The very next day Shawn and I packed up some light camping supplies in
the Lada and convinced my wife Steph to “go 4x4-ing” something she had
previously enjoyed in Shawn’s old 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck, I think she
was still skeptical of the Niva but agreed.
We had selected a modest test area, since there was no second vehicle
to assist in recovery if something went wrong, a short 30 minute drive
delivered us to the area. Shawn and I had hiked the area on foot during the
fall and knew that there wouldn’t be anything damaging hidden under the 12
inches of snow that had accumulated since. We arrived on the access road without
much issue, aside from having to run with the windows open at -15 degree
Celsius due to the fuel smell, and being limited to 90-100 km/h top speed. At
one spot we missed our road and Shawn elected to make a 3 point turn, but the
road was a bit slippery and the shoulder dropped away as the front wheels
touched it. We were actually stuck, I dismounted and pushed while Shawn rocked
the Lada rearward, 20 seconds later we were free and rolling along again.
Soon we reached our chosen trail and Shawn selected low range and began
to climb the snow bank into the woods. The snow underfoot was hard packed and
took considerable effort to move through, keeping the wheels spinning and the
engine RPM high was key, but the Lada performed very well. Before long we had
arrived at our campsite and gave the Niva a quick inspection
Nothing appeared to be out of place, the new differential mount was
holding and aside from an un-located engine oil drip we were looking good.
Assured the vehicle was good, we left the doors open to help air out
the obnoxious fuel smell, and set to having a bit of food. We had a roaring campfire
going in no time and were roasting hotdogs on hand cut sticks. Hanging from a
forked branch was my 1L “Billy Can” that provided us with boiling water for hot
chocolate, served in tin mugs. As the sun began to settle and the temperature
dropped, we mounted back up in the Lada and made our way out.
We were a little surprised to find out after tearing around in the snow
that Shawn had forgotten to engage the center differential lock, being used to
truck 4x4 systems it is understandable.
Still we were quite surprised with the capabilities of the Lada, even in stock
form. Aside from the very brief ditch
incident we never needed to exit the vehicle and it got us where we wanted to
go. In the end Steph enjoyed herself too and seemed interested to go again.
After a review of the way the Niva worked, Shawn and I began to draft a
list of what to tackle next, and that takes us to our next article…
