Comments by "Helmuth Schultes" (@helmuthschultes9243) on "Now That's A PICKLE! - U-Turn On Edge Of Giant Cliff" video.

  1. Clearly best to avoid such situation, may be better to reverse back out, since clearly the driver was capable of precise reversing. Had similar circumstance once just not so right angle shaped faces, more like 60° slope down and near 75° slope up. Problem was having just driven down a steep rocky track came round a slight right bend to find about 100m length of track had slipped off the mountain side in a big rock and dirt slide. No way forward, and a tough and rocky steps and boulders, steep climb back where we, two Suzuki LD50 had just descended. Reversing would have been extremely testing. Turn around was however also more than seemed possible. However we both chose to try a U turn, not 3 point but more like 15 point turn. My Suzuki had a winch but first took to trying to climb the up embankment and short reverses to tyres just on drop off similar to this video. At one stage my vehicle was at tip over at a slant, had to step out, had open top with rooftop and doors removed, so door opening clear to around ankle level. Standing out on the gravel track I held up the Suzuki by the passenger seat, waiting for a person from the other Suzuki to come and do sideways rollover support. Continued in small increments to finally face the otherway, forward up slope. The other Suzuki was then going through same exercise but somehow had a slightly better patch of up slope, had no near rollover. We both battled up the rocky slope to a larger track up top. The whole exercise would have been impossible in any larger 4W as where we turned around the track was not much wider than the Suzuki was long. The super low 1st gear and diff ratio giving 56:1 reduction made the entire manoeuvre using the up embankment to assist possible. The climb back up the rocky part would have been hell in reverse though probably would also have succeeded. Any larger 4WD would have not made it impossible to turn around and the low 1st/reverse gearing of most 4WD could have made reversing also impossible due to bouncing on boulders and rock ledges. A perfect case, in hard places explore ahead first on foot, you could save your vehicle and yourself from such getting permanently stuck. Larger typical US vehicles would not even have fitted on that narrow track, best suited to hiker's and trail bikes, probably not even for vehicle access. One time I actually went up a couple of miles of a walking track, finally noting only one worn path, and regular sharp turns over protruding tree roots or rocks. The Suzuki was such fun to drive and agile that pushing through tight disused trails was always tempting.
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