chapter 4 Shasta Snow Trip: The Run to Castle Lake
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=278417

Chapter 5 Shasta Snow Trip: "The Dog Leg"
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=278723

Chapter 6 Shasta Snow Trip: Preparation Is Everything
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=278842

[Outkast]

Good story so far sounds like you guys had a blast
_________________
Sometimes your better off being a lurker

57 kombi


" f!@#k"Cancer

[buggdude67]

As usual Greg, you have a way with words. I actually felt like I was on the SST with you.
Great story and can't wait to read the rest of it.

[vwluver74]

damn, this story almost makes me want to raise my singlecab up


please, continue!!!!

[NorCalWeekender]

Yes, Carl...raise it! Make the SST next year! Hell, even my team made it...and we weren't the last ones into Shasta! (we were, however, 23hrs ahead of Brian!) [well, he did take a different route, too]
_________________
9th Owner of a 1971 Tintop Westy

"Eventually, we sold to a guy for $500 who towed it away to live in it in his parents' driveway. We didn't think it would ever avoid the junk heap on that day." -The 3rd Owner, 1995

[LittleThunder]

Were there any lowered buses on the trip?

[bad dog racing]

[Fish]

A very exciting and well written story. I enjoyed it immensely.
_________________
Prosit!

.·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·..><((((º>
.·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·..><((((º>

# 303 and #156

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Aaron]

/\ x2, I posted a link in the split bus forums thinking people there would enjoy the story but might not actively search for trip info.
Next morning my post/link was removed. Oh well, I'm glad I searched out the SST story. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

[Mike1973]

Great read and pics

Thanks from a follower across the pond
_________________
Gaffa Tape Tourist - Touring Europe at 45mph
Editor - Split Screen Scene, the Journal of the SSVC.
My flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/29051501@N08/

[bad dog racing]

I'm very elated to hear that so many enjoyed this part of our adventure. I really owe a great deal of gratitude to the founders of this event. Their shared information and past stories convinced me that this was a "Must Do" VW Adventure.
I'd also like to thank my teamates Brian and Jason, and every other team that made this event the trip of a lifetime.
I've done a lot of crazy and extreme stuff in my life...
Drag Raced cars of all types
Raced Motorcycles both on and off-road
Hang Gliding
Extreme 4-Wheel Drive Excursions
And other, milder snow trips
Nothing compares to the rush of plowing along in a 40 year old VW Bus against all odds.
If any of you have one drop of adventurous blood running through your veins, I highly recommend you make plans to do this trip at least once.
It may very well be the biggest and most rewarding experience of your life.

It certainly was for me.
_________________

[kombisutra]

I'm so happy you guys made this trip Greg, Bad Dog Racing set a precedence that competitive racing crews ARE a part of the SST. Your writings and reporting of what mental, physical, and mechanical challenges await the teams are spot-on. Contingency planning gave you guys a huge advantage, and that, along with a team of THREE hardcore race-team madmen, I was pretty sure you maniacs were going to be up-front before too long.

The biggest obstacle every year is fear of letting go of the broken.

To abandon them to their previously established and competent teams proved the downfall of 3/4s of the entire group. And if that's what they want to do, that's ok too, but as you well portrayed here, the trip is humongous in miles and minutes waisted on the floundering will catch up to every team optimistically thinking they'll have physical energy left in the tanks at 3AM to complete the trip in a day. I didn't. You and half of the crews past me in Willits while I replaced an invaluable torn-off heat tube:

Nonetheless, we continued on out of Willits, ripping with 5 other teams including courageous Team Frosted Flakes, and after eventually dropping ten teams back in Kettenpom, insane Team Stockton (Damon and Kevin The Keydude) hauled-ass taking up the rear while we blasted at break-neck speed all the way out Alderpoint Road to Highway 36. And that's where it all changed for us. While I'd put a beer on it that we were no more than 20-30 minutes behind you guys when you took 36 east to 3, Hayfork, north to Weaverville -where you got your second set of chains- and north up past Trinity Center, insane Team Stockton and Kombisutra went directly north from Bridgeville up dirt and snowed over Kneeland Road all the way north 65 miles to 299 east of Willow Creek:

This route I new would take longer, but that didn't matter to me, we wanted the challenge that mother nature had called us out for. Ugg, too long to tell right now, but we amazingly hooked up with 6 errant teams in Willow Creek and crashed out at a motel. In the morning, the other teams that stayed, left early, while my high-performance copilot and I slept in like fatty catties Before departing, knowing the conditions were insane and having gotten news of the Bullet Bus flipping, and even more amazing, that I-5 had been shut down I checked more local information about the probability of getting through the mountains through the most severe and radical of routes: via Highway 96 past Hoopa, then up the Salmon River over Cecilville/Callahan Road. Locals confirmed the plows run twice a day during the week, and while it was a Saturday afternoon now, I ventured that with the tractor-like traction the chains would give in addition to our gnarly tenacity, we'd make it over, and it was absolutely epic. Invigorating might best describe ten miles of second-gear plowing up this pass road to the summit, on which no vehicle had passed since the heavy storms 12 hours before, with one headlight, no wipers in an increasingly blinding snowstorm/whiteout. Some sick voice inside was saying: "The summit's just around the bend" It was a serious deal. We knew if we got stuck we'd be there through the night, and we were prepared for it. We had propane heat, blankets, wine... Anyway, Erica, my incredible team mate -a veteran of multiple insane international solo adventures, is like: "This is the baddest thing I've ever done, I can't believe we're pulling this off" I'm all serious and hoping we actually do... silent, only hearing her chortling over the din of the thrumming engine. She's privy to everything that's happening and she notices the windows getting impossibly covered in snow, so she opens the passenger door, climbs out up to her waist -while we're driving- pulls herself across the full length rack and wipes my window clear with her glove... I couldn't believe her badassness (good word ) Finally, the sign says "Trucks 20% Grade" or some such warning and we knew we had made it. Mass celebration! But were we really out of danger? Not by a long shot. The conditions were whiteout at the top with the majority of the storm hitting the slope we were about to go down, thus, it was twice as deep on the other side. That we had the steep grade to our advantage was literally the ONLY way we would have gotton through the drifts. And they were deep! They piled up over the over riders and clearly obscured the one headlight briefly, but with the chains, we pushed down what was obviously the center of the road... one big marsh mellow road. I nearly steered inadvertently into the deeper side towards the snowbank and quickly corrected, and eventually, as we descended, the depth of snow lessened.

Ok, long story short, we pulled our chains in Callahan, and wussed-out -not wanting to chain-up again- going over the killer road that only Bad Dog Racing did, that road being: Callhan-Gazelle Road. Had we done that, we'd have gotten in a little sooner than 9pm on Saturday. Instead, we hauled ass all the way up 3 through Etna, and eventually hit I-5 South towards Mt. Shasta City. Due to massive auto accidents on the pass just north of Mt. Shasta City, I-5 was closed and ALL traffic was being turned back north... unless you were carrying chains and could take "Old Stage Road" to the West of I-5 which we did... and it seems we were the only ones who dared to do that, as it was phycho-deep snow plowing the 15 miles of back roads into Shasta.

Anyway, such was the epic adventure of Team Kombisutra this year. I didn't care that we were so late coming in, that we took arguably the most radical routes up made our bout with Mother Nature all that much more rewarding. I hadn't seen crazy snow and borderline scary conditions like that since the trip I took that conceived the SST. Kick Ass year! It was so radical that multiple teams never even made it!

I'm looking forward to seeing Bad Dog Racing's 2009 entrant this year! And, as winners of the First Bus Into Shasta, Team Bad Dog got to call the dates for next year, and like last year, the event will be on Super Bowl Weekend: January 30- February 1st 2009

What are YOU gonna' drive???

[bad dog racing]

[quote="kombisutra] I couldn't believe her badassness (good word ) [/quote]

Dude!......You really are Larger than life!
_________________