It was my bogeyman, like a personal demon. The Gurkha had failed to climb it even halfway in bone dry weather, the street tyre could have been the culprit. The GV almost did it with highway tyres, but the reduced break-over angle due to lowly placed skid plates did it in. The GV rear fiber bumper got cracked in this process. So here it was, an off-road obstacle, un-conquered, right in my office backyard.
Those of you who are unfamiliar with story, read it here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-of...goes-sour.html
After I got the CJ340, I have often visited this incline and wondered. Should I try it again with the CJ340, can it be done? Since I have developed a healthy fear towards this incline, I didn’t want to take it on lightly. I am generally a cautious person, not the kind who would jump first and then look for a parachute. So I decided to wait until I am sure. After the Coorg OTR experience, I could see this incline in a new light. I was almost sure I had climbed similar inclines in Coorg if not higher. And the Coorg OTR experience had given some insight into how to tackle such an incline. Max torque is not always the answer, often momentum can achieve what torque cannot.
A shot from March, taken the next day of the failed attempt.
Now, don’t judge it by the image. Any seasoned off-roader (even though I am not) can tell you, you can’t judge an off-road obstacle without standing there in person. Photographs can flatten the image in ways you can’t imagine.
So it was time to put the new lessons into practice. Yesterday I decided to take the bull by the horn, succeed or fail in the process. As we reached the office, I found one of my engineers (Uday) at his desk. Uday wasn’t working, we don’t work weekends unless there is real emergency. He was watching a DVD, we don’t have much in the name of entertainment around these parts. So I called him to join us as the sole audience and videographer.
After looking at the incline for last time, I decided to use 2nd low to get a good mix of torque and speed.
Coming towards the incline. Ready to take on the personal demon. You can see the tracks made by GV in March. Here we go. Almost there, loose mud at the ridge, wheels spinning, mud flying… Then I get through with little drama. Hurrey! Now I turn around, time to descend. I decide to stick to 2nd low since it gives decent descent control.
Here are the videos:
It was almost an anticlimax. The CJ340 took on the incline so easily, I didn’t know what to say.
Now my wife wanted to ride shot-gun.
This time it was easier, no spinning of wheels. Now I gave the same trip to the offroad newbie Uday. He was quite petrified at the experience, it took him good 30 minutes before he admitted it could be fun.
Later I wanted to try the smaller hill which GV always climbed without failure. In GV I had to climb it with good speed to compensate for low-end torque. Today I wanted to try it slowly with the Jeep. Guess what, low-torque is not the answer for everything. CJ340 got stuck spinning the wheels, I had to backup. Next I tried with 3rd low, and I got through in style.
While trying to climb the last one, we had to stop because Uday spotted a snake in my path. Since my dSLR was packed away, I took this using the Ultra-compact P&S.
It didn’t want to hang around too long to watch the off-roading. Since the Sun is usually absent these days, and the grass is all wet due to constant rains, it is common to see snakes in the open in daylight.
So that was a successful end to this story. The incline that convinced me to buy the Jeep was finally conquered by the CJ340, in the very first attempt, and the next and next…
PS: The day was still young, and this is what we did next:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...s-part-ii.html