Stranded MB ZETROS 4x4 - Grand Tour EXMO - Mud Free for the Truck, finally!

#zetros #vanlife #exmo
They still have the winch. It's a tough WARN winch, capable of pulling up to 18,000 pounds. But having a winch is no good if you can't anchor it anywhere, as the saying goes.
As the lieutenant failed to familiarize himself with the spare tire holder's workings, he couldn't manage to crank it down. He decides to unscrew the tire while it's still in position, hoping not to be crushed by it, relying on his reflexes. Meanwhile, for the past hour, Robin, the young scout rover, has been digging a large hole across the track, measuring 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters and 0.5 meters deep. The excavation amounts to 1.125 cubic meters of earth. During the short night, the lieutenant came up with the idea to bury the spare tire as a sort of an earth anchor. After all, it weighs 300 kilograms and has a diameter of about 1.4 meters. If buried deep enough, it should offer significant resistance for the winch. However, just getting it rolled forward over the hill from its position behind the truck requires the lieutenant to shovel a ramp; otherwise, the guys won't manage. The efforts of the past days have taken a toll on them. The loops of the recovery straps don't align precisely with the bottom of the tire when it falls into the pit. Under tension, the tire twists, causing the lifting strap to be on top. The soft sandy ground can't withstand the force, and the tire gets pulled out. Back to one says the lieutenant, starting all over again. The tire needs to be completely pulled out first, the loops repositioned, and more ramps need to be dug at the truck's front while placing boards underneath the tires. With God's help and after a long struggle, they will finally succeed in freeing the truck! 

To make things clear about this situation: It was really bad luck! We were trying to find a passage between 2 highland roads and an Icelandic Ranger advised us to drive there - by saying: "yes, it's possible on the track and this truck goes anywhere anyways.."
But track conditions became worse - as I stayed on this desolate way - I got stuck. The track WAS already in a devastation condition, I did stay on this track as I didn't want to off road it to pass the impassable part..
No signal for mobile phones - and nobody since 2 days around..! What was our options?
So we dug it out for 4 days and turned around..
Shovel and wood we brought back to the shelter plus a good amount of alcohol we deposited there..
I completely respect nature - in this case we just worked on a track that was destroyed before!
Btw: 250m ahead the track ended anyways at impassable rivers..

Meanwhile new Volcano eruptions will straighten things out anyway..

Btw to think about: In Iceland, they had strict rules against leaving the marked paths or going off-road. Which is good. But then, right next to those regulated trails, a mountain would just nonchalantly burp out millions of tons of lava, wiping out entire valleys! It makes me question the whole notion of proportionality – where's the fairness in that, I wonder.
And if that wasn't enough, I cannot help but think about emissions. They were always telling people to save fuel and be eco-friendly, yet at the same time, this volcano was belching out massive amounts of sulfur dioxide and CO2 into the stratosphere, causing darkness over the northern hemisphere. It was a real irony – talk about proportionality gone out the window!