A friend who was waiting for me to pick him up at the strip saw the whole sequence noting that it was a nice approach, with the tires catching the surface a couple times and then just GRABBED. The CC Cub went up on it's nose, but didn't drop a wing. I suspect that the high winds straight down the strip did a lot to prevent him from ending up on his back. My friend had helped him get the tail down just before I landed. We then got it turned around and back on my previous packed tracks and got it off the runway. As long as he kept it on the packed snow, things were relatively good, but obviously we weren't trying to accelerate. There was no vibration at moderate RPM and I don't think he was with concern for damage as the teardown was imminent and we were only using power to get him off the field. Pushing on the struts, I did have a couple chilling thoughts of the crank giving way, though!
When some county folks showed, up a comment was made to the pilot as to why he thought he could do this. I pointed out that the runway sides had snow berms indicating snow clearing at some point (they haven't cleared the runway in months, though) and my tracks showed recent use. You can't tell ski tracks from tire tracks from the air and it would be easy to assume that there was only a shallow layer of snow over a previously cleared track with ongoing use by aircraft.
The pilot also told me that just before it grabbed, he had added power to go-around and was until that point still at flying speed. Snow conditions make a big difference and is currently wind packed, crusty.
I can say that I have come close to pushing my luck with snow covered strips while on wheels. When we went to get our Christmas tree at Graham I had been in there several times that week as the snow fell and knew exactly how deep it was. After that success I almost went into another strip in the Owyhee's, but didn't have good indicators of snow depth and the voices told me not to - glad I listened. (Sidebar: why, if you listen to the good voices are you to be commended, but if you listen to the bad voices you're schizophrenic?!)
Anyway, winter's starting to feel long and wanted to pass on today's lesson to those of you with itchy feet and tires wanting to get off the pavement.
