True off-road
This is confession time. Twice I made unintended off-road excursions into deep snow drifts while driving in Norway last week.
I was not alone among the 135 motoring journalists steering the new four-wheel-drive versions of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, to bury the SUV in soft snow. Among them were motoring writers from Canada, a lot more familiar with the icy alpine conditions than the New Zealanders on the trip. Despite their experience, they also needed to be hauled out of the snow drifts.
The off-roading occurred during a 120km scenic route taking in secondary mountain roads, some of which are used to stage the annual WRC Rally of Norway.
At times there were almost white-out conditions with so much snow making it difficult to determine exactly where the road began and ended.
It all took place 900 metres above sea level near Norway’s international ski resort town of Geilo, halfway between the capital Oslo and the second-biggest Norwegian city of Bergen.
The air was pure, and snowflakes wafted down throughout our two and a half days in the mountains. So much snow fell that it was impossible to know whether we were driving on sealed or metal roads.
However the studded-tyred Eclipse Cross 4-WD SUV was planted confidently on the ice and snow, when the drivers weren't straying off-road.
The second off-road excursion involved a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV SUV on a frozen lake. We’ll have more about that adventure in Driven in coming weeks.