Snow, Grass, Sand, Earth and Mud

If you're one of those summer travellers who sticks to the roads and sites then you need not really any more of this article, if however, you are someone who enjoys the wild, and/or uses their vehicle all year round then at some point unless you're really lucky, you're going to be stuck.

IMPORTANT: Ignore the tea drinking chair consuming supervisors who may or may not be commenting on your progress with their unhelpful advice, unless one of them works for a tow company its never useful advice and in most cases just serves to slow you down. Take plenty of breaks, and don't panic, you will be fine if you take it slow.

Getting stuck in snow can be annoying, and dangerous depending on where, so firstly, measure if there is ice beneath the snow or if the snow is simply laying on solid ground, this is vitally important because if you have ice under the snow then its going to be virtually impossible to get moving again without being towed, or winching. If you've already fitted your snow chains (which you should have already done) and that's not helping then remove them, and then set about removing the snow in front of the wheel and using a grab board (or similar) which is a board that you put immediately in front of the front tyre, and the tyre drags this under as you attempt to move, this then removes the wheel from the snow and you are able to get some forward motion, once you leave the grab board keep moving, don't stop until you are out of the drift, then go back and get your board. If snow removal and boards don't work then its tow/winch time so read below.

When parking up on grass, sand or earth its impossible to say how this will change over hours or days, you may drive into a rock solid grassy field, but after a days rain it becomes more of a bog than a grassy field and this can be a tiny problem with getting back out again. The same can be seen on sand and earth, but if you have the equipment then you're going to be ok.

First, if you feel the wheels slipping, STOP! I mean it, just stop because digging a hole will just make this way harder than it should be.

Get out your Grab Boards and put them right before the driving wheels, get back in and apply enough to get the wheels to pick up and drag the boards under then stop and inspect.

If both wheels are correctly on the boards, then its time to try and get some forward momentum, but if not, repeat the above step until they are, remember just one wheel isn't going to cut it, both must be on the boards.

Once you have some forward momentum, don't loose it, keep going GENTLY, no sudden throttle movement just low gear nice and steady, if you bog down again, STOP, redeploy boards and go again, its entirely possible that you'll have to use the boards for the whole journey across the area but with care you'll get the job done.

IF you've dug a great hole with your driving wheels, then boards will never be dragged under and its time for plan B.

Either dig out around the driving wheel with a suitable spade, or use a jack and a spare wheel to jack up one front corner, and then manually place the grab board under the wheel, then repeat for the other side, and don't dig holes again, it really does make the job 10x harder.

IF you've got boards under and its still not working, you loose traction immediately after leaving the board, then its time for Plan C, the winch.

Now using a winch is a little more complex than just attaching it to a tree and the front towing hook, there is actually some physics involved here and you need to understand or you could wind up missing a limb.

Know the limits, a good winch can be anything from 5ton to 30ton depending on model, if your vehicle weighs 5ton, then you 'could' get away with a 5ton winch, but the more the better so get what you can afford but also what can fit in the garage of your moho. Ropes, all have a max rating, be aware of this and don't exceed it, carabineers, u bolts, blocks, tackle and anchors all have ratings, be aware of what they are.

Find an anchor point, which is quite often a sizeable tree, but doesn't have to be, another vehicle for example or a large rock, or even a ground anchor can be used with some care, pick your anchor point wisely because, should it not support the load, you could find yourself in trouble and damaging your vehicle.

Once you've got your anchor secured, and the winch is installed between the anchor and the vehicle, take up the slack, and then re-inspect each point in the drag path, the winch, hooks, wires, ropes, connectors and straps, be confident that its all ok.

Now, get back in the vehicle and operate the winch, you DO NOT need to be helping with the engine, and actually its better not to, but take it SLOWLY and NEVER EVER have yourself outside of the vehicle when you're winching, stay inside, because should an anchor break or a connector or strap you'll find all that heading back towards you at high speed and that's never good - Damage the front of the vehicle, not good but manageable, loose a leg, not good and not really manageable.

You may have to winch yourself right across the area and that's fine, do it in sections, check and double check after each adjustment and just take a break regularly.

It is beyond the scope of this article to cover the complex subject of load amplification using blocks and tackle, but the very essence of this is that you can (a) redirect pulling force around corners by using blocks, and (b) amplify the pulling force by using blocks and tackle. You'll need to watch some video's and do some reading on this because there are literally thousands of possible configurations available that offer different amplifications under different circumstances, but just know that a 1ton winch can pull a 10ton truck out of a ditch given some clever rigging. To the right you should be able to see a simple Z configuration, where using two blocks you can double the pulling force easily.