Mission Reports: Switzerland Bronco

Sunday the 11^th a Team from Colorado 4×4 Rescue and Recovery went up to the far north end of the Switzerland Trail to pull a Bronco back on the road that lost traction trying to turn around.

The trail in question is USFS Route 93.  It is in the vicinity of 460.1 and 461.1.  At the intersection of 93 and 461.1, there is a dead-end sign which most people believe to be false due to GPS apps stating the road goes through.

While it previously used to connect back to Sawmill road, we assure you it does not.  We have performed dozens of recoveries at this exact spot, and there have been quite a few rollovers too.  Some of which we’ve had to leave for wreckers to pull from the county road above.

As you drive down this road, it gets narrower and narrower, until all of a sudden the road disappears into a huge rock garden with a 100 foot climb to the county road.  Impassable by virtually everything due to the steepness and size of the boulders.

Once on scene yesterday, the team worked on rigging up a redirect pull with mechanical advantage.  This not only makes it easier on the pulling vehicle but shares the recovery load with the surrounding trees.  The trees tend to not have much bite into the earth here as the terrain just doesn’t allow for good root depth.  We’ve had trees lean over before trying to pull vehicles back onto the road.

After about 1 hour on scene, the vehicle was rigged, recovered, gear packed away, and the team headed down the mountain.

If you get yourself caught in a similar situation of sliding off the edge of a road, do what this vehicle owner did and STOP.  You are not going to make it back onto the road under your own power.  You will continue to slide off making the situation worse, potentially causing body damage to your vehicle, and worse yet, you can roll over if the edge of the road is steep enough.

Colorado 4×4 Rescue and Recovery

We Recover the Rockies