Spring 2022- Welcome to the blank show

[Slatco]

Well, as promised I said I would elaborate on my video.... It was quite the ordeal this year.

First trip out to the mine was planned for early May. Usually there is still snow in there and I went in with the expectation of having to plow out my minesite. Coming in with me in May was a buddy and another guy pulling a trailer with the excavator undercarriage on it. For the last 5 yrs there has been active logging activity in the are which meant most of the access roads up to my claim were plowed throughout the winter. This year I was a bit surprised as the road plowing stopped at 5kms from my claim! The snow looked to be about 1-2 ft deep and I knew I was not turning around and going home after driving 13hrs to get there so I put the truck in 4L and pinned it. I made it about 100yds and then became stuck on the road. To make matters worse, I ran over a fallen tree that was buried underneath the snow and punctured the sidewall on the drivers side tire... (One machine down and out)

At this point it was still daylight (around 5pm) so I taped up my pants to my boots and started hiking into the claim with the intention of getting the backhoe running and plowing back to the truck. My buddy is a big guy with a pacemaker so I left him at the truck. (Other guy bringing in undercarriage was not there yet). It took me a little over 2 hrs to get down to my minesite and in the creek bottom the snow was sometimes over knee deep (I was stuck on East side of creek and my mine site is on the West). Once at my minesite I got in my backhoe and crossed my fingers and hoped it would start after sitting for eight months in freezing temps. This was the only time the mining goods were actually on my side this trip as the backhoe started right away. Once the backhoe had warmed up, I started the big push back. I made it to the creek (always longer than expected) and evaluated my options. There is a log bridge that one of the other miners had put in that is normally the way across but I was hesitant to use it with all the snow load on top of it. I decided to cross the creek which was running in places and iced over in others. This turned out to be a mistake as when I attempted to climb onto the iced bank on the far side, I ended up knocking one of the front tires off the rim. I was now stuck half in/half out of the creek with the backhoe with a tire off the rim (2nd machine down and out).

By this time it was starting to get dark so I hiked the km from the creek back to my minesite and fired up the wheel loader to drive it out. The wheel loader has chinese tires on it that are like hockey pucks when cold so I did not make it very far. I couldn't climb the hills out of my minesite without spinning out. I was getting pretty frustrated by now so turned the loader around after a couple hundred yards and went back to the mine site. I guessed that my buddy I left at the truck was starting to worry as I had been gone 4hrs but I had no way to let him know I was ok (we have remedied that issue with radios in all vehicles now). My only option left was the excavator so I started it up and started to walk it out. I made it about 400yds and then lost all drive power. I had blown a hydraulic hose going to one of the final drives! The excavator was now stuck on the trail.. (third machine down and out) . With no other options left I started the walk back to where my truck was stuck and huffing and puffing I arrived to a very happy buddy at about 1am. I climbed into the driver seat, cranked the heat and leaned the seat back as far as I could. I poured a very stiff rum and told my buddy about the ordeal. As we were discussing, I noticed the headlights of the other guy (coming in with dually and trailer with undercarriage), I jumped out and started waving frantically for him to stop but it was too late. He drive as far as he could and then got the truck and trailer stuck (4th machine down and out). He walked the rest of the way and I told him the situation and we just shook our heads and wondered why we bothered this early in the season (gold fever anyone?). Exhausted, I got into my sleeping bag in a driving position and slept upright with the bag over my head (there was too much gear to unload from the back and it had started to rain by this time).

To be continued.....

[Jim_Alaska]

Yeah, but did you have fun?

[chickenminer]

Oh man....
I think we can all commiserate with you! Some years nothing seems to go right from the beginning.

[Geowizard]

Slatco,

I can relate to similar early start-ups! Ambition often gets in the way of good common sense. Old man winter is unyielding! Eventually, I learned that there is a time when things work as expected and equipment works as expected. Your story about tires getting bumped off the wheels remined me of the same events when wheels get in a rut in the ice and steering out of the rut - only to break the bead and ending up pulling a flat tire and wheel off, in the ice and snow and water. It happens fast!

- Geowizard

[Slatco]

Thanks for the comments guys. Jim you asked the question if I was having fun? Well, at the time no but the next morning I was ready to tackle the problems (I actually slept pretty good behind the steering wheel with the sleeping bag over my head) and 12 hrs later, yes I was having fun.

The 2nd guy who had came in with the truck trailer was able to come with me on the hike into the minesite. We walked in which was a bit easier as I had broken trail the night previous. We took a Milwaukee 18V battery with their small invertor and with that was able to power up the sat internet to let the wives know we were ok. At the minesite we grabbed ether and a air compressor and hiked back to the creek where the backhoe was stuck. We were able to get the tire reseated and air'd up and the backhoe out. Took most of the morning but was able to plow back to where the trucks were stuck. Hooked onto my truck and then pulled it forward onto the plowed area. Changed the tire and then drove it to the parking area at the minesite (at this time my access road in the video was not completed so access was heavy equipment or ATV only). Took the back hoe back to where the truck and trailer were stuck and yanked it out. Towed it back to where the loggers had plowed (the truck was a dually which is wider than my backhoe bucket so we did not want to have to make the rd wider just to bring in the dually. Loaded the undercarriage into the backhoe and took it to the far parking lot (several trips over several kms). We then loaded all the gear we could on the backhoe along with 3 guys in the cab lol and head into the minesite. We made it to where the excavator was blocking the trail. Parked there and then one of the guys ran into site and grabbed the loader. Brought the loader up to the excavator and then sherpa style transfered all the gear from the backhoe to the loader. Made it into the minesite finally with sleeping gear and food. Built a big ass fire, cooked some bacon and then crashed hard. The next day we would tackle the excavator.

We ended up having a spare hose but this job was still a major pain in the ass as the snow was melting and creating runoff channels where we had to lay to take off belly pans and fish the new hose through. Of course we did not have enough spare hydraulic oil so we had to siphon out of the shaker deck and other pieces of equipment to get enough for the track hoe. We finally did it and go the machine into the minesite. The rest of the day was spent bringing in the undercarraige to site in multiple trips with the backhoe.

Since this was just a quick 4 day trip, time was now up. Packed up gear and left early on the last day for a 14hr drive. Looking back, we really did not accomplish anything other than a whole bunch of aggravation as the next trip was not until June when the snow was gone. Oh well, that's mining.

[Jim_Alaska]

Thanks for the blow-by-blow description of your early trip to the mine. For miners and some others, life in the north can, and usually is an adventure. The work, difficulties, mistakes and accidents all go with the territory. The discouraging part is with all the work involved, there is no payday cleanup at the end. Hopefully, all you went through on this early trip will result in a better payday further in the season.

Your story was interesting in that, I could almost identify with each problem and solution as they unfolded. There have been times in my life where I just had to suck it up and push forward regardless of the effort and expense, whether they be monetary of physical. Not any more though; I am old enough and stove up enough that I know better than to even think of getting myself into any kind of situation like you described. Some of my more memorable adventures and experiences even involved life threatening aspects, where a mistake or pushing just a bit too far could result in tragedy. And sometimes even the simplest tasks could escalate into this sort of situation.

I hope all your efforts and work pan out for you this coming summer.