Blanca Peak and Black Bear Pass Fatalities

RE: BLACK BEAR INCIDENT.

I was just up there and read about this up> Our local Jeep Club, the Creeper Jeepers of Durango, CO, sponsors the Black

Good possibility.

attempted the trek in some heavy rain according to the rag I read. <

Afternoon monsoon rains were fairly heavy last week, so that probably was a factor. The spot where they went off is right after some rocky ledges that lead down to the traverse across the falls and then down to the final switchbacks into Pandora. Compared to what's to come on the trail, that spot is fairly wide & flat, but still requires a 3 point turn.

The folks were from Missouri, not sure what kind of rig they were driving. Locals said they weren't belted in, however the Jeep basically disintegrated on the way down, unlikely belts would have helped.

This incident has an eerie connotation for me. The first time I did Black Bear, at the first switchback past the falls I snapped the left front brake line on my YJ and had to descend with a tiny bit of rear braking and the emergency brake. I got it down to town ok. However, it required several beers before the tow truck arrived.

Forgive my ignorance, but under what conditions should the ABS be disconnected, and how?

First you should not assume that ABS was involved if you don't know what specific Jeep was being driven, eh, Bill?

Nah, they probably had a TJ with a factory rear 44. No ABS then.

If he saw the turn, if he didn't panic, if he wasn't high, if ...

So, it wasn't suicide!

benito -

happens? They unbelted and prepared to jump but it was too late, they had bought the farm. >

There's a very steep descent along Ingram creek with some serious ledges that runs to the spot where they went off. You should be crawling right at the spot of the turn and there's a generous amount of room (compared to what's coming further on) to do a 3 point turn and head down the trails, over the creek and on to the next switchback, which is very tight and narrow. The only thought I had is that they either were panicked and simply lost it, or tried to make the turn in one pass, rather than backing up. I hadn't thought about the possibility they may have unbelted to try and bail out.

It would be interesting and educational to find out if the Jeep did indeed have ABS or not.

I have seen Jeeps coming down tight ravine switchbacks and if the tree wasn't there to stop them, well.....

The same TJ did the same run later with both ABS fuses pulled and managed to stop fine to do the 3 point.

I know it isn't supposed to work at slow speeds, but if you are coming faster than the cut off and they turn on, they stay on or some just always come on.

Mike

LIKE I SAID, if it was a TJ with a Dana 44 then it did NOT have ABS.

Of course, this is all semantics since we don't yet know what flavor of Wrangler they were in.