Last winter was my first season using tracks on my ATV. As I may have mentioned at the time, there was one day that I stuck the beast…not once, but twice mind you. The conditions were pretty extreme…12″ – 15″ of slush underneath 12″ – 15″ of fluffy snow.
My first approach at extracting the rig didn’t go as well as I thought it would prior to getting stuck. I thought I could use the same ice climbing screws that I use for anchoring my tent on windy days as an anchor point for my front mounted winch. However, given the weight of the iced up ATV and tent, it instead caused the screws to bend. Thankfully I was able to shovel and pack slush and snow to get myself out of the ice field. The whole incident prompted me to take a different approach in the future if I should find myself stuck once again.
The result was that earlier this spring I made myself what I’m calling a winch bar but this solution obvious presumes that you have a winch on your ATV or snowmobile. However, if you find yourself stuck on the ice in deep snow or slush, the winch won’t be much use unless it can be attached to an anchor point. A winch bar is a small device that can provide that anchor point. I constructed mine using 3/16” thick 1-1/2” x 1-1/2” x 24” long steel square stock. In the middle of the square stock I drilled a through hole to accommodate a shouldered eye bolt. To this bolt I attached a 6’ length of chain with an appropriate shackle. The other end of the chain was connected back to itself with another shackle to form a 6” loop so as to be able to attach my winch hook. In one end of the square stock, I drilled a hole and attached an 8’ length of parachute cord. All eye bolts, chains and shackles were constructed using materials rated between 1800 – 2000 pounds.
To use, simply drill a hole through the ice with an auger, attach the bar to the end of the winch cable, place the winch bar into the hole and tighten the winch cable to where the bar becomes blocked on the underside of the ice. Engage the winch and pull the vehicle towards the anchor point. By allowing the bar to drop away from the bottom of the ice and pulling the parachute cord, the bar teeter totters such that it can then be extracted from the hole by its end. Repeat the process as necessary to fully extricate the ATV or snowmobile from the slush field or deep snow.
Hopefully, I won’t need it but I’ll have it with me now just in case. For those using ATVs without tracks it would probably prove even more useful. Here’s a picture for those of you who may be interested in building one.
