Rockcrawling in Montrose, CO with Stagewest 4 Wheel Drive Center

By P. Snider

For some people "die trying" is a trite cliché, but for the people at Stage West 4x4 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, it is a way of life. North-northwest of Montrose, Colorado, you find dry washes with names like Calamity Canyon, Die Trying, and Cactus Ridge.

On September 4, 1999, I was invited to join the crew from Stage West for a little rock crawling. In the past, I have done some four wheeling but never any rock crawling so I thought it was time to find out what the attraction was. Thanks to Joel, Joe, and Clint, I now have an idea of the fun that can be had by speeding up a boulder strewn dry wash at a blistering .2 miles per hour. (yes that is a two with a decimal in front of it)

On the morning of September 4th, we started up Die Trying and it wasn't long before things started to happen. Joel's jeep, a 93 YJ Wrangler with a Black Diamond coil spring conversion, broke a left front axle, bent a tie rod, lost brake fluid, and punctured a right rear tire on the second large obstacle in the wash. Joe's jeep, a 95 YJ Wrangler with a front spring over and rear spring under, broke a left front U-joint, which blew shrapnel through his radiator, on the third obstacle. Clint, who drives a 72 red, white, blue, and yellow (the man has no sense of color) Ford Bronco with a Stage West custom built coil suspension system, put a larger hole in his gas tank than what he already had on the first obstacle trying to regress from the wash.

Thanks to some competitors, friends, and all around nice guys and gals from a shop in Colorado Springs who found themselves in the same general vicinity doing the same thing on the same weekend, Joel was able to take a spare front axle that Joe had with him and fix his broken axle that evening. Joe fixed his broken U-joint on the spot before leaving the wash but the radiator took a lot more work that evening. Clint plugged his leak or at least slowed it to a trickle using tire plugs.

I always try to learn some thing new and this trip was no exception. Did you know that tire plugs can be used as a temporary patch on a gas tank but soap is a natural quick fix for a gas tank leak. It seems some kind of chemical reaction between the soap and the gasoline forms a pretty good temporary bonding agent. Tire plugs are not advised because they are a petroleum product and gasoline tends to dissolve them across time. I also learned that antifreeze can be used as a temporary substitute for brake fluid but it has to be a non- petroleum based product because petroleum based products will interact with the rubber seals in a brake system.

After repairs, we found ourselves back at it on Sunday but Joe chose to act as a spotter instead of driving. Joel and Clint decided to try a different wash and so we soon found ourselves slowly moving up Cactus Ridge. To our pleasure, Joe's spotting skills and Joel's and Clint's driving skills proved adequate to conquer Cactus Ridge. It took about four hours to come out the top of the wash but we stopped to enjoy nature and to let the vehicles cool off twice going up. No breakages occurred during this excursion but I have a piece of advice for anyone interested in this sport. If you are going to play you had better have the tools, a good spare parts chest, some mechanical skills, and a little driving ability to go with a well-equipped vehicle.

A little birdie told me that the crew from Colorado Springs took about eleven hours to do Die Trying on Sunday. Yes, they too suffered a few breakages along the way.

I will be back to join the gentlemen from Stage West. It was exciting to be doing something I had never done before and it was fun to be outdoors without the hustle of the big city to drive me nuts.