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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
The coming together of the Penticton and Kelowna groups at Lebanon Lake.
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
The first climb already proved a deep and narrow passage.
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
4WheelBC group at Lebanon Lake
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
Substandard snow required momentum to move on the final push to the top of Radiation Road.
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
The Jeep crew making ready.
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
Victory! The whole group made it to the top of Tower hill, overlooking Okanagan Valley socked in with fog.
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Bryan Irons & Tim Diebert photos
Story and photos by Bryan Irons, additional photos by Tim Diebert
How many occurrences of an event have to happen before it becomes “tradition”? This is my third year attending the Okanagan Hangover Run on New Year ’s Day of 2014 and I think it’s becoming a tradition for me. The plan, in a nut shell, is the same every year. Penticton and Kelowna crews join up at the Lebanon Lake Recreation site in the early morning outside of Kelowna, BC. From there, we attempt to ascend through the snow to a local radio tower via a trail dubbed Radiation Road. Past hangover runs have been foiled for a number of reasons, but like a new year’s resolution, the attempt is made every year.
I started the morning with the Kelowna group as we trudged through the white stuff to meet up with the Penticton sector. Twelve vehicles total this year made it to the event. Tire sizes hovered around the 35-inch range with most of us equipped with lockers. The quality of snow was not to our advantage; “sugar snow” as the locals call it.
We had two hills of pain where you either needed power, or lockers. Low tire air pressure was a MUST and I don't think anyone was above 10-pounds by half day. I finally got fed up with the stiff sidewall of the new tires I had and dropped the pressure to 0.5 psi. Success!
The first major hurdle was to get to the top of the second to last summit of the trail. Substandard snow and ice coupled with narrow passages meant few attempts were made by most. Sam Davies cool yellow Hilux and Colin Trenker’s Jeep Grand Cherokee fought the hardest for victory. Sam kicked his trail mule hard enough to make it puke rad fluid at the top of the hill in protest. Uncle Jesse (Tim Diebert) came out with his glaring vote of confidence in us by bringing his camera tripod out and plopping it in the middle of the trail. Like Gandalf yelling "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!" at the Balrog in Lord of the Rings. We all did, though.
Momentum carried us all to the last summit and the tower. Cold, icy, windy and victorious. For the first time in the short history of the run, we made it to our destination. A well choreographed photo op ensued and we all started to head back home.
Matt in his trail battered blue Jeep MJ actually struggled a little up the last hill. Is it wrong that I enjoyed watching Matt fight his way to the top? He normally makes everything look too easy, I hate that dam MJ. Colin lit up the canyon with the beautiful music of a wide open V-8 echoing though the burnt out forest. It sounded like one of the big block speed boats on the lake during summer. A few of us stragglers watched the bumper cars crawl back up from the radio tower in the warmth of the afternoon sun... suckers. By the time, it was our turn, the trail looked like a highways crew had sanded it and cut back a few branches.
All downhill from there, aired up, and home again. Thanks to the group at 4WheelBC.com for the great start to the year! I’ll be back for more.