The Truck Got Stuck (Hardwear Sessions)

More Photos from Will & Cory's big adventure

By Will Meinen

When a couple of New England athletes came to the Rockies for a Mountain Hardwear Photo Shoot, photographer Cory Richards asked me if I would rope gun for a day and help him set up his riggings. Although it's more glamorous to be the subject in photos, someone also has to be the behind-the-scenes man to help prep the stage (so to speak).

Over some pints Cory and I discussed different climbs in hopes of finding something worthy of Freddie and company. We eventually decided on Hydrophobia. It's long, sustained, remote, dramatic, and exposed. It had all the ingredients we were looking for.

"Do you want me to drive?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it," Cory said. "We'll take my truck."

I always end up driving into the ghost because most of my partners don't have suitable vehicles so I figured it would be a nice change to be the passenger for once.

When we met in the morning and I started loading gear into Cory's Isuzu, I noticed that 3 of his four tires were pretty bald, and the vehicle clearance was not as high as I had hoped. I looked over at my Toyota with a Warn winch on the front bumper, oversized tires with plenty of tread, and I thought about suggesting that we use my vehicle. However, with the price of gas these days and the wear and tear that comes from 4x4ing in the Ghost Valley I bit my tongue, jumped in Cory's Isuzu and hit the road. With tunes filling the cabin, we sipped on our morning coffees, and chatted about future climbing plans. When we arrived to the access road, Cory dropped the Isuzu into 4-wheel drive and the fun started.

Bouncing around in our seats with everything else in the SUV, we dodged rocks, splashed through puddles, and crawled up hills. Eventually we crossed the river and headed for the big hill. Progress was going good until we lost momentum and came to a stop. Cory reversed, but the SUV came out of the tracks and we got stuck even worse. There was no going forward, and no going backwards. It was time to get out and dig.

"Where are your shovels, Cory?" I asked.

"I didn't bring any.." he bashfully replied. "Maybe we can use our helmets?"

An hour later we still couldn't get the Isuzu to move. We had to get creative. We grabbed some static lines and rigged a 4 to 1 pulley as an impromptu winch, we used ski poles and skis for impromptu shovels. And the SUV still wouldn't move. We put branches under some tires, old ropes under other tires, and a backpack under another tire. As I pushed Cory gassed it only to melt the snow into ice making it worse.

In a moment of desperation Cory took out his ice tools and began to chop the ice under the tires. I got my camera and took pictures. Sure enough, Cory swung too close and punctured the only tire with tread left on it. Cory screamed and I laughed.

Cory uses the ice axe on the tire.

7 hours later we had the flat tire changed, the underside of the truck completely dug out, and the Isuzu had traction. Cory handed me the keys in fear of getting us stuck again. I put the vehicle in reverse and gunned it backwards for a mile until the road was wide enough to turn around. I turned the vehicle around and headed straight back to pub in Canmore.