Nothing Ventured

All photos copyrighted

These Land Rovers are great little rigs and a hoot to use as a daily driver around the big city. But where their abilities really shine is out in the rough stuff, climbing over rocks, swimming through water and getting buried in the snow and mud. To really find their limits though, sometimes you have to be willing to throw caution to the wind (I'm not saying be stupid though), just say "What the hell", and plunge right in. Sometimes you are the hero, but more often than not, you've got… well, mud on your face. But that's all part of the fun, isn't it? I mean, if you are not getting stuck on occasion, you just are not trying hard enough. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Luckily, none of our little gang shies away from a good challenge and when we can we like to put our trucks though their paces during the different seasons here in Canada, although water still plays a predominate role in our exploits. There are no "Trailer Queens" here as you can tell from the following photos.

During a February outing to Prince Edward County on the shore of Lake Ontario, Mark Newman scouts the trail ahead. Unfortunately, some obstacles are too much even for the mighty Land Rover. Now where did we put those bridging ladders?

While playing silly buggers out on the frozen wastes of Lake Ontario, Larry Berti takes the opportunity to get a little arctic water skiing in. Now before you go thinking we are totally mad, I should tell you that the ice was 6 - 8 inches thick and that the water was only about a foot deep.

Simon Schofield and friends ponder their predicament as they await rescue after over staying their welcome at an old, abandoned quarry near Cambridge, Ontario.

As you may have noticed from some of the other photos on these pages, Tom Tollefson has a real affinity for taking his Land Rovers wading. On a recent cross-country trip, deep in the heart of British Columbia, Tom came across this here river. Thinking he would just ease in to wash some of the mud off the 101, Tom misjudged slightly and before he could retreat, the current swung the rear of the Land Rover around into the fast flowing river where Tom and the 101 were unceremoniously washed down river. They hadn't gone too far when the 101 ran aground on a large submersed rock, trapping Tom in the middle of the river. To get to shore, Tom had to tie two empty jerry cans together for flotation and then swim for it, but not before snapping this impressive photo. It wasn't till the next day that he was able to locate a tow truck willing to drive down to the river and tow the 101 out (after Tom swam back with the cable). A full day of drying things out and changing all the oils and the 101 fired back to life and carried Tom the remaining 10,000 km to complete his trip.

Photo by Tom Tollefson

In a rare appearance on the other side of the camera, Brett Storey shows that he is not immune to the unforgiving gription of the mud.

Photo by Larry Berti.

Driving Tom Tollefson's long suffering 109, the Duck, Dave Lowe displays enthusiasm and perseverance while trying to get through a hard packed snow drift at the club farm just north of Toronto one sunny Sunday afternoon.

Jay Kirkpatrick enjoys his elevated position while being ferried across Gull Pond by Nigel Howard in his Lightweight.

It would seem that Nigel Howard has been friends with Tom Tollefson for too many years now and is picking up some of his bad habits, chiefly that of sinking Land Rovers. Nigel's crew was less than amused.

While Tom Tollefson has his technique down for sinking Land Rovers, every once in a while he nails the bow wave just right and gets through in fine fashion.

John Taylor shows that you don't have to have a fully kitted out Disco to employ the Camel Trophy technique when it comes to mud bogs. 2a's do just as well.

After a failed hill climb, Tom Tollefson finds he has backed the "Duck" into a position to see if the maximum side angle of the Land Rover really is 45 deg.

The combination of loose rocks, ice and water prove too much for even the mighty 101 as Tom Tollefson found out while playing in Prince Edward County on the shore of Lake Ontario one cold January day.

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