We got SNOW!!!

Well damn, it's really starting to pile up now! Sure glad I braved the crowds yesterday and did some grocery shopping for my 88 year old father. (I didn't want him walking the couple blocks to Metrotown and slipping on some ice.) I think my Fiero will be parked for a few days now.

I'm sure a lot of us will be able to take some great pictures of our poor Fieros buried under a thick blanket of white stuff.

 

LOL, This kinda snow is the most fun to drive in.  Nigel was in his Fiero, I was in my 88, Chris was in his 4x4 Truck, friends were in a new VW Rabbit and a Honda Fit, we drove to Guildford did cookies and drifts in the back parking lot, then drove to the industrial area and went drifting around the deepest snow we could find, then went back up the hill from 176 back up to Guildford and went to the lower parking lot that has not been plowed so the snow was really deep. (Well about 20-30cms if you call that deep)  Chris managed several 4 wheel drifts in his truck.  I did some awesome figure 8's.   Some of the most fun was chasing each other from 160st up 104th Ave to 152nd Street.  We were the only ones actually doing the speed limit or a little over.   Man it was a blast, I honestly forgot how much fun was to go horsing around in a car in the snow.   I drove Lisa to work in Port Kells at 5:30am and just got home from picking her up.   There is an 18 wheeler that went over an embankment on 176 street, that has got the 176st area closed down.  At first all you can see is the trailer sticking out of the ditch and you don't see until you get pretty close up to it, that the Tractor is still attached and hanging over the embankment only being held up by the trailer that is stuck in the trees.  

I got all of this on Video, both in car video and other people with Cameras took video as well.   Just what I have here is about 1.3 gig and I think there is another 2 or 3 gig to be edited down. 

 

      Well I spoke too soon.   I made it 6ft.   Snow here is taller than the turn signals on my 88.  I may have good traction, but not good enough to use the car as a snow plow.   We are going to wait until day break and try to dig the car out.  However for the moment, she's not going anywhere. (The car or Lisa)   I'll post pics later.

Oh Video's all the raw videos from Yesterday are uploaded.  You can download the raw stuff or wait for the official video to get done.  Raw stuff is here.

http://captfiero.com/snowvids2008     The videos with "driving" in the title are just boring shots where I left the camera going on the mount.  Great if you want to check out the scenery.   However the better clips are labeled with what happens in them.  The Nigel spin-outs and Chris clipping the curb are on the same clip, and the one where I clip a curb is on another shot.  Don't worry I didn't hurt the suspension, just the steel rim and a bit of my pride got dented.

Sorry about the low light, this was taken well before dawn, we had un buried my 88GT but I kept getting high centered as the nose would push the snow.    The real reason for the pic, you see that black line beside the tree.   That is the 86SE and the other small block dot on the other side of the tree.  That is where my trailer is.  All of the cars here are in that type of complete covering.   

Well after a bit of digging, I got the 88 out.  Lots of rocking from 1st to Reverse and once I got it moving I was able to keep the tires spinning fast enough that it creaped out to the street.  Lisa and I just got home from some shopping.  Once we got out onto the main roads everything is fine.   However the wheel that I smacked yesterday is actully in worse shape than I thought, we took the highway into Langley and any speed over about 110kph the car has a nasty shimmy and at low speeds you can feel the wobble a bit.  Thankfully its just a 14" steel wheel and I'll get the tire re-mounted to a 14" high tech that I have kicking around.

You are one crazy man Dave:)...wonder if you will try today with all this new flake:)...

Just watching the news...another 15-20cm dropping now for today in addition to the 15-20cm we already have.  Saying that, my building is doing nothing for the hill my garage is on, so I am not chancing anything...so I would suggest why drive to Abby if you really don't have too, stay home and stay warm:).

My friend & I went out to play in the snow last night.  He's got a 240sx with these poor all season tires half worn, can't believe he managed!  Anyway we left around 12pm just as the snow started to fall and cruised out to various spots.

Most of the places are plowed quite regularily though unfortunately.  I had quite a bit of fun at what used to be the old Bby Costco.  Next was the big new Costco, ENOUGH FREAKIN SALT? damn there wasnt a spot of snow on their pavement but we drove around the parking lot anwyay unl a security guy chased us out lol

 We played at Brentwood Mall for awhile since it was nearby.  There was just barely enough snow to keep us sliding.  We then trekked over to the Marine Dr. Superstore but when we got there, to our surprise, it was BUSY!!! I couldn't believe it, there were probably 50 cars parked there?!  At 1AM!! Turns out they are open 24hrs for the holidays.  Good thing too cuz we stopped to get some munchies

Eventually, we hit up Lansdowne Mall in Richmond and wow, wide open lots with now smooth powder that been falling for the past few hours.  NICEEee   We had tonnes of fun there going all around the mall to the various lots.  By now we were starving so we had dinner at the 24hr Chinese restaurant there.  BTW Shopping carts, are AWESOME 'obstacles'.  We carefully placed them and used them to drift around and made our own AutoX type of rallys. 

After dinner we hit up the Home Depot by Bridgeport.  This was the highlight of the night.  Shopping carts, fresh powder, light poles, islands, PERFECT for a mini-rally!! We played there til about 430am when the snow was starting to really pick up.  I was getting worried about all the hills we had to go up to get home so we called it a night.

Here are some pics of the night, sorry didn't take more was too busy having fun!  I've got some video footage as well but it was pretty dark so theyre not that great.

BTW Adjustable Coil-Over suspension is freakin awesome!! I raised the rear to about 1-2" higher than stock and the front I put in rubber coil-spacers to get back to about stock height.  I had problems on Monday getting high-centered and this definately helps!  Tires are just cheap All Season M+S tires 195/70/14 i think. 

This is from a while back, the 13th. Local fun on the island I guess. But from what I have heard, there is alot more snow now than there was before I left to Calgary.

Looks like you had it a bit sideways.  Looks like it was fun to boot.

 

Well just a quick update here are the updated pics, I meant to post these before we left for Abby, but just ran out of time.

Note that little black spec in the middle, that is actually the passenger side door mirror.  The snow is level with the door. 

This is where my 85GT is suppose to be.  You can kinda see Lisa's 85 and my 87GT in the far background.  Lisa's 86 is just gone.  I have never seen snow this deep before.  

 

Just  quick shot of the road as I was coming home from McDonald's. Our street was so deep that even my stock height 88 was getting high centered if I stopped for more than a second.

       On a final note, Lisa and I just got home from Abby.  We counted over 7 cars, spun out or flipped upside down on the highway on our way out.  The stretch from 232nd all the way to Abby is pure ice.  In 4th gear at 2000 rpms, if I pressed the gas the rear tires would brake loose and we would drift sideways.   We spent a great deal of time about 100ft behind a snow plow doing only 40kph as he was doing a great job of cleaning the fresh snow away for us while we drove.   A few cars tried to get gutsy and pass the plow, only to find that when he hit a thick patch of snow, it would pound there car., from the wash from the blade.  Pretty crazy. 

The drive home was about the same ICE all over the place, the worst part is not knowing if you were on compacted snow, or wet pavement or straight ice.  Even if you could tell from the sound of the tires on the pavement. (snow is like sandpaper noise, wet is like static from a TV and Black Ice the tires go Silent)  You never knew how long it was going to last and when you were going to be riding the edge of insanity.  I was able to maintain about 80kph on the way home, chain smoking cigarettes and white knuckles all the way.    Sometimes knowing all to well how bad it can get, when things go wrong, makes driving it all the more nerve wracking.    Keep the tires straight, no sudden jerks on or off with the throttle and don't touch the brakes.  Pretty simple until you take in account the patches of built up snow that force the wheel to the right or left if you hit them. 

 

Dah I am just rambling.  I am just winding down.  I have to go back to  helping Lisa get the rest of the gifts under the tree for the morning.  Nigel let me know what time you are going to make it over.

Everyone else, have a Merry Christmas.

P.S.  If your home alone on Christmas and want to come hang out, we have a big family and friends dinner at hour house.   No one should be alone on Christmas.  ( I don't care what religion you are, its the spirit of Christmas we celebrate here, giving, sharing and caring) Its a time to let your friends know that you are glad they are in your lives.  The only thing we ask is that you bring something if you can to the dinner table.  (just about anything from a finger food plate at your local grocery store to something you made from stuff at home)    Feel free to show up any time after 11am.  Well start with the food around 5pm.  (beware the dinner TV is gonna be Star Trek and Stargate Atlantis.  The final 2 episodes including the Season Finale for Atlantis)