first winter I've not bothered much seems to have rained every day for months on end can't wait to kick some dust up again and get some descent runs in without thinking its going to be a nightmare cleaning the car when you get homeI recently stopped going out to bash in wet weather, had been going out with my Stampede occasionally. Just gets to be too much extra work, needing to dry it out when I come home. Can't really properly dry it out unless the transmission gets opened up, so even if I do everything else the idler gear and top shaft bearings go bad after a few outings.
This past winter has turned me into a crawling enthusiast. Much easier to avoid getting it soaking wet since the wheels don't sling water EVERYWHERE like a basher does. And I found that crawling traction on wet rocks is about the same as summer crawling once the rocks have a thick coating of dust that reduces traction. Never thought of crawling as being exciting, but when your rig is in a precarious position barely grabbing traction with a 20 foot fall waiting if you screw up, definitely feels a little more lively. Just need the right terrain and locations to make it fun.
The unexpected benefit of mostly running my crawlers for a while? Suddenly my bashers feel extra fast and powerful, my Notorious felt STRONG on 4s with Backflip LPs and stock gearing!!! I know, it was my first real bash with it and I'm sure I'll gear up 2-4t soon, but does feel like my speed expectations have been reset.