Almost4x4

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2020 10:39 am**

Please post trip reports for the drive Reach for the Sky here.

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2020 2:28 pm**

I was excited while reaching to the camp about the drive as i was going to drive there first time...
We gathered, had our breakfast and separated the intermediate and advanced convoys. I was the lead for intermediate and @Daggerfall for the advanced. @Rashidjass, @Scorpio, @SINGH and @Solmaz were supporting us while @alshamsi_m and @Booy were supporting the advanced.
The area is not for the faint hearted. Big dunes with sharp tips combined with very soft sand. If you can keep the flow, nearly infinite chains of dunes all along the area. We had some stops and second tries but i believe it was enlightening for our intermediates. The amount of sharp crests made me run full maintenance and cleaning for my air intake during lunch break. After the lunch break, we resumed attacking the dunes. After some time, we had an unfortunate event which was handled by our marshals perfectly. It was one of those times where we felt the family spirit to the bones.
At the end, we combined the convoys and head to the exit under lead of @alshamsi_m . We had tired but happy faces all around.
Thanks to all drivers for joining and all supporting marshals.
See you all next time...

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:38 pm**

Hi All
Since the meeting point was around 3hrs from dubai, i had to be on the road at 4am, means will be on the wheels the whole day. it was surprise to see a lot of off road enthusiasts were on the road with me around the same time. " @optimus , @SINGH , @Scorpio , @giorgio , @Saeed FJ @rapailo ".
As we took the exit from last tarmac road and a 5min drive on the flat ground, a wonderful sight of Almost campers was visible, resting on top of the red dunes with a lit bonfire.

We found majority of them awake, enjoying their breakfast. (@Mabubakr

) Once everyone reached, we all prepared for the flag off. @Agalon conducted the briefing and separated us into advance and intermediate convoys. Intermediates were led by @Agalon with @nabil as 2nd lead and @Rashidjass @Solmaz @Scorpio @SINGH assigned to have an eagle eye. On the other hand Advance convoy was lead by @Shamsi with @Booy keeping the watch.
New to the Area, @Agalon alarmed us of the surprises coming our way

. He started off with a series of climbs, dips, & more climbs, before moving towards the side crest business on fire . The convoy was quite stretched which resulted in number of second tries shout outs. Once all the drivers got the idea of correct separation among the cars, the convoy started rolling at a smooth pace. The chain of dunes had unlimited sharp crests and steep climbs which if not disturbed, one could go on and on over them. The first half of the drive had zero pop outs, only few stucks at top of the crests and numerous second tries which was wise to do as the area was quite challenging therefore required zero errors.

After 4hrs of invigorating drive we got in a huge bowl omg to do a mega sidewall circle (multiple tries with 4Lo usage) to finish off with a sharp crest and joined the Advance group for lunch.
Sadly my trip ended at that point as my Son felt sick and I had to pull out from that point. (he’s fine now) Our famous guardian angel @Rashidjass escorted me to the tarmac, where I filled up and headed back.
It was certainly a great experience exploring a new and challenging area and I’m Glad that I was a part of this venture.
Thanks to @Agalon for an amazing drive. @Solmaz @Rashidjass @Scorpio @SINGH for watching our back.

Till next time
Mahmood Yasin
Dark stallion (Black FJ Cruiser)

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:17 am**

Reach for the Sky:

A two convoy drive (one advance level and one intermediate) in Al Quoa.
@Agalon led the intermediates and @Daggerfall the advance. Both convoys had plenty support (and believe me in this area you need all the support you can get).

From the get go we all understood that the drive will be challenging as the sand was very soft and the dunes big and sharp.
Our convoy started with a cut tire in the first five minutes but it was a quick fix and at no time we were back on the road again.

The menu had all you can eat buffet of combo side cresting. In this level of driving, your developed skills from previous levels is the foundation for a successful drive with a flow and high speed. Safety factor is on the top of the list for all drivers, the lead car was concerned with picking the correct challenging lines and the drivers following had to ensure keeping up while putting their egos on the side and follow or aboard accordingly.

This drive was one of the drives that will be remembered from all of us, but for me it will be remembered as it is in this drive that I was finally awarded for working hard towards developing a particular technique (staying high on the edge of the crest while exiting one bowl and entering another and still manage to stay high on the edge of the crest preparing for a possible 3rd back to back crest out to a new bowl ). The feeling of finally getting it right ,that moment that you know what you need to do and you actually executed without failing it is precious. I found my self repeating the same exercise over and over again with high rate of success while at the same time experiencing how much more my car can do when you get to place it on the right angle at the correct speed at the right moment as you are exiting and entering the crests while you feel so safe is what i took home from this drive.

On another note this drive was also one of those that the club needed to demonstrate its team spirit, knowledge, experience, preparation, stamina, tools availability mechanical knowledge and most importantly its calm attitude in a moment of crisis. Well done to everybody who in his/hers own way put a brick on the wall. For those who did not have the chance to attend this drive I will say this. IT IS A BONFIRE CAMP STORY.

Closing my report I would like to thank the organizer, lead drivers and supporting team along with all the drivers, and say for one more time loud and proud WE LEAVE NONE BEHIND.

Looking forward to see you all on the upcoming drives. Till then drive safe.

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:45 am**

Hi All,

First of all thank you @Agalon for organizing the drive and leading us in this highly challenging area. The dunes here are mighty with razor sharp & soft crests. For sure this area is not for weak hearted people.

Agalon didn’t lost much time in warming up. He immediately started to strike those dunes with a barrage of side crests resulting in some members reporting 2nd tries.
We followed the last man standing rule, since the drive was very fast with non-stop cresting, it was not possible for the convoy to stop and wait for the members to reconnect at their positions.
Then came the death bowl, huge wall, super soft sand, sharp crest. I almost tried every gear combination with few rounds but nothing worked.

I was reaching the tip but was not able to execute the side crests due to loss of momentum. Then I decided to do down into the bowl, took a deep breath, parked my car in N, looked at the bowl (full circle),
Fixed by eyes on the virtual line to start to climb, with initial momentum, pedal to metal & TRIUMPH!!!

After having our quick meals with our fellow advance bro’s. We took some rest meantime the leader overhauled the air filter to start the second round of attack!
The convoy was moving with a nice flow, until we had a tech issue with one of the car’s. The car was fixed.
The last part of the drive was led by Bu Salem! The intermediates and Advance single convoy, what a drive, I mean WHAT A DRIVE it was!!!!! TURBULENT!!!!

I hope we can start say this now :)) :-
"What does not kill you, just makes you stronger",
It is meant to say that if you survive the attack or onslaught , the very fact that you survived indicates that you are superior to it, and therefore stronger than you were before.

Thanks once again to Agalon for a wonderful drive
Thanks to our guardian angel @Rashidjass
Thanks to our supporting marshals @Scorpio @Solmaz @SINGH thanks guys for watching over our safety!

& last but not least, thanks to all the marshal's who spend their time and energy in shaping our driving ethics. Without them being around it is not possible to achieve such heights we have been driving at now!

until next time!

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 12:27 pm**

I am proud to claim at least one thing in common with our marshal @Agalon - never driven in this area before :). It was obvious already when I was approaching the meeting point that the desert is beautiful here. The scenery at the sunrise was breathtaking - high majestic dunes changing color shades at the crests from yellow to red and razor sharp blades on top. I would say the desert is even prettier than Liwa.

Comparing to our last trips, our inter convoy was longer, which naturally caused more stops, but we enjoyed the routes by Agalon. The sharp crests let my Jeep eat a lot of sand. Previously I sealed the filter box with silicone and I pulled a stocking over the air inlet, but again I found a kilo of sand in the box at the lunch break, clogging my filter completely. It is annoying as it makes it impossible for my Wrangler to climb the highest slopes after several crests. I was wondering where the sand comes from. Agalon told me it is too fine for the stocking to block it. I poured some sand on it and really - all grains fell down through it as if there was no protection! So finally I decided to install snorkel, just to find they are out of market now due to China's underproduction... facepalm

It the afternoon we had a situation but it was handled perfectly by the team, and we all returned back to tarmac around 6 pm.

Thanks to Agalon for organizing the drive and for another puzzle :). Thanks to @Solmaz, @Rashidjass, @SINGH and @Scorpio for the support.

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 1:02 pm**

Hi Almosters,

We were eager to come back to this area for a while with all the advance drivers who missed the first one and thanks to @Agalon we finally had the opportunity last Friday.

However we can consider this one also as a "first" since the character of the area was totally changed due to much much softer sand comparison to the last time so we had to adapt and push the limits of our skills further to have the same pace and tackle the same dunes we did before!.

The camp night was beautiful and full of fun as usual like in every Almost camp. Nice company, beautiful weather, good stories, enjoyed the sleeping outside under the stars, watching the center of the milky way before the sleep and amazing morning with the members arrived that time.

I will not talk much about the drive...It was shorter than it was planned and we were almost about to reach our peak level when the duty called.

More important than anything else that which makes all these trips amazing experience is the people you share those moments, family spirit , trust and love between the members of Almost family which helps to tackle every single challenge we face.......and have fun!

There was no single moment that we had a doubt that "WE DON'T LEAVE ANYONE BEHIND!"

Thanks to @alshamsi_m and @Booy for the amazing support and all other members made this trip a great memory.

Best Regards

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 1:10 pm**

i had the pleasure to be @alshamsi_m passenger with the Advance convoy. the area was beautiful in a scary way ! high mountains of sand with huge bowls and very sharp crests and soft sand. never seen i never saw any other area with so many bowls next to each other. there is no tolerance for mistakes ..

Bu Salem was floating at the back of the convoy and most of the times we were not taking the same route of the convoy because the sand was chewed up and became very soft and it was impossible to stay on the same track. @Daggerfall was leading and chosing the perfect exit point from each bowl, so the perfect exit was no longer an option for Bu Salem! i was amazed how

he was (smiling, laughing and talking to his car LOL) where he was looking for other exit point not damaged by the convoy infront of us.

honestly at some times i was hoping that someone would call for a second try or pop out so i can take my breath and relax LOL

well done to all our advance drivers .. and well done to our intermediates too. honestly that area is probably the most challenging one i ever seen.

stay safe !

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:07 pm**

Excellent compilation Daggerfall
Eager to know “what does an intermediate work on developing so he gets himself prepared (when the time is right) to drive in an advance lot”. ?

Daggerfall wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 1:02 pm Hi Almosters,

We were eager to come back to this area for a while with all the advance drivers who missed the first one and thanks to @Agalon we finally had the opportunity last Friday.

However we can consider this one also as a "first" since the character of the area was totally changed due to much much softer sand comparison to the last time so we had to adapt and push the limits of our skills further to have the same pace and tackle the same dunes we did before!.

The camp night was beautiful and full of fun as usual like in every Almost camp. Nice company, beautiful weather, good stories, enjoyed the sleeping outside under the stars, watching the center of the milky way before the sleep and amazing morning with the members arrived that time.

I will not talk much about the drive...It was shorter than it was planned and we were almost about to reach our peak level when the duty called.

More important than anything else that which makes all these trips amazing experience is the people you share those moments, family spirit , trust and love between the members of Almost family which helps to tackle every single challenge we face.......and have fun!

There was no single moment that we had a doubt that "WE DON'T LEAVE ANYONE BEHIND!"

Thanks to @alshamsi_m and @Booy for the amazing support and all other members made this trip a great memory.

Best Regards

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:09 pm**

Glad to be part of this family!

giorgio wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:17 am Reach for the Sky:

A two convoy drive (one advance level and one intermediate) in Al Quoa.
@Agalon led the intermediates and @Daggerfall the advance. Both convoys had plenty support (and believe me in this area you need all the support you can get).

From the get go we all understood that the drive will be challenging as the sand was very soft and the dunes big and sharp.
Our convoy started with a cut tire in the first five minutes but it was a quick fix and at no time we were back on the road again.

The menu had all you can eat buffet of combo side cresting. In this level of driving, your developed skills from previous levels is the foundation for a successful drive with a flow and high speed. Safety factor is on the top of the list for all drivers, the lead car was concerned with picking the correct challenging lines and the drivers following had to ensure keeping up while putting their egos on the side and follow or aboard accordingly.

This drive was one of the drives that will be remembered from all of us, but for me it will be remembered as it is in this drive that I was finally awarded for working hard towards developing a particular technique (staying high on the edge of the crest while exiting one bowl and entering another and still manage to stay high on the edge of the crest preparing for a possible 3rd back to back crest out to a new bowl ). The feeling of finally getting it right ,that moment that you know what you need to do and you actually executed without failing it is precious. I found my self repeating the same exercise over and over again with high rate of success while at the same time experiencing how much more my car can do when you get to place it on the right angle at the correct speed at the right moment as you are exiting and entering the crests while you feel so safe is what i took home from this drive.

On another note this drive was also one of those that the club needed to demonstrate its team spirit, knowledge, experience, preparation, stamina, tools availability mechanical knowledge and most importantly its calm attitude in a moment of crisis. Well done to everybody who in his/hers own way put a brick on the wall. For those who did not have the chance to attend this drive I will say this. IT IS A BONFIRE CAMP STORY.

Closing my report I would like to thank the organizer, lead drivers and supporting team along with all the drivers, and say for one more time loud and proud WE LEAVE NONE BEHIND.

Looking forward to see you all on the upcoming drives. Till then drive safe.

Almost4x4

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