Off-Roading Know-How

Part five - Steady As We Go

by David Bowyer

In this chapter David Bowyer covers driving techniques for slopes, ditches, gullies and soft ground.

There is always a certain amount of risk when driving off-road, but the greatest ones usually involve hillside slopes. Either travelling across, ascending or descending a hill at an angle is going to give a new dimension.

For safety's sake, the best advice is to avoid side slopes, especially steep or wet and slippery ones. If there's going to be a problem off-road, then it's nearly always going to be associated with hillside driving. Tackling a hillside either diagonally or, worse still, across it, must be the most dangerous.

Descending a steep, long, slippery hill, here momentum could take over, comes a close second. After all, once you have gone over the top you are committed.

I put ascending as the third most dangerous, on the basis that if you don't make the top, then it's not so far to come back down.

Let's first look at crossing a slope at right angles. Assuming that there is no alternative safer route to use, take a long look ahead, or walk it first to establish whether there are any hidden bumps, rocks or roots on the higher side, or dips on the lower side that could cause you a problem. All Land Rover vehicles are perfectly capable of being driven along a sideways slope up to quite a reasonable angle tilt. I expect you will bottle out well before the vehicle does.

Index [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] ]

(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006