You guys hang here while Brian and I head over to that other hill, I said, not thinking this section of the trail was going to be very tough. Motor Trend staff shooter Brian Vance and I drove down from our mountaintop into the ravine below, toward the ridge trail across the valley. In my defense, I should say it didn't look difficult from the driver's seat. Of course, it never does.
The hillclimb trail started innocently enough, looking like a typical rutted trail, bending slightly to the right at the crest, then straddling a narrow ridge to the hilltop. I knew we needed to stay to the left for better traction, but there was a steep drop-off. Both sides of the trail fell off sharply into nasty ravines--loose rocks and jagged shards waiting to slice sidewalls or grab a tire to start a nasty rollover. I must say I was calm as we started the ascent in our Grand Cherokee, with all the Quadra-Drive II bells and whistles. In fact, the vehicle did a great job getting traction to all four wheels at the start.
My problem was not taking the correct line, darting a few feet too many to the right than I should have, dipping both right tires into some loose blowdust. The almost imperceptible tireslip allowed the front end to slide toward the ravine, shifting into a bad sidehill position. Brian sounded calm (I know I wasn't) when he asked, "What are you doing?"
"I think I'm going to stop right here," I said, easing off the throttle. "You might want to get out now," I offered, knowing that losing a little downhill ballast might not be a bad idea. Since there was no way to prevent this vehicle from going downhill, our only option was to get stuck in a position that might make it easier to get unstuck. Naturally, keeping it off its lid was going to be a key part of the plan. With a few controlled wheelspins headed up the hill (wheel cranked left, full lock) from the Hemi and a healthy dose of downhill throttle in Reverse (wheel cranked right, full lock), I had the G.C. off the sidehill and pointed straight backwards at the 20-foot dropoff to the dry riverbed below.
I was pretty sure that worried the staff onlookers, as they seemed to be scrambling for first-aid kits, tow straps, and cover from the impending explosion. Fortunately, the brakes and tire tread held the weight of the vehicle before it went over, with its tow hooks pointed to the trail. This came in handy as we called the Ram Power Wagon to the rescue, spooling out about 60 feet of winch cable.
Pulling it up and over the hill had us back on our way in plenty of time to get to the day's sunset photo location. I count this as a particular triumph, because photographers can get grumpy when you prevent them from taking pictures at sunset. On the plus side, we were able to get a nice sequence of sidehill driving you can see in our second annual Ultimate 4x4 Challenge six-way off-road competition. It's not an exaggeration to say every one of these vehicles did amazing things on our four-day, three-night desert adventure--sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.