The Great White North
Photos by Brett Storey
All photos copyrighted
Summer is a great time for playing with your Land Rover but here in Canada we have to deal with a long cold winter as well. While it may be a bugger to work on the beasts out in the snow, it can sure be a blast to drive them.
Some of the more active members of the Toronto Area Rover Club used to meet regularly at an old farm north of the city, and just because it was cold and snowy was certainly no reason to call off these meetings during the winter months.
Every month you could find the usual suspects flying across frozen fields and crashing through hard packed snow drifts, then later gathering around a bon fire trying to dry out and get warm. Now those were some fun times. Unfortunately, we no longer have access to that farm but the memories will live on for years to come.
The following are a few are a of those memories "frozen" in time.
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The Lightweight driven by Alistair Lowe creates an impressive bow wave in the deep snow. At least with snow there is much less chance of stalling the engine compared to wading in deep water but it is easier to get stuck. This picture graced the cover of Land Rover Owner International in April 1993.
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Dave Lowe discusses the situation with son Alistair after the Lightweight lost momentum and bogged in the snow. Eventually so much snow builds up in front of and under the Rovers that forward progress becomes all but impossible.
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After taking Tom Tollefson's 109 for a spin around the fields, Dave Lowe managed to get it well and truly stuck in a hard packed snow drift. Getting little sympathy from any onlookers and very few offers of help, Dave decided to pull the heavy 109 out with his own brute force… with predictable results.
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A impromptu group photo of regular attendees to some of these cold winter meetings. We always seemed to have bigger turn outs in the summer months.
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Tom Tollefson and Jay Kirkpatrick power their way through the hard packed snow in Quasimodo, Tom's well used and abused 88. It's amazing what a set of tire chains and a bit of speed can do when it comes to conquering some obstacles.
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Hardtop! We don't need no stinking hardtop! Tom Tollefson braves the elements in his faithful topless stead Quasimodo.
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Even with Quasimodo wearing snow chains on all four tires, Tom Tollefson and sister Joanne can not push their way through this hard packed snow drift. After repeated tries, they were forced to find an alternative route around.