Chad,

Had a similar experience with my 84 Westy, with just plain snow tires in
back.  This was a few years ago, but drove to northern Michigan for a ski
weekend, with three cars / trucks behind me (part of our group).  This was
before Cell Phones, and they were having a devil of a time keeping up with
my Westy!!! When we pulled over for gas, they were yelling at me to Slow
Down.  My Westy plowed through the hard pack snow covered 2 lanes.

Well, this is a trip of the past, as I do not intend to do this after
sinking so much into my body restore.  I store it now during the winters,
and take my Subaru or Volvo XC on ski trips.  Not as much room, or as much
fun, but my Westy is safe and warm in its garage!

Jack R.
84 Westy Wolfy,
N. of Detroit

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Chad Lyles
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 9:41 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: SNOW CALL

Hello everyone,

We went on a short trip to the mountains (bagby hot springs)  this
weekend... encountered about 64inches of snow, and about 3000 ft elevation
change with only wire chains on the rear (i'm not condoning driving under
such conditions nor gloating about my sever and potentially hazardous lack
of foresight) BUT, i am so impressed with my "no frills GL"!!! dont get me
wrong it was quite frightening, (mainly because i didnt even check the
weather report) and we were kinda stuck in a one way route. but thats not
the point of the story... the point is that vanagons are BEASTS... i couldnt
believe it! handles great in hard snow pack, slush, and on ice! the only
time trouble arose was when we missed a turn and tried to turn around and we
got high sided... we got stuck... for a long time... but a nice fellow in a
4x4 toyota pulled us free... we continued on to the site.. where we ran into
some vanagon lovers who were beside them selves when they saw my little
hop-a-long GL roll up through a few feet of snow!
moral of the story is .. ALWAYS check the weather and road conditions before
you head out! Hoppy is a CHAMPION!

--
Chad~
84gl "Hop-a-long"