[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by fcatwo

A double thank's for adding your last post above to the high-altitude info you've posted elsewhere. I've often thought the rest of us should be getting college credits for learning (or relearning) the info you, Denny-A, Bill and others post to TMOP.

Most welcome and thanks for the praise...it's really good to know that it's being appreciated.

My flying was recreational only and ended about 15 years ago when the novelty wore off and I got tired of stopping by the airport every couple of days during our long Alaska winters to clear the snow off the 172's wings. I'm guessing your flying is not only current but professional - like Continental out of Denver.

Err, no, not a professional pilot...but really do appreciate the indirect compliment! I do have a Commercial pilot's license (Single Engine Land with Instrument endorsement) and have around 500 hours of flying under my belt. Last time I flew was about 14 years ago...about the time I retired from the Air Force and started my business as a self-employed business software developer and database designer/administrator. No time (or spare money) for flying during those business building years...and now that I have some time/money, I'd much rather travel by truck or motorcycle here in Colorado.

Although I wasn't a rated USAF pilot, I was quite active in a variety of military Aero or Flying Clubs (at one time or another I was in Army and Navy as well as Air Force clubs). One of my friends managed a club here in Colorado and basically wrote the manual on mountain flying for Aero Club members...that's where I learned all about the hows and dangers of mountain flying. During the 80s I did a lot of my official travel in high performance singles (Mooneys, Arrows, Cardinals, etc.)...basically I aimed to fly myself on any official trip under about 800 miles. I empathize with your Alaskan comment...for two years I flew a Piper Warrior around Iceland...at least we could stick the plane in one of the hangars so didn't have the snow on the wings issue. Had everything else though...crappy weather, high winds...and magnificent terrain.

So, for a variety of reasons, it seemed I kept being appointed as the Safety Officer. Hence I got real familiar with all the important considerations...including density altitude and weights/balances. Never imagined I'd be applying the concepts in these topics to pulling a trailer but here am I doing just that.

On taking our rig up where you go: I was thinking about "getting it back down" the whole time I was reading your vivid description of going up. I'd want an ejection-seat and parachute before taking any GCWR maxed-out combination up to an area like that. You have the equipment to do it safely.

Glad you mentioned that. Yeah, the coming-down part can definitely be an attention-getter and having equipment that's substantially more capable than the minimum is really helpful when things don't go quite right.

For instance, during the very descent that I photographed above, my Prodigy brake controller's display was intermittantly flashing "N.C." meaning it was detecting a loss of connection to the trailer's brakes (I later found that the wires to the rightside trailer brake had been smooshed/broken, probably by extreme suspension movement on a bumpy road). While that could have been a real I had no problems at all controlling speed using mostly engine braking with a little bit of wheel braking before and during the ultra tight corners (I was still getting braking from the leftside trailer brake). There's where it was really great having a sizable engine (mine is 4.7L) and low axle gearing (mine is 3.91) for strong engine braking...and the heavier duty brakes and longer wheelbase of a half ton truck. Back when I towed with the lighter and much shorter wheelbase Cherokee, I always had a sense there wasn't a real large margin of control left on steep and sharply curving descents. But with the Tundra, even steep descents with hairpin switchbacks are not all worrisome.