Hard to add to what Bart said, other than Bart's teej and Chuck's YJ with waggy axles kicked arse and both those guys worked their butts off. It was a total group effort.
Contrary to what Riley said (though I can understand his perspective) just about any of you guys would have been an asset on that recovery, though with the nature of the trail and the hill, any more rigs would have turned it into a cluster muck, if you know what I mean.
Glad we got him out. He was nervous but stepped up and actually drove quite well. I've added my narrative that I posted to jeep-slc.
Thanks all!
They took some pics but haven't emailed them to me yet. I don't know if they will turn out.
I hit the sack at 2:12am. The scrambler is still sitting out on the trailer, caked with mud and crud.
That was a nasty freakin' hill. Bart and Chuck rule! Bart's winch rules! Super swamper SX's rule!
I tried to pull him up the hill, and got stuck. We had to back down and I got up to where I could winch him (strapped to a tree). We had to do a compound pull to get him around some trees, with Bart rigging the snatch block to different trees (winch in, spool out, reconnect, winch again). Once I got him up to me, Bart tied off at the top of the hill and we hooked all the straps together (3-4?) and then Bart pulled him up one strap length at a time. Meanwhile, I had to winch myself around (since I was hanging from a tree on a hill you could barely stand up on). I thought we were gonna have to winch Chuck up the hill too, but he aired down his KO's and made it up. Without his 2 straps (and efforts) we'd have been screwed. Bart's teej did an awesome job, very nicely built rig that he could just drive up there, kick ass, and then drive home. Chuck's worked great too...he just finished it and was heading to the snakes before he found out about the recovery.
We hooked up again at the top to pull him, what a wild freakin' ride. Ruts are your friend! Bart went up ahead to tell me what to expect, and Chuck stayed behind to help pull him back out if he got screwed up. There were still quite a few hills, one of them pretty nasty. Hammer down! After a while, the terrain mellowed and we unhooked. A few minutes later, he was stuck, and Chuck couldn't pull him. So we hooked up again and strapped him the rest of the way. Did I mention that SX's kick ass? Rutty, gloppy, sloppy snow covered deep snot clay mud.
Thanks Bart for letting Matt sleep in your reclined passenger seat!
Brett