Lol, sorry if I hit a soft spot. You made a statement in direct refute of one I agreed with, so I thought I would defend it. I guess you have to come to terms somehow that 33-35" tires and a locker are pretty routine these days, and really that’s all most rigs need to do Pritchett provided you have some experience. The days of a CJ7 on 33's and lockers being "extreme" are in the past.
Once you've done Pritchett, how hard does PSM seem? I mean, this isn't school on Sunday man, but somebody had to point out a simple logical answer to why Pritchett doesn't really blow some people's skirt up. Don't get mad at me for picking at your argument when it wasn't made properly, because trust me, I do it to everyone and it's never personal. If Pritchett still gives you that funny feeling down low like you just road Puff the Magic Dragon for the very first time, that’s awesome and there is neither harm nor shame in that. But don't feel slighted because I pointed out how and why some people don't get too worked up in their britches over Pritchett. It wasn't meant as a shot at you.
I'm not above saying that I may be the disillusioned however. I used to spend 75+ days a year down there (I'm down to about 50 days wheelin, but maybe only 60% of that is Moab these days) and other than the ZJ/WJ crowd the majority of the people I wheel with have/had buggies or some sort of advanced rig. I've witnessed first hand the volume of people that have rigs that are far and away more advanced than 10 years ago which I attribute 100% to the influence of competitive rockcrawling. You don't have to 'know' a competitor to see the influence competitive rockcrawling has had on our hobby/sport.....but again, school on sunday right?
As for the 30 minute Pritchett run, that’s no exaggeration. I have witnesses, and I had a copilot. I was running a steering box to Wally from GJ who broke his sector shaft on Rockpile. I ran out, trailered up, pulled the steering box myself from Moab Austin's very own YJ, and made it back to rockpile in 2.5 hours. Ok, so I exaggerated. It was just to RP. Add the 8 seconds it takes to drive RP and maybe another 60 seconds to get to the top of yellow hill
I could also do the 18 mile exit road in about 25 minutes with no traffic. I always wanted to try and go parking area to highway in under an hour, but it was always a PITA to shuttle a tow rig back to the exit point to pick up my rig so I would just turn around at the top of RP and head back.
But, I'm not tooting my own horn like I'm hardcore because I know I'm not. It was merely an event manufactured by circumstance and the fact that we wanted off the trail fast so we could go drink beer back at camp. I never leave anyone behind on a trail and I love beer. I had to help solve one problem so I could get started on my other.
Again, no personal attack intended. We all just want to wheel, and it doesn't matter what it is you wheel, or where you do it as long as it's safe, legal, and not manufactured by Suzuki.
edit: sorry for being so wordy. I get typing and forget that nobody really cares to read that junk. I guess I'm lucky I type fast or I'd waste my entire day being a jerk on the internets.